>> Ungaro has had a checkered past as far as designer retention goes, and it sounds like the tradition is carrying on.  Just a few days after rumors hit that creative director Esteban Cortazar was threatening to leave the company, several sources confirm to WWD that the house and designer have reached an impasse over marketing and advertising strategy and plan to part ways.

CEO Mounir Moufarrige is keen to restart the label's provocative ad campaigns, which haven't been done for Ungaro womenswear for years, and is apparently pushing for a celebrity to "help wake up the house," WWD reports.  Ungaro has been talking with six or so candidates, including Lindsay Lohan — hence Tuesday's rumors that she was being considered as a creative consultant to the house.  However, those specific rumors have been disbanded: none of the celebrity candidates would have anything to do with design.

No potential successors to Cortazar have been mentioned, but Moufarrige is known for making unexpected choices; he replaced Karl Lagerfeld with Stella McCartney at Chloe in 1997, when she was 25.