Taking over the creative helm from a big-name, illustrious designer can often be a poisoned chalice. While corporate heads will claim they wish to ramp up a brand's “cool” factor or give it “a little edge”, adhering to a label's heritage while simultaneously adapting the house's formula for modern times is no easy challenge for the upstart designer.

The house of Emanuel Ungaro has had a particularly tricky time of it. In the four years since Ungaro himself retired, the label has seen the departure of three designers. Embracing the Ungaro aesthetic — the sensuous feminine lines, the trademark ruffles, pleating and draping as well as those vivid, splashy prints — was obviously a little trying.

Rather wisely perhaps, the latest designer to fill those shoes, the Colombian-born Esteban Cortazar didn't bother looking too closely at the Ungaro archives. At 23, he also brings a younger-than-ever perspective. He is acclaimed in America for a collection of glamorous red-carpet gowns that was snapped up by Bloomingdale's and holds the accolade of being the youngest designer (at 22) to show at New York Fashion Week.

There was an extraordinary lightness to the muted silvery-grey, jersey draping that was layered over chiffon skirts in icy, duck-egg blue shades or else teamed with a jolt of fuchsia. These were more linear shapes than Ungaro is known for but they did manage to reference its romantic and feminine heritage. Trims on coats were elegantly rolled bits of fabric, and dresses made from a moiré silk-effect print or soft cashmere knits were equally light. This was understated glamour but also refreshingly modern. Time will tell if Cortazar manages to confer the “it” factor on Ungaro's fusty image.

Is Dries Van Noten, the elusive Belgian designer, finally going to crack the notorious American market? Poetic tatters of chiffon have not yet cut it in the land of the big-name brands but Cate Blanchett's Oscar outing on Sunday has gone some way to raising this label's profile.

Rich embroidery, a certain exoticism and spriggy prints that are void of the cling factor have yet to make it on to the A-list circuit. Echoing last season's exploration of splashy florals was a splodge-print variety that, at times, was Klimt-esque, painted on to plenty of loose-shaped dresses and some mannish oversized tailoring.

Perhaps you have to be pregnant to warrant venturing into Van Noten's artsy domain. Or at least you do in the US.

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