What was Lindsay Lohan doing at Paris fashion week?

The 23-year-old actor - who is perhaps better known for her frequent stints in rehab, her multiple drink driving arrests and very public love affairs than for her work in Mean Girls or Freaky Friday - took the bow as 'artistic adviser' to the prestigious Parisian couture house Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

Ungaro boss Mounir Mouffarige defined Lohan's role as being 'a dancing, swinging, living doll' and 'a moving advertising campaign' for the brand Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

Lohan herself has said she 'oversees' the work of the woman who took the bow with her in Paris - Estrella Archs, 35, a veteran of the Prada, Hussein Chalayan and Nina Ricci design studios, who Ungaro have appointed chief designer Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

But visitors to the Emanuel Ungaro studio during the hectic last days of preparations for the collection noticed that, while Archs put the finishing touches to the clothes, Lohan was nowhere to be seen Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

Not that Lohan was neglecting her duties: she was to be found on Twitter, fulfilling her role by inviting celebrity friends such as Lily Allen to the show Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

It would be too easy to dismiss Lohan as window dressing. She may not have cut patterns or pinned toiles, but her influence could be seen throughout this new collection Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

Whether this is a good thing is, however, very much open to debate Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

The shock appointment of Lohan is seen as a bold - even desperate - roll of the dice for the house of Ungaro, which has struggled to find a voice in fashion since the founding designer, Emanuel Ungaro, retired in 2004 Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

A succession of talented designers have taken on the role since then - Peter Dundas is now at Emilio Pucci, while Giambattista Valli designs a successful label under his own name - but none have succeeded in making Emanuel Ungaro creditable or profitable Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

In a world in which prestige is paramount, linking the Emanuel Ungaro name with a tabloid celebrity is a huge risk for the label. But Ungaro hope that the swarm of paparazzi who follow Lohan (right) on her late-night exploits can lend Archs's (left) work more of the kind of buzz and excitement which late nights in the design studio with safety pins and sketchbooks have hitherto failed to spark Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images