Karen Walker's Eyewear Debut

ast week: Karen Walker took her eponymous line to the New York runway shows for the first time. This week: Her eyewear collection premiered in her native country, New Zealand.




Her inspiration for the collection was the eyewear of 1970s dictators. A different theme, I like it.

The collection features uniformly oversized lenses, typically encased in large, dark plastic frames. A pair of large aviators is also offered.

Ms. Walker's premier collection is modern and quite fun; one of my favorites is pictured at right.

Thread, a New Zealand-based fashion magazine, covered the launch party and had the opportunity to speak with Ms. Walker:

"The campaign, shot by Derek Henderson and styled by top fashion stylist Rachael Churchward, shows models posing as dictators in Walker's shades in a cheeky take on world politics. 'I’ve always been amused by that South American and African dictator look and how the size of their eyewear always seems to have some sort of correlation to the size of their power, perceived or real.'"

[Source: Thread]

Ms. Walker's launch party also included a photo call for guests to model the sunglasses on stage as the 1970s dictators behind some evening news-style mics. You can check out the results here. The entire collection is visible on her official eyewear website.

The New Zealand Herald also covered the launch party and interviewed the designer, who shared her enthusiasm for the line and some insights into the latest sunglasses trends:

New Zealand Herald: What was the inspiration for this range of sunglasses compared to last year's range?

Karen Walker: We really looked to the dictators and revolutionaries of the 60s and 70s... strong, classic, very masculine shapes, moving on from the round, soft feminine shapes of last season. These are quite angular.

NZH: What's your favourite style in the new range?

KW: Very hard to say. I couldn't give you my favourite, I've got about four pairs of them! I can't make up my mind. It's quite fun, I have different ones for different moods.

[Source: NZHerald]

The coverage went on to report:

[The] guests loved the glasses so much some discreetly disappeared.

[Source: NZHerald]

I applaud your flashy shades, Ms. Walker, and look forward to seeing them in stores.