Fragrance house

Karen

Karen Walker and Mikhail Gherman established the business together, with Walker leading design and Gherman becoming the brand’s creative director. The brand opened its first shop in Auckland’s Newmarket in 1993. International milestones included a collection at Hong Kong Fashion Week in 1998, a London Fashion Week appearance in 1999, its first solo London show in 2002, and a New York Fashion Week debut in 2006. Its design identity combines contrasts including luxe and street, masculine and feminine, and folk and utility. In 2016, after 20 seasons at New York Fashion Week, Karen Walker stopped presenting runway collections, saying the fashion show had become redundant to the brand’s storytelling. After 35 years, the business remained wholly owned by Walker and Gherman. The fragrance line began in 2015 with the A, B and C eau de parfum trio, developed with Six Senses as an extension of the brand’s design vision. B was the trio’s bestseller and won the best female fragrance category at the 2016 Bauer Beauty Awards.