Karen Walker

Karen Walker is a New Zealand born fashion designer with a reputation for her original, effortless and unpretentious style.

She left school, after attending Epsom Girls Grammar School in 1988 to begin her fashion training, graduating in 1990. She has said that she started with NZ$100, which she used for material for a shirt. By 1995, she had opened two stores. In 1998, she began selling to Barneys New York.

She showed her first runway collection in 1998 and is regarded as one of New Zealand's highest profile and most international design talents. She has three stores in New Zealand, two of which are in Auckland and one in Wellington but her clothes are sold all over the world.

Walker is married to Mikhail Gherman, a well known advertising creative director. He designs many of the prints and for her fabrics and is often cited as the brains of the operation, They live in the Waitakere Ranges near Auckland, New Zealand.

Karen Walker has recently expanded her designs from her own clothing ranges to sunglasses, a twice yearly range for the iconic New Zealand brand Swanndri, a range of paints for Resene, cosmetics and jewellery.

Karen Walker was awarded the 2007 Prix de Marie Claire award for best creative talent.

Past collab¬or¬ative 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 collab¬or¬ation with the U.K.‘s Pointer Shoes.

In August 2009, Fashion Critic Suzy Menkes, cited Walker as part of a crop of designers, who are charging quote "ridiculous" prices for clothing that could be found on the High Street, and where often copied or similar to clothing found at stores like H&M and MANGO.

Walker has also been a writer for Australian fashion magazine, Russh.