As part of the shOws series at the Ritz Carleton, CALLA by Calla Haynes was the Toronto fashion show we were most excited for this season, and it delighted us in the most fanciful way.

Calla grew up in Toronto and after attending Parsons School of Design in New York, she moved to Paris to begin her career in fashion design. She honed her craft working under Olivier Theyskens at Rochas and Nina Ricci and has since created a label that has received international praise. Beyond being featured in magazines like Purple, Marie-Claire, VOGUE and Canada’s FLARE and FASHION, Calla was a finalist for the prestigous ANDAM award in 2010, France’s largest prize for young fashion designers. As a thirty-year-old designer, she’s already made a wowing impact on the hard to impress fashion world; we couldn’t be more proud of the young homegrown designer and we love and admire her creative talents.

Strutting the catwalk to Austra, the CALLA Spring/Summer collection was pretty in the truest sense of the word. A little bit Lolita-esque but sophisticated, it was like a suburban wet dream mixed with the narrow back lanes of Paris. Does that make sense? We could imagine a poolside coquette sipping lemonade and slowly flipping the pages of a juicy paperback just as we could imagine a young woman shopping at a fresh open market in the old squares in Saint-Germain-des-Pres. And although the soft pastel colours and super feminine cuts are delicate, there’s an underlying edge. She looks so pretty and soft but on her bedside is a diary of dirty secrets.

All we know is that we wanted ALL OF IT for our wardrobe and a moody fairy-like soundtrack to switch on as we lightly skip around the city come Spring. Calla, you are so delightfully perfect and we can’t wait to see how your career continues to grow. 

Photos by: Steve Alkok/Arthur Mola Photography
(click to enlarge)