I went to a Seminar last week, where the guest of honour was Fashion Designer Karen Walker.  It was a frank and open discussion, where she talked about her life within the Fashion Arena, including her recent showing at New York Fashion Week as well as her work with the United Nations’ International Trade Centre’s Ethical Fashion Initiative. This UN lead project has been set up to provide opportunity for sustainable work rather than charity work being offered in such under-developed counties as Africa & Haiti.

I didn’t know a lot about Karen Walker the brand so was keen to find out more about her international success.  I find her designs generally have a tailoring and style that has a strong, structured, slightly masculine look that caters to a wide audience.  It is a pity her general style aesthetic however doesn’t really suit my body shape, but you can’t have everything!  She also has a strong accessories range, particularly her eyewear collection which has been a phenomenal success, since it launched back in 2005.  Recent ad campaigns’ have helped raised the stakes even higher.

One of the comments she made has stayed with me and I have been mulling it over in my mind ever since.  She believes we should always be “dressing for our personality not our age”. Glossy magazines tend to be full of pictures depicting dressing styles to wear in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s etc.  Why?  I haven’t seen any clothing for sale that comes with a swing tag (with an age bracket attached).  Have you?

Hopefully for all of us our charming personalities will continue to shine through and our age will forever be nothing but a number.