Karen Walker Hits The Slopes

A surprise return to snowboarding has prompted New Zealand designer Karen Walker to reconsider the beauty of old-school ski suits.

Last winter, Walker’s seven-year-old daughter convinced her to strap into a snowboard for the first time in a decade. “Remarkably, I didn’t break a wrist or anything,” Walker said.

Revisiting the sport did get her thinking about snow gear, however. “This collection is about combining the functionality of old-school ski suits with an underpinning of 1930s and 1940s glamour,” she said of her Pre-Fall offering.

In her research, Walker unearthed a photo of Elsa Schiaparelli skiing with her own daughter, Gogo, in St. Moritz in 1934, and pinned it front and centre on her mood board. The ski suit reference was subtle, surfacing through the embroidered diamond motif on a sweatshirt and the elasticised ankles on a pair of denim trousers.

Walker has a knack for mixing doll-like details, like oversize ruffles and ruching, with more utilitarian pieces, such as this season’s seamed-and-cropped chinos, for a look that’s more cool than cloying.

Original article by Lauren Sherman, Business of Fashion, December 9, 2015.