Karen Walker is a serious music fan, and several of her best collections have been inspired, more or less directly, by whatever it is she s had blasting through her headphones. Today s show found Walker riffing on the venomous post-punk of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Damned, source material that she translated into one of her most compelling outings in a while. There was a welcome shift in attitude here—simply put, Walker dispensed with quirky and replaced it with a tougher, more rebellious tone of youthful eccentricity. One garment encapsulated the change, a duster-length trenchcoat that was downright intimidating, especially in black. But even pieces that could have been twee, like a pair of cropped trousers with bow-fronted, crisscrossed suspenders, had a punkish je ne sais quoi.
Alongside the collection s upgraded toughness, there was a new sense of sophistication, too. Walker had seriously de-fussed her looks, emphasizing clean silhouettes and solid colors, and though it was easy to imagine the typical young Walker fan wearing the collection s simple wrap vests or belted tunic dresses, you could also see a fashionably pared-down woman of any age falling for the allure in those looks. Similarly, Walker s slouchy trousers, flared biker jackets, and neoprene floral skirts could translate into a wide variety of wardrobes and be worn in many ways. To sum up this show with a musical analogy: If the attitude of Walker s collection was the beat that made you prick up your ears and take notice, then the melody you d find yourself humming days later was its broadly appealing polish.
