Karen Walker has just shown SS16 ’Star City’ at New York Fashion Week this morning.
The collection will be available in the Southern Hemisphere for Autumn/Winter 2016 from February 2016.
Karen Walker’s SS16 collection is an exploration of folk-meets-utility-meets-glam, inspired by life in the Soviet Union’s secret training base – Zvedzny Gorodok, aka, Star City. This “closed military townlet No. 1”, in the woodlands just north of Moscow, is unmarked on the world map. During its heyday, Star City was home to a community of cosmonauts, space engineers and government officials 6,500 strong. It was from Star City that the first satellite, the first living creature (Laika the dog) and the first man (Yuri Gargarin) were all launched into space. In 1963 Star City achieved another first when 26-year-old Valentina Tereshkova, a textile mill operator and amateur parachutist, became the first woman to go into space. Karen is fascinated with Star City’s juxtaposition of traditional Russian folksiness and highly advanced space technology, the sense of heroism that was at its very heart and the glamour that it effused. Russian constructivist stripe and star prints suggest proud propaganda. Gold lambskin creates glam party outfits for the “stars” of Star City, alongside scarf dresses made for a night at a secret Soviet disco. Zips, metal clasps, taping and topstitching alongside denim, poplin and parka nylon secure the collection’s uniform and utility inspired moments. Romantic embroidery, muslin and washed cotton applied to peasant silhouettes anchor Karen Walker’s folksy motif. To this day, few outsiders have ever seen star City with their own eyes.
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