GASP! Lindsay Lohan is design consultant at Ungaro

NEW YORK CITY — Do desperate times really call for desperate measures? They apparently do, if you’re a failing French luxury brand.

On the eve of the start of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week here last night, it was announced that Lindsay Lohan is now the paid muse of the house of Emanuel Ungaro. The actress and notorious party girl can’t sketch or sew, but no biggie. She’s bound to attract lots of media attention to the label because of her penchant for landing in the news, even if it is for something negative.

Lindsay Lohan, Ungaro's new design consultant

Ms. Lohan will serve as “artistic advisor” to new chief designer Estrella Archs. Interestingly, Ms. Archs was hired after Esteban Cortazar - the genius who was chief designer of the house for three years - quit in July. Insiders say he had strongly resisted efforts to bring Ms. Lohan on board, and the company’s decision against his wishes was more than he could abide.

Apparently, company higher-ups value the star power of a popular yet unpredictable 23-year-old media magnet over an extremely talented creative force. Given adequate time, Mr. Cortazar could have reinvigorated the once-soaring, now-sagging label, a darling of monied, stylish French women for more than 40 years.

The average age of the Ungaro client is 60, and company executives don’t deny that they’re trying to save the brand by courting younger women. That does make some sense. The company is hemorrhaging money, earning only about $200 million annually, mostly via cheap product licenses in Asia rather  than sales of its high-end runway collections.

Ms. Lohan isn’t the first Gen Xer hired in recent months to give the brand a more youthful face. Last year, another American actress, Reese Witherspoon, was chosen at the age of 32 as the face of Ungaro’s newest men’s and women’s fragrances. The scents were a collaboration with Avon, a move that probably ran off even more Ungaro devotees.

Anyway, the first Ungaro collection designed with input from Ms. Lohan will debut in October at Paris Fashion Week. How much her perspective will influence the brand’s chic and sophisticated aesthetic remains to be seen. In her own words, “My fashion school has just been my experience with people in fashion, working on photo shoots and creating my own style.”

Farah Angsana’s bejeweled beauties

The designer threw down the gauntlet yesterday, presenting a line of stunning cocktail dresses and evening gowns the day before the official start of fashion week. The collection, presented in the darkly elegant lobby of the Royalton Hotel, was inspired by Hinduan culture and how a Balinese goddess might attire herself.

Most of the 25 looks reinterpret the goddess-dress trend of recent years by adding gorgeous gold metal threading, mirrored embroidery and detailed beadwork hand-applied to airy silks in shades of ivory, turquoise, coral, tangerine and stainless steel.

Two other noteworthy silhouettes that added some nice variety to the collection were an elegantly jewel-embellished magenta silk dupioni evening coat with three-quarter sleeves and a turquoise silk dupioni  kimono-collar jacket with matching pencil skirt that Audrey Hepburn would undoubtedly own were she alive today.

The clothes could seem complicated based on the sheer amount of labor that obviously went into making them. But Ms. Angsana told me she was intentional about making them “very simple” to wear. “Easy to zip up, easy to take off,” she said. “No complication.”

And that’s what women today are looking for in every aspect of dressing.

Swag alert: Jimmy Choo and Project PEP

Delivered to my hotel yesterday by American Elle was a handsome black eco-tote with a colorful print, an item from a small collection of products designed to support funding of the Simelela Rape Centre in South Africa through the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Jimmy Choo is donating 25% of net sales from Project PEP  to the center, which was set up last year to administer HIV-preventative pep medications (post-exposure prophylaxis) to victims of rape and sexual abuse. Funding also will help provide the infrastructure for medical, counseling, and legal support.

The items will be for sale starting in November at Jimmy Choo stores worldwide.