The company of the late Gianfranco Ferré announced today that Swedish designer Lars Nilsson will become the new head designer. According to WWD, Ferré, owned by Italy’s IT Holding, presented its spring-summer 2008 collection in Milan Monday night, designed by an in-house team following Ferré’s death in June at age 62. Nilsson is expected to show his first collection in January during Men’s Fashion Week in Milan, followed by women’s wear in February.

Nilsson has had a long career working alongside with major fashion designers. He had his first internship at Chanel, and from there, moved to Christian Lacroix, where he spent the next nine years. In 1996, he began working for John Galliano at Dior, and then moved to New York in 1999 to join the Ralph Lauren team. But a year later, he decided to work instead with Bill Blass, to whose apparel he could relate more. That same year, Blass retired and Nilsson became the house designer. He had only 21 days to prepare his first Bill Blass collection, but pulled together a hit with 27 pieces that were greeted with major applause. But suddenly, 24 hours after he had successfully presented his Bill Blass Fall 2003 collection in New York, he was fired by the Blass CEO along with his team of six. His collection, based on New York architecture, had been widely acclaimed, and it is not known why the house of Blass fired him–sources say he was very shocked.