Karen Walker, my favourite New Zealand fashion designer, and personal style/career/life icon, showcased her most recent collection,
Fantastique Magnifique, at New York Fashion Week last week, and it did not disappoint. While my fashion preferences often lean towards more a more masculine style of dressing, I found myself coveting a number of items from this collection.
First of all, the colours were outstanding. Soft pastels dominated, providing a background for the mustard to stand out again. This colour's kind of been done to death here, but Walker's yellow-y orange-y version provided a fresh twist, especially in the form of the pants suit.
Fantastique Magnifique also heralded the return of the polka dot, another trend recently showcased at New Zealand Fashion Week by Wellington label twentysevennames. Karen's appeared in a multitude of forms, from a subtle white-on-white, to the bolder blue and white, as seen on wide-leg culottes, skirts, shirts, and this slouchy pantsuit I hope will be available here in New Zealand.
However, what I found most exciting about this collection was the prevalence of the new silhouettes and shapes being created. Little things such as the cropped swing coat, the paperbag-waisted pants, not to mention the slight flare to the mustard pants of the suit, were all subtle surprises that made the collection fresh and interesting, yet still wearable.
Finally, and I had to mention this, the shoes killed it. They are by far my favourite part of the collection, even more so than the mustard suit. The heels, the boots, the loafers, in all those colours, will be high on my wishlist come winter next year.
I may be biased since I'm such a fan of everything Karen does, but I do think her collections get better and better every year.
Some other of my favourite looks:
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| Those sunglasses and that bag |
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All images from Karen Walker's website
