British designer Giles Deacon has been given the major task in his designing life, reinvigorating failing French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro as their creative director.

Deacon, 41, a graduate of the fame Central Saint Martins, slammed on to the British fashion scene in 2004 with his Giles label, capturing the notice of the British press and fashion media with his depraved but staid designs, his vision of high craft mixed with a steady stream of wit, which earned him the prestigious British Fashion Designer of the Year in 2006.

In 2008, Giles, who earlier in his career had apprenticed and worked with such stars as Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Bottega Veneta and Tom Ford, debuted his Gold by Giles line, scoring big again, building a fantastic buzz that carried him to a ANDAM Fashion Awards Grand Prix in 2009.

His new employer, Paris-based Emanuel Ungaro, which has been bleeding money as the retirement of its founder and namesake in 2004, needed a fresh start, a creative nexus and a radical alter in direction and vision after past failures, including seeing the departures of its former CEO, the designers for both the women’s and men’s labels, and its short-lived artistic adviser, Lindsay Lohan. If appointing Lindsay Lohan, desperation indeed has taken hold.

For Ungaro, desperation has been restored by hope and creativity, and that is never a bad thing.