Collect call: designer Kate Spade is sitting pretty with a luxurious new line and a baby to boot(ie).(Accessories Flash)

W, September, 2005 by Lau, Venessa

The Kate Spade we've grown to know and love is a maven of no-nonsense style: clean, geometric bags and effortless totes, girl-next-door glasses and fun-but-polite shoes. She's a queen of whimsical American prep, ruling over a kingdom of bespeckled strollers, tidy color-blocked linens and Fifties-inspired flecked tableware and stationery.

But all of a sudden, feathers, python and fur?

"There has always been a love of the unexpected here," she explains. And with the fall debut of Collect, her new accessories line, Spade is preparing her biggest surprise to date. She has upped the ante--along with the price--in the line of tall calf-hair boots with rhinestone accents, electrichued snakeskin bags and dainty pink purses. "I think Collect will be a bit of a...