California Apparel News

Maria Stanley uses her Midwestern background, its dreamy landscape and her mother's treasure trove of clothing as inspiration to produce her feminine, ready-to-wear collection, Harlyn.

"I am so lucky to have an amazing mama, who introduced me to the wonderful world of fabulous vintage clothing at an early age," she said. "I spent a lot of my childhood playing dress-up in her trunks of clothing, so it was only natural for Harlyn to have a vintage influence."

The Minnesota native moved to Los Angeles to attend the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. In 2011, she launched Harlyn.

Harlyn includes tops, bottoms, shorts, rompers and dresses-and, most recently, outerwear and jumpsuits-inspired by Stanley's vintage sensibility and featuring fun patterns, pops of color and seasonal hues. The Fall '13 collection, called "Sweet Little Sirens," features wine shades, a hint of gold and rich blue. The silhouette is sophisticated and loose for bottoms, while dresses range from A-line to shift styles to high-waisted and wraps.

"Every collection starts with printed silks, which come from artwork I create myself or is sourced from different artists around the world," Stanley said. "I like to add a bit of texture to the line with silk tweeds and different washes with the solid colors. I've also just recently dabbled into knits for Spring 2014, which has been a crazy new adventure for me."

For inspiration, Stanley envisions the Harlyn muse in different cities and eras. "We started [the Harlyn girl] off at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the 1950s, and now she's running through Metro stations in Paris in the 1960s for Fall," Stanley said.

Wholesale prices start at around $69 for a tank and go up to $139 for party dresses. Harlyn is currently sold at Anthropologie and Revolve and will soon be sold at Neiman Marcusand Bona Drag (www.bonadrag.com).

For more information, contact Ravid Levy at ravid@emprds.com or (213) 614-9292 or Nicole Gallo at nicole@emprds.com or (212) 228-2428.