Vanessa Seward and A.P.C. Launch Collaboration With Couture Fabrics

Courtesy of A.P.C.

 Former Azzaro Creative Director Vanessa Seward has collaborated with French label A.P.C. on a capsule collection for fall. The 15-piece collection includes dresses and a variety of separates. Prices range from $515 for a printed silk shirt to $810 for a lamé tunic. Seward became known during her time at Azzaro for her distinctive take on 1970s glamour, and it’s a cool factor she has brought to this collaboration.

“I started out by choosing couture fabrics which could relate to my style," Seward said, "but it was important to keep the collection simple and well cut in the spirit of A.P.C.”

Seward, along with A.P.C. founder Jean Touitou, sourced fabrics from the archives of Swiss textile company Soieries Abraham, one of the main fabric suppliers to designers Cristóbal Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent. Seward had worked within the archives during her time at Yves Saint Laurent, when she worked under Tom Ford.

“The gold lamé chiffon is a new fabric as before lamés would tend to be thicker and scratch," Seward said of one of the fabrics she chose for the collaboration. "As for the prints, they have such beautiful archives it was difficult to choose. We decided on a navy print and created a red one with them. The brocade came from a vintage 1960s [Jean] Patou dress I had, and when I showed it to them we realized it came from their archives.”

The designer hopes women will mix and match these pieces with what they already own.

“I attended the cocktail launch in Paris and loved seeing how each client would personalize the pieces—for example, wear the lamé shirt with her own grey faded jeans and a vintage Chanel dark brown tweed jacket,” she said.

Working with A.P.C.’s Jean Touitou proved to be a learning experience for Seward, which isn't surprising given that even Kanye West has sought out Touitou's fashion advice. Seward says, “I was amazed at Jean’s knowledge in every stage...from the fabrics…to the details of fit, he has very high standards in regard to production. I also admired his sharp editing of the collection.”

A.P.C. & Vanessa Seward is in A.P.C. stores now and online at APC.fr. 

Paris Haute Couture: Valentino autumn/winter 2012

Valentino brought the shows to a close yesterday with a lesson in minimalism and craftmanship, the couture way.

BY Lisa Armstrong | 05 July 2012

Photo: Getty

It's not too fanciful to suggest that couture's new delicate touch began with Valentino's regime change four years ago. Yes, before Armani eased up for his Privé collection this season, before even the sainted Raf Simons introduced restraint and reality to Dior with his first show since he was appointed as John Galliano's successor (to the most rapturous reviews since Jesus walked on water), Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli were rustling up big statements out of thin air - or at least out of whisper-weight clouds of chiffon and lace that seemed filled with air.

IN PICTURES: Valentino Haute Couture autumn/winter 2012

Talk about a light hand on the tiller. Ever since they were put in charge at Valentino in 2008, the duo has produced a master class in understated craftsmanship each season. And it just gets more assured with every collection. It's all the more remarkable for being the product of two minds with distinct creative outlooks. Staying true to the essence of these old brands while moving them forward isn't easy.

READ: NYC Ballet to celebrate Valentino

Who would have looked to Valentino, whose die hard customers once numbered Joan Collins and most of Texas's social xx-rays, for minimalism? Yet minimalism is what Grazia Chiuri and Piccioli achieved yesterday, and without betraying an ounce of Valentino's sweet femininity. The core inspiration, appropriately enough, was Madonna blue - not the Madonna who flips a nipple at Turkey. The other one, who is probably the proto feminine minimalist. Midnight blue silk chiffon, round-necked dresses with softly pleated skirts or panels of sheer Chantilly lace floated past, followed by fuller - but never stiffer - satin dresses that might have looked severe in other hands, but here looked demure and elegant. Having made their point - they can do plain proud - they moved into embellishment: Powder puff-pink embroidered satin coats or capes over ruffled chiffon columns, lemon-yellow brocaded trouser suits and square-toed ballerinas with low heels were unashamedly lovely, with no need to resort to the constricting boning and exaggerated construction that had been couture's hallmark for the past ten years or more.

So now that they've re-invented eveningwear, pulling it back from the plunge-fronted, crystal-infested clichés of the red-carpet, we just need them to tackle daywear.

Paris Haute Couture autumn/winter 2012: 20 dresses to die for

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Best of the Fall 2012 Couture Shows

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Paris Haute Couture: The veil prevails

If the top shows at Paris Haute Couture are anything to go by, the super-rich won't be leaving the house without a veil come winter.

BY Olivia Bergin | 04 July 2012

Armani Prive haute couture autumn/winter 2012 Photo: REUTERS

"That model's face looks pixelated" said a colleague while gazing at pictures of Giambattista Valli's couture show (below), on screen. In fact, what looked at first like digitalised features, was actually the result of Valli's decision to send each of his models down the runway with a hairnet-like gauze - occasionally adorned with tropical butterflies - enveloping their heads.

