25 year old Esteban Cortazar, the young Columbian fashion designer who has been the creative director at Emanuel Ungaro since December 2007, has been thought to be leaving the Paris-based fashion house for some time now. Rumor had it that Cortazar was having differences with Ungaro’s management over the marketing strategy – namely that Ungaro wanted to enlist Lindsay Lohan to be the face of the brand, and possibly even have some creative input. It was then reported that Cortazar was suing Ungaro. However, things seem to be looking up, as the young designer was spotted at Ungaro’s men show in Paris where he was seen greeting the house’s chief executive officer, Mounir Moufarrige.
When questioned about his status, Ungaro exclaimed: “For now I am here.” Cortazar also noted that he was hard at work on a pre-collection. Cortazar has done wonders for Ungaro and I sincerely hope he will stay with the house.
In other exciting news, Urban Outfitters, proving that they are a brand that understands the power of technology, will sell their merchandise via smartphones (like the iPhone) at their new site m.urbanoutfitters.com which is specifically designed to be easy to use on mobile devices.
Urban Outfitters is one of very few retailers who have optimized their site so that customers can easily shop via their phones. The hope is that they will be getting a new set of customers who are surfing the web on their phone while they are on a break or waiting around for a meeting.
Yoox, Polo Ralph Lauren, Sears, SVC, and Amazon are some of the other retailers offering this service.
