"There’s not much I miss about fashion but I miss conversations with Karen Walker" stated ex-journo Stacy Gregg on the couch at Semi-Permanent on Friday with Karen Walker and Mikhail Gherman…
"There’s not much I miss about fashion but I miss conversations with Karen Walker" stated ex-journo Stacy Gregg on the couch at Semi-Permanent on Friday with Karen Walker and Mikhail Gherman. "You know how people wear those What Would Jesus Do" bracelets, well I often ask myself, "What would Karen do?"
Stacy got her wish at Auckland design conference Semi-Permanent held at Aotea Centre on Friday 19 August 2010, when she joined the married couple behind the global brand ‘Karen Walker.’ "They met as students and on their first date Karen wanted a Miami Wine Cooler but Mikhail said, "No, you’re having a martini." It was the first of many decisions he’d make as Creative Director of the Karen Walker brand!"
"You’ve got 450 doors in 26 countries and shown at NY eight times. When did you first consider yourself a ‘global brand’?" Stacy asked.
"The first time was getting off the Tokyo subway and seeing my dress" said Karen.
Stacy asked about their marketing strategy.
"Less than 300 designers are reviewed on (Vogue site) Style.com including us. It’s the one that matters; everyone copies what they say. They’re the most educated and harshest critics" said Karen.
"Our marketing strategy if you like, is to put yourself in front of the harshest critics" agreed Mikhail.
"I don’t consider Style.com as marketing as you have no control over it. That’s the thing in my job that still gives me butterflies; it’s waking up at 3am for the Style.com review to come up" said Karen.
Below: Stacy Gregg
"The first NY showroom that approached us I told we’re not ready. They said ‘You’ll never be ready’ and I said well, that’s true. You have to just got to get out there" Karen said. "Our first season was picked up by Barneys, then two weeks after that, Madonna’s stylist came in and bought our pants and wore them on MTV viewed by 200 million people."
"We didn’t realise the power of celebrity until that point. They took pants practically off our people working in our workroom!" said Mikhail.
"There must be celebrities who are more desirable than others"" asked Stacy.
"We don’t send our care packages to celebrities, it’s not our focus" said Karen. "Our focus is doing a great collection."
"They ring us and ask if we want to see so-and-so wearing our stuff" says Mikhail, "and we say, yeah send it through, it’s like having an Italian restaurant with pictures up!"
Below: Madonna on MTV wearing Karen Walker pants.
Stacy commented on how they see the brand as a ‘global niche brand.’
"We might be in twenty stores in Tokyo, but they’re the twenty BEST stores" said Karen. "Having 450 doors in 26 countries in very boutique compared to the major brands."
"We’re still indie" said Mikhail. "We’ve not evolved from generations of producers like say Gucci."
"I don’t like having to talk people into getting it" says Karen. "We shouldn’t have to explain the brand if they don’t get it."
Image from their first collection sold at Barney’s.
Stacy said they’d had a question from the audience by text asking who they would thank for their early success. "Tim Blanks, Style.com, and US Teen Vogue" said Karen. "They connect at the most immediate level; they like the clothes and they get the story behind it."
"Fashion for us was never about getting into the apparel business" said Mikhail. "It was always about getting into ideas; about creating image."
Stacy said, "Tim Blanks says, ‘Karen’s dark.’ You’re twisted!"
"We look for contrasts. In Japan, the stores call it ‘The Poison.’ My first ever shirt in 1988 was a men’s shirt, but made in a Liberty floral print. It’s about the mixing of masculine and feminine; the duality."
"Our latest collection is ‘Salzburg USA.’ We watched The Sound of Music on a plane and loved the curtain prints. Our range ‘The Believers’ came out of the court case of a cult, with long chambray dresses."
Stacy asked, "How do you keep the theatre out, and not go too costumey?"
"Mikhail goes off out there and Heather (Heather-mary Jackson, her stylist) and I say, we wouldn’t wear that!"
Stacy commented that their key design idealogy seems to be ‘when they zig, we zag.’ Karen agreed. "That’s the key element of designing; if it’s all about this in the world right now, e.g. block colours and minimalism, then we’re bored with that, and we’ll do say, prints and florals!"
"People don’t need new stuff" said Mikhail. "They need new ideas. They want to engage intellectually with a product."
"The first time you introduce high-waisted trousers they say ‘does this make my bum look big?’ Then you introduce lower waisted trousers and they say, ‘does this make my bum look big?!" laughed Karen.
Below: The controversial ‘Dictators’ eyewear collection images shot by Derek Henderson.
"We were the first in Australasia to partner with other companies in ‘marriages’" said Karen. "We do four: Hi There at Myer, eyewear, jewellery, and paint. We say no to a lot of opportunities. It’s not a licensing deal where they use our name; we design it."
"Our catchphrase is ‘People Like Us.’ The audience is people like us. We’ve never done product research, we just do stuff we like and put it out there!" said Karen.
"The bottom line in a creative business is that it’s creative AND it’s a business. Sometimes poeple think creativity is the antithesis of business but you can be very creative in business." said Karen.
The talk ended with slides of The Department Store in Takapuna, Auckland. Stacy asked what their inspiration was behind opening it. "Well, the world’s in a recession, why not open a department store?" laughed Karen.
"It’s an extension of our collaboration-thinking." said Mikhail. "It’s a traditional marketplace and a recontext."
By Megan Robinson, 19 August 2010.
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