Emanuela Karastoyanova

They call his the “young Ungaro” or the “man behind Ungaro.” This is the 25 year old Columbian designer Esteban Kortazar, who presented Emanuel Ungaro’s fashion house during the fifth fashion week “Athens Xclusive Designers Week.” During his visit to Athens, Kortazar presented his women’s fall/winter collection 2009-2010. Faithful to Ungaro’s tradition, he presented elegant and stylized models.

The collection emphasizes on the woman and her femininity, this is why the dominant model was the dress – a traditional and loved garment by Ungaro. The fall/winter 2009-2010 collection offers a collection of short skirts and dresses – straight, frilled, or draped, combines with a jacket and the colors are mainly grey, dark blue, pink, purple, white, brown, and of course the classic presence in every fashion house - black.

Except for being the base color for suits or dresses, Kortazar uses black to make better contrast. The designer colors belts, shoes, and appliqués in silver. Again, present were the characteristic of Ungaro high heel shoes, which were combined with the high hair-styles of the models. All this makes a classic elegance with a dynamic image of the modern woman – the woman Ungaro sees and designs.

Born on May 17^th, 1984 in Bogota as a child of a jazz singer and an artist, Esteban Kotazar starts living in Miami when he becomes 11. Only two years later he enters the fashion field. The first collection, which he presents with his own name was in 2002 and in December 2007 he was chosen by fashion house Emanuel Ungaro to be the head designer of the women’s collection. This makes the 25 year old Columbian the youngest head designers in the fashion world. Now, Esteban Kortezar lives and designs in Paris.

Photos by the author