KAREN WALKER
Karen Walker is a fashion brand with a reputation for its original, effortless and unpretentious style.
Karen Walker shows each season as part of New York Fashion Week and has permanent showrooms in London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney.
Since 2002 Karen Walker has been working closely with stylist Heathermary Jackson on all collections.
Karen Walker collections are high casual with one foot in tailoring and the other in street wear. The reoccurring theme is taking extremes and pushing them together - masculine and feminine, tailored and street, luxury and non luxury, dark and super-cute. Overall the label has a feeling of effortlessness and has been described by the U.K.'s Independent newspaper as being 'the kind of look that provides a means of appearing cool but not trying-too-hard, cute but not saccharine, alternative but not self consciously so. The fact that these clothes appear to be so totally not 'fashion' is what makes them so now .
The collections all have the outsider as their inspiration. Karen Walker's work celebrates the anti-'it girl' - characters like Ally Sheedy's heavy fringed weirdo in 'The Breakfast Club', orphan Annie, the juvenile delinquent prom queen who climbs out the window after curfew to run with the bad crowd, Woody Allen's persistently dissatisfied Annie Hall, an Amelia Earhart inspired adventuress who, after crash landing in the jungle, turns her back on civilisation in preference of tribal life or 1930s comic book superheroines leading double lives.
In addition to the main women's wear collections there is also Karen Walker Jewellery selling in exclusive boutiques and department stores in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the U.K. and the United States; Karen Walker Eyewear sold through exclusive boutiques, eyewear stores and department stores in Au stralia, Japan, the U.K., U.S.A. and New Zealand and Karen Walker Paints, a selection of paint colours sold through Resene paint stores throughout New Zealand and Australia. Hi There from Karen Walker is the diffusion line that's sold exclusively through Myer in Australia and Karen Walker in New Zealand.
Phaidon have included them in their recent book 'Sample' which curates the 100 most influential designers to emerge in the last 6 years and Taschen have also included them in their recent book 'Fashion Now 2' which highlights the world's most important 160 designers as selected by i-D magazine.
Karen Walker was awarded the 2007 Prix de Marie Claire award for best creative talent.
Past collaborative ventures include a pop up store in New York's East Village with concept store The Den, a makeup project with Boots 17 in the U.K. and a shoe collaboration with the U.K.'s Pointer Shoes.
Karen Walker is stocked in over 350 stores throughout the world in cities including New York, London, Los Angeles, Sydney and Tokyo. There are also three Karen Walker flagship stores in New Zealand and one flag ship store in Taipei.
She is also part of the group behind The Department Store in Auckland. The Department Store is a modern take on the traditional department store and includes a Karen Walker boutique alongside the best of Auckland's beauty, art, interior, fashion and food. It's a 360 degree shopping experience that stretches across three floors.
Celebrities such as Bjork, Sienna Miller, Alexa Chung, Beth Ditto, Jennifer Lopez, Claire Danes, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Mandi Moore, Shirley Manson, Kate Hudson, Claudia Schiffer, Drew Barrymore and Madonna all favour her work with four pieces from the 'Dust' collection featuring on Kate Winslet in Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman's legendary 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.
Karen lives in New Zealand with her husband Mikhail and her daughter Valentina.
Karen Walker shows each season as part of New York Fashion Week and has permanent showrooms in London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney.
Since 2002 Karen Walker has been working closely with stylist Heathermary Jackson on all collections.
Karen Walker collections are high casual with one foot in tailoring and the other in street wear. The reoccurring theme is taking extremes and pushing them together - masculine and feminine, tailored and street, luxury and non luxury, dark and super-cute. Overall the label has a feeling of effortlessness and has been described by the U.K.'s Independent newspaper as being 'the kind of look that provides a means of appearing cool but not trying-too-hard, cute but not saccharine, alternative but not self consciously so. The fact that these clothes appear to be so totally not 'fashion' is what makes them so now .
The collections all have the outsider as their inspiration. Karen Walker's work celebrates the anti-'it girl' - characters like Ally Sheedy's heavy fringed weirdo in 'The Breakfast Club', orphan Annie, the juvenile delinquent prom queen who climbs out the window after curfew to run with the bad crowd, Woody Allen's persistently dissatisfied Annie Hall, an Amelia Earhart inspired adventuress who, after crash landing in the jungle, turns her back on civilisation in preference of tribal life or 1930s comic book superheroines leading double lives.
In addition to the main women's wear collections there is also Karen Walker Jewellery selling in exclusive boutiques and department stores in New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the U.K. and the United States; Karen Walker Eyewear sold through exclusive boutiques, eyewear stores and department stores in Au stralia, Japan, the U.K., U.S.A. and New Zealand and Karen Walker Paints, a selection of paint colours sold through Resene paint stores throughout New Zealand and Australia. Hi There from Karen Walker is the diffusion line that's sold exclusively through Myer in Australia and Karen Walker in New Zealand.
Phaidon have included them in their recent book 'Sample' which curates the 100 most influential designers to emerge in the last 6 years and Taschen have also included them in their recent book 'Fashion Now 2' which highlights the world's most important 160 designers as selected by i-D magazine.
Karen Walker was awarded the 2007 Prix de Marie Claire award for best creative talent.
Past collaborative ventures include a pop up store in New York's East Village with concept store The Den, a makeup project with Boots 17 in the U.K. and a shoe collaboration with the U.K.'s Pointer Shoes.
Karen Walker is stocked in over 350 stores throughout the world in cities including New York, London, Los Angeles, Sydney and Tokyo. There are also three Karen Walker flagship stores in New Zealand and one flag ship store in Taipei.
She is also part of the group behind The Department Store in Auckland. The Department Store is a modern take on the traditional department store and includes a Karen Walker boutique alongside the best of Auckland's beauty, art, interior, fashion and food. It's a 360 degree shopping experience that stretches across three floors.
Celebrities such as Bjork, Sienna Miller, Alexa Chung, Beth Ditto, Jennifer Lopez, Claire Danes, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Mandi Moore, Shirley Manson, Kate Hudson, Claudia Schiffer, Drew Barrymore and Madonna all favour her work with four pieces from the 'Dust' collection featuring on Kate Winslet in Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman's legendary 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'.
Karen lives in New Zealand with her husband Mikhail and her daughter Valentina.