NewYork fashion week"This was my first collection about nostalgia," Calla Haynes said of her Spring offering, an ode to early-nineties surf culture. "I was a young teenager at the time, and it was when I first discovered fashion."

A silhouette inspired by Body Glove's classic one-piece maillot was the style that unified today's Calla presentation at the always crowded Milk Studios. There was a neon-green swimsuit with an exposed zipper up the front, yes, but that quintessentially nineties brand was also referenced in a kicky skater dress made of an extremely thin fabric called Alcantara, which was ink-jet-printed with a lavender design and then crinkled to give it a worn-in feel. A full, couture-inspired skirt—made modern with a high-low hem—was printed with a speckled neon coral (that totally nineties color that falls right in between hot orange and hot red on the spectrum).

Prints, as always, played a major role in Haynes' work, but it would be interesting to see her take on solid pieces in a more serious way. She says she wants her collection to represent a real wardrobe; that's possible, if she mixes it up just a bit.

Fashion Brand: Calla | www.calla.fr

It may be that Haynes does well with her prints because the weirder, creepier, or more jarring they are, the more they cut the treacle of her girly looks.