New York Fashion Week F/W 2012: Calla

While I tend to eschew anything intensely twee or saccharine in my own sartorial choices out of fear of looking like a child, the sweet aesthetic sometimes speaks to me. I have a rule, though: it mustn't be all peter pan collars, doll-like silhouettes, and cotton candy hues. Newcomer Calla Haynes' eponymous line does include the latter two, but an exception to my rule arises when there's something a little strange, or sour perhaps, appears.



Any notion of twee disappears after the first few looks; speckled skinny pants and a matching jacket, a figure-conscious dress with marble-like prints, a mod-silhouette geometric tweed coat over a fuchsia turtleneck dress, and a tweed motorcycle-esque jacket with matching shorts are anything but doll-like. The contrast of sweet and "sour" work quite well in this collection; it can often seem contrived or derivative - the floral babydoll dress and combat boots combination is not the only means to create this dichotomy. And let's be serious, for a second... that coat is amazing. Seriously.

xox Catherine

Photos via Style.com