Greatest Kiwi Of All Time: No. 86 - Karen Walker (Up 1 from 87 last year)
Fashionista Karen Walker is the star of New Zealand fashion and design and she’s done it all self-taught.
Born in Remuera in 1969, Karen has been in the fashion business for more than three decades. She has taken New Zealand fashion design, accessories, sunglasses and jewellery to an international audience - winning over the likes of Meghan Markle, Michelle Obama, Natalie Portman and Lady Gaga.
Known for her offbeat tomboyish designs, Karen Walker first launched her label aged 18 in 1989, with just a hundred bucks and two t-shirts. She rose to prominence just 11 years later, when she debuted at New York Fashion Week 2000.
Her success, Karen says, simply can’t be put down to one thing. She says her creative sidekick is husband and business partner Mikhail Gherman, but it’s her close mates who make things especially easy for Karen.
Walker admits she’s rather obsessive, sometimes checking her phone 100 times each morning just to deal with what’s going on at the start of her global business day. Add to that sending a couple of hundred emails - she’s certainly connected to her staff, clients and fashion lovers.
Walker has steadily grown to be New Zealand’s most famous fashion export. Today, the truly international brand is available at retail in 40 plus countries, more than 200 cities and 1020 stores including Barneys New York, Liberty London and Harvey Nichols. Her sunglasses range alone rakes in more than $50 million dollars a year.
In 2014, Walker was deemed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to fashion. Karen Walker, kiwi fashion legend and definitely one of Today FM’s Greatest Kiwis of All Time.
GKOAT 23 - Thanks to resene.
Today FM's Greatest Kiwis Of All Time, thanks to Resene - helping Kiwis decorate with NZ made paints since 1946.
