Lydia Maurer replaces Manish Arora at Paco Rabanne

Twenty-nine-year-old designer Lydia Maurer has taken over

as artistic director for womens’ wear at Paco Rabanne. She replaces India’s renowned designer Manish Arora, the Spanish fashion house has said. Maurer worked for both Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy before becoming studio design director for Paco Rabanne in late 2011.

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

Paco 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.

In 2011, designer Manish Arora joined fashion house Paco Rabanne in the role of Creative Director of women’s wear. His first collection for the house - Spring/Summer 2012 – was presented on the official Paris show calendar in October 2011. Within a year of working with each other, Paco Rabanne and Manish Arora parted ways by a ‘mutual agreement.’

Arora, who has his own line of apparel in an array of psychedelic colours and snappy prints, presented a critically acclaimed collection for Paco Rabanne in March. His first creations for the Paris-based Spanish fashion house featured exaggerated shoulders and hips reminiscent of Thierry Mugler's silhouettes of the 1980s.