By 3 News online staff
Karen Walker is gearing up to show her 21st season overseas, at New York Fashion Week. The premiere fashion event begins the weekend that New Zealand Fashion Week finishes – an unfortunate clash for many designers and international guests. But for Ms Walker, there’s never been any doubt over which event to attend.
“Our business works in a different way. We love the idea of [New Zealand FashionWeek], but it just doesn’t fit with our schedules,” she says.
“We’re an international brand. Most of our business is internationally, and if you want to be an international brand you have to show in New York, Paris and Milan – you absolutely have to, there’s no other way around it.”
To keep her New Zealand fans happy, Karen Walker instead held a ticketed show at hip Auckland pub Golden Dawn last week. But unlike at Fashion Week, where designers show their Winter 2013 collections, the pieces on the Karen Walker runway are already available in stores.
“For the New Zealand market we like to show what’s in store now, because the trade here is relatively small,” she says. “We show to our [New Zealand] trade in different ways, not through runway shows. It’s not like New York where you can get 300 people in a room at one time.”
Karen Walker shows at New York Fashion Week on September 10.
Click the video tab to watch Kate Rodger’s full interview with Karen Walker.
3 News