Lydia Maurer succeeds India's Arora at Paco Rabanne

Twenty-nine-year-old designer Lydia Maurer has been named artistic director for womenswear at Paco Rabanne, where she will take over from India's Manish Arora, the Spanish fashion house said.

Lydia Maurer / Photo: Anne Combaz

Born to a Colombian mother and German father, Maurer worked for both Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy before becoming studio design director for Paco Rabanne in late 2011, the Paris-based house said in a statement Wednesday.

"Her determination and her sensitivity in terms of the artistic and experimental universe of Paco Rabanne are going to enable us to pursue the renewal of our house in the long term," it said.

The house, owned by Spanish fashion giant Puig, amicably parted last month with the flamboyant Arora, whose two seasons at the house marked the relaunch of its womenswear line after a five-year-hiatus.

Maurer said in the statement it was "a great honour to be taking on the artistic direction of such an emblematic house".

Its Spanish founder Paco Rabanne, "invented a timeless, unique and sensual style inspired by art and architecture."

Rabanne launched his label in 1966, making a name for his use of unconventional materials from metal to plastic, before stepping down in 2000.

The house's new German designer, whose own esthetic was shaped by the art of the 1960s and 1970s, will show her first spring/summer collection at Paris Fashion Week in October.