NEW YORK – A long way from her native New Zealand, designer Karen Walker has had unprecedented success in North America showing her latest Spring/Summer 14 collection at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City last week. Most of us Torontonians know Karen Walker’s eponymous label for her sunnies. Independent boutiques such as Visit ZANE at 753 Queen St. West and Canadian online retailer eLUXE are two great places to shop for her signature, oversized and over-the-top, plastic faceshields (i.e., sunglasses).
But what most of you don’t know is that Karen Walker is a fashion empire. The label is a pervasive lifestyle brand including Karen Walker jewellery, eyewear, ready to wear, homeware, paints and footwear collaborations with Beau Coops, handbag collabo with Benah and Karen Walker sneakers for BePositive. She’s even got a diffusion line Hi There from Karen Walker available at Anthropologie in the United States.
For Spring, Karen Walker presented a collection where East meets West – not unlike her own story and the larger undercurrent in fashion that has turned a spotlight on Eastern designers as they permeate a geocentric approach to style. Influences can come from anywhere in the world, and can be for anyone in the world. One world, one fashion. Karen Walker’s collection is aptly titled, UTOPIA.
Scarves and dhoti pants were paired with tailored blazers and work boots. A toque for good measure and what is shaping up to be an undeniable trend from the Spring runways, the varsity sweater. Bags were structured while silhouettes were airy and soft. This, the appropriate attire for a walk in an urban desert.
As I watched each model grace the runway, I felt more and more attuned to the multiculturalism imbued in these looks. Toronto, after all, is heralded as a multicultural city – this is definitely reflected in our streets when it comes to fashion. Micro trends pertaining to segregated neighbourhoods – the all black everything of Queen West; hipsters and thrift of Kensington; Bay St. suits; Beach hippies – bleed into one another and are paired with macro trends as seen in other countries, on the runway, street style blogs and in the pages of Vogue magazine. Sure, this type of fashion pastiche is albeit a global phenomenon, it really is exemplary right here, in our own backyard.
Enjoy some of our photos taken at the show last Monday at the Piers by JR Bernstein:
