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Giles Deacon said he was unable to comment this morning as rumours surfaced that he may be in line to assume fashion's most precarious creative director role, at the helm of Emanuel Ungaro.

Deacon was spotted talking with Ungaro owner Asim Abdullah and his management team on Friday in Avenue Montaigne's Le Relais Plaza, WWD reports, and whispers suggest that head designer Estrella Archs is set to follow artistic adviser Lindsay Lohan in leaving the label.

Ungaro began handing over the creative reins to Giambattista Valli in 1998 but by 2005 both had left the company and new owner Abdullah began a creative director merry-go-round that has, as yet, not found a comfortable successor. Vincent Darré took the reins first in 2005, only to be replaced by Peter Dundas after two seasons. Two seasons later Dundas himself was replaced by Esteban Cortazar, who also lasted just three seasons, and was replaced by Lohan and Archs.

Abdullah remains keen to create a "sustainable" future for the loss-making label, aiming to be profitable by 2011.