Four years later, in 1965 with the assistance of Swiss artist Sonja Knapp and Elena Bruna Fassio, Ungaro opened his own fashion house in Paris.

[3][4][5][6] During the mid- to late 1960s, Ungaro was known as one of the Space Age designers, along with Andre Courrèges, Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne, Rudi Gernreich, Jean-Marie Armand,[7] and Diana Dew, creating ultra-modern, futuristic clothing of stark simplicity consisting of flaring, mini-length garments[8][9] of geometric shape in welt-seamed[10] double-faced wools, synthetics, plastics, and metals worn with high boots, helmets, visors, and chrome and plastic jewelry.

In the late 1970s, fashion journalist Michael Roberts, when opening a Sunday column in The Times, said "Emanuel Ungaro has a great charm.

"[35] Ungaro entered perhaps his most influential period in the 1980s, as he interpreted the era's aggressive, broad-shouldered women's silhouette[36][37][38] with Edwardian-style[39][40] shirring, ruching, draping,[41][42] and his trademark eye-catching prints[43] to create a voluptuous, very feminine, even coquettish look[44] that was highly popular with the public.

[49][50] That year a scholarship was funded in his name at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, endowed by Marshall Field's in recognition of his legacy as a designer.

[2][52] In Ungaro's obituary, The Guardian notes that his 30 years without outside investment ending in 1996 made him "the last independent in Paris":[53] Lack of funding shaped his own business.

In 1968, he added ready-to-wear, sold at first from his salon on the Avenue Montaigne, then distributed in the US and Japan, for a reliable revenue stream to help support his couture without pursuing the licensing deals that had become standard for couturiers.

[1][57][2] After the sale, the label languished with a revolving door of designers – Vincent Darré and Peter Dundas –,[58] the last of which, Esteban Cortazar, who was appointed in 2007, was fired two years later after his refusal to work with actress Lindsay Lohan.

Subsequently, Lohan was appointed Artistic Director, working with new head designer Estrella Archs, who was hired hastily to replace Cortazar.

[65] In March 2017, Fausto Puglisi was replaced by Marco Colagrossi (formerly women's wear at Giorgio Armani) as creative director of Ungaro.