Vanessa Seward on Dressing Lena Dunham in Her A.P.C. Collaboration

Photo: Courtesy of A.P.C

"When you are young and French, getting a pair of A.P.C. jeans was such a big deal!" So says Vanessa Seward, the fashion designer who began her career at age 21 assisting Karl Lagerfeld. Her resume boasts gigs with Tom Ford at Yves Saint Laurent and working at the helm of Azzaro. Now she's got her own capsule collection in collaboration with A.P.C. creative director Jean Touitou. He showed off their creations by boasting: "These clothes are my answer to the lie of the little black dress. It cannot solve all your problems—that is a myth."

The irony of her Chanel years aside, Seward seems to agree, and her latest print-laden dresses prove it. We spoke with the designer, stylist, and Paris native about her Fall 2013 line, her stylish adolescence, and outfitting Lena Dunham.

ELLE: When did you first meet Jean Touitou?

Vanessa Seward: I met him 10 years ago, at least. He loves music, and my husband [composer and producer Bertrand Burgalat] is in the music business, so we had a lot of mutual friends. But I already loved A.P.C., I mean, I had loved it since I was a teenager. The first thing I ever bought from them—the first thing all my friends bought, too—was a pair of A.P.C. jeans. I had to have them, and I remember that feeling. So when Jean and I started discussing a collaboration, I would not have said no. I have been wearing this brand forever.

ELLE: Do you want to talk about this season?

VS: Obviously, there are prints again, because everybody responded very well to those, and I love them, too. And then I became really interested in using lace, because when was the last time A.P.C. ever made something with lace? I actually asked Jean that, and I was determined to put some lace into [this collection], to show him it can be done in an A.P.C. way. And I have been playing a lot with the color combination of black and tan.

ELLE: Why?

VS: It feels like it could be a very cool combination to wear at night. It feels cool in a classic kind of way. And I am from Argentina, originally, so now we have some shoes based on tango shoes.

ELLE: Can you tango?

VS: Well, I can make shoes based on tango shoes!

ELLE: What's the best part about designing this particular collection that is different from your other work?

VS: I see young girls in many countries wearing these clothes all over, and that is the best compliment I can receive as a designer. They wear them to work, school, or out with their friends. These clothes are a part of their lives, and that means so much to me.

ELLE: Funny story: Last year, we bumped into Lena Dunham on the street. She was wearing one of your dresses, and she said she saw it in the A.P.C. window. On her lunch break from filming Girls, she ran off the set and bought it—straight out of the store window—because she liked it so much.

VS: That's why I do this! Because of stories like that. It's a thrill when I see girls wearing these clothes on the street! It's a rush.

Photo: Courtesy of A.P.C.

Photo: Courtesy of A.P.C.

See all the Fall 2013 Ready-to-Wear collections.

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