ROME, Feb 9, 2008 (AFP) - With Milan fashion week looming, Italian fashion house Gianfranco Ferre said Friday February 8th it has "terminated its collaboration" with creative director Lars Nilsson -- just five months after he got the job.

Photo : AFP

In a statement, Gianfranco Ferre -- whose namesake founder died in June last year at age 62 from a massive brain haemorrhage -- gave no reason for the parting of ways.

But it said it would still be sending out its fall-winter collection in Milan on February 18, and that Nilsson's successor would be announced after fashion week wraps up on February 23.

Nilsson, a graduate of the Chambre Syndicale haute couture school in Paris, launched his career at Chanel before moving on to Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Ralph Lauren and Nina Ricci.

Since 2001, Gianfranco Ferre has been owned by IT Holding, controlled by Italian industrialist Tonino Perna.