Giambattista Valli haute couture autumn/winter 2012. Photo: AFP/ Reuters

While the most likely candidate for wearing a veil during Paris Haute Couture is normally the bride (almost every show's finale concludes with an elaborate wedding gown with trains so wide the front row often have to shuffle to accommodate its passage), this season, veils have taken on a life of their own. And without a frothy white gown in sight, both Giorgio Armani and Raf Simons at Dior joined Valli in swathing a large number of their models in delicate veils, too.

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At Dior, Simons' hairnet-like face wraps were a continuation of the knitted beanies overlaid with coordinating net which he showed in his spring/summer 2012 collection for Jil Sander. Perhaps the headwear - which on occasion looked like it could have been sourced from a Parisian garden centre - was a nod to the estimated one million roses which adorned the Dior show venue.

Dior haute couture autumn/winter 2012. Photo: EPA/ Reuters

Giorgio Armani meanwhile, explained his use of intricately beaded and bejewelled veils which hung more traditionally from the forehead as: "a flash of embroidered stars on a veil that conceals the face down to the neck hints at a wordless mystery, a mystery that speaks of otherworldly enchantment."

Armani Privé haute couture autumn/winter 2012. Photo: AFP/ Reuters.

Let's focus on Armani's use of "otherworldly" here, which essentially refers to "us" and "them". "Us" being the real world civilians who can barely scrape together the means for a pair of prêt-a-porter trousers, and "them", the super-rich who think nothing of flying a couturier's dressmaker out to their palatial homes for a fitting.

Forget It-bags, sporting a couture veil might yet become the ultimate vehicle for "haute differentiation".

Paris Haute Couture: Armani Prive autumn/winter 2012

The latest lesson taught in Paris by Giorgio Armani is that every woman should probably have a pair of Armani wide trousers in her wardrobe, writes Lisa Armstrong.

BY Lisa Armstrong | 04 July 2012

Photo: GETTY

Giorgio Armani was in a poetic mood when he whisked up this Armani Privé collection. Set against a sunset backdrop, it oozed the sort of colour effects you might see if you squint your eyes at the outer spectrum of the sun just as it dips into the sea - or when you order from the cocktail menu during happy hour.

Pale rosebud pinks, softest baby blue and ombre vanilla and grey raw silks were spun into collarless jackets, slender fitted strapless dresses, worn over matching organza blouses, or tailored, round necked jumpsuits.

IN PICTURES: See the Armani Privé collection

It could have been overly saccharine and at times sugar levels did indeed soar to near diabetic levels, but three key elements brought things back from the brink. First those trousers - no one cuts an Armani pant like, well, Armani. Wide, pleated and fluid as the Coalition government's every last policy, they're every bit as elegant as a little black dress, and never more so than in the black velvet he sent out with a majority of looks.

Models at the finale of the show. Photo: Getty

It's true that some of the styling at the start of the show, which had the models in knee length collarless artist's coats and blouses with Philip Treacy berets, made them look like distinctly eccentric. But forget them. The lesson here is that every woman should probably have a pair of Armani wide trousers in her wardrobe - or at least every tall woman. Every other woman should probably settle for a slimmer pair and one of those gorgeous, glittery, sporty-meets-red-carpet cardigan-jackets he showed.

The third winner was the evening wear, which is probably what his front row - Shailene Woodley, Sophia Loren, Zoe Saldana, Isabelle Huppert, Claudia Cardinale and Michelle Yeoh - really came to see.

A lightened up sense of ease, amplified with translucent, loosely cut layers made for a cooler, more relaxed vibe than the usual trussed up, over wrought red carpet looks that couture so often winds up giving us.

Less really can be more, and Armani, of all designers, is well placed to lead the way.

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Paris Haute Couture: Martin Margiela's guide to staying stylish under wraps

Veils? So yesterday. Couture Fashion Week closed with a 'bling' as Martin Margiela's models took to the catwalk under cover of crystal.

BY Belinda White | 05 July 2012

Photo: Vladimir Potop

Yesterday we reported how veils were all the rage the Paris couture catwalks, from Raf Simons' hairnet-like face wraps at Dior, and Giorgio Armani's intricately beaded and bejewelled veils, to Giambattista Valli's butterfly adorned webs.

Then, late last night as Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week was drawing to a close, conceptualist label - and soon to be H&M collaborator - Maison Martin Margiela, trumped the lot of them.

READ: The veil prevails at Paris Haute Couture

Never one to shy away from a 'tricky trend', Margiela's models came down the catwalk in what could perhaps be described as the ne plus ultra of the veil family, with each and every model's bonce shrouded in a full head mask, elaborately embellished with handfuls of gobstopper sized colourful crystals.

The effect was striking, and provided the perfect sprinkle of stardust to compliment a collection otherwise light on the kind of fairytale touches Couture Fashion Week tends to indulge in.

Of course, Margiela's customer is not your average Saudi princess - the Belgian-born label prides itself on dressing the edgier end of the fashion wedge - so expect these headdresses to be starring in only the hippest magazine spreads you can find in your boutique newsagents. And on Lady Gaga, natch.

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