Like the label's late founder, Loris Azzaro, Vanessa Seward knows her way around a little black dress. For Fall, the creative director of nearly five years' standing delivered plenty on that front, trimmed as usual in Swarovski crystals. Among the numbers that will have the longest legs outside her rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré showroom: a short tank dress edged front and back in a chain-link rhinestone pattern, a long-sleeved style with a big bow at the hem, and a third with swirls of silk and sparkling fringe wrapping around the torso.
For variety, there was a sweater dress in emerald green with matching crystal buttons. This was made in collaboration with April March, a young singer on the record label of Bertrand Burgalat, Seward's husband. (The designer has teamed up with Jemima Khan and Eugenie Niarchos in the past.) As for red-carpet prospects, the standout was a narrow column gown inset with black lace in back that was decorated with crystal violin finials, a nod in the direction of Seward's musical mari. But what really caught the eye was a silk blouse with teardrop-shaped cutouts at the neck worn with high-waisted tuxedo trousers. Pants weren't an Azzaro signature, but Seward's looked sharp. To keep the brand vital and growing, she would do well to come up with other ways of injecting more of her own imprint.
