While the rest of us were rolling sluggishly into February still pining for a summer that never came, Ponsonby-based designer and New Zealand fashion icon Karen Walker was working her way effortlessly through one heck of a ‘to do’ list.
I can’t believe you’re in Ponsonby at the moment, rather than travelling?
For the first February in over 10 years we are home in Ponsonby, not snowed in at The Ace Hotel in New York, working on a show.
Did you take much of a break over summer, albeit a less-than-impressive one?
Yes, we had a nice break over Christmas. After flying 250,000km on 25 trips last year, it was great to be home with the out-of-office on and enjoying daily trips to the beach plus lots of reading, swimming and tennis-ing.
It felt like your new fragrance and eyewear releases dropped at the same time, was that always the plan?
Yes, they were actually released within a week of each other. February is always a big month for new releases. We released new season ready-to-wear at the same time and new jewellery’s coming out pretty soon too.
Runaway is your fifth fragrance, is there pressure to produce them on a regular basis or do you just work away on them over time, to release when you see fit? They have been hugely successful.
There’s no pressure. We only create new fragrances when we feel we have something new to say.
Runaway is described as “a potent, oriental, spicy fragrance with exotic woody and sensual undertones.” How would you describe it in
your words?
Midnight adventures in a forest.
Was there a muse behind its creation?
Our Runaway Girl.
How did you first connect with European perfumer Véronique Nyberg? She appears to be a busy woman…
When we were developing our first set of fragrances we met with her in Paris and immediately loved her style, ideas and approach to fragrance.
She has worked on some pretty successful releases like Jimmy Choo EDT and Lancôme Trésor in Love, was her impressive CV part of your decision to work with her?
We were fascinated by her encyclopaedic knowledge of obscure and rare botanicals, and her fresh, modern approach to fragrance.
The treehouse imagery that accompanies the fragrance is just so evocative and beautiful. Who created that for you?
As usual, my husband Mikhail came up with and developed the concept.
It is so refreshing to see a fragrance ad that doesn’t feature a ‘face’.
Was that deliberate?
This fragrance is about imagination and I find a face is too much of a full stop for an idea.
Your Transformers Eyewear collection does feature a face however, yours! I remember a campaign from many, years ago that you also appeared in. Why did you decide to be the focus again?
I don’t really think of it as me being the focus. The focus is the idea of change, I just happen to be the canvas upon which those changes occur. We felt that for the idea to work there needed to be a certain amount of familiarity - a base from which to create all these different characters that would disorientate, surprise and amuse the viewer.
Do you have a favourite from the collection of nine images and a favourite style?
No, I’m super happy with them all. Though, having said that, I do really love the Mugler-esque replicant with the red hair - it’s Mugler plus Bladerunner plus a cat-eye all in one, what’s not to love?
I know your brother-in-law, Valery, was the makeup artist for the shoot, who else helped it all come together?
Dennis Gotz was our wig guy - he’s amazing. Michael Schwartz, who we’ve worked with many times, was our photographer and Mikhail was our creative director. We shot the images at Smashbox Studios in LA, which was a lot of fun as well.
Lastly, what are you working on right now?
We’re putting finishing touches on new ready-to-wear to come out in July, starting work on ready-to-wear to come out in October and also in December, working on 2018 eyewear, bags of course, and jewellery also, plus a couple of new things that can’t be revealed yet. And trying to schedule a holiday in there too! (HELENE RAVLICH)