If there was something particularly youthful about Vanessa Seward's Azzaro collection, you can blame her 5-month-old baby, Jacqueline. "They're like little girl's dresses, but more grown-up," she said of a group of short frocks in cotton dot with ruffles at the shoulders, hem, and neckline. A micro-floral print—discovered in the archives of Abraham, a fabric supplier to Paris couture houses, and used here on a shirtdress and a blouson minidress—kept the theme going.
Then out came a thigh-skimming navy shift with a plunging V-shaped tulle inset lined in crystals. Maybe the Azzaro woman isn't so innocent after all. The bare back of a halterneck dress seemed to say as much, as did the side cutouts on the collection's best look, which featured a crystal-smothered bodice and tiered white silk skirt connected by a big black bow.
Seward shows her collection in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré store's intimate second-floor salon, with the models making fast changes in a pair of dressing rooms, and her assistants showing off alternate versions of each dress on hangers. There were a few floor-length lookers it would've been nice to see on the girls, not only because long is such a big story for Spring, but also because it would've added some grown-up variety. Still, this show was long on charm.
