Shady stuff from Karen Walker

Karen Walker Eyewear range for men and women.

Karen Walker has always had a liking for those chunky-framed glasses favoured by African and South American dictators. So when she came to designing her own range, she had to include her own version of the Muammar Gadaffi and Mobutu Sese Seko style in her Karen Walker Eyewear range for men and women.

The dictator style is officially called Living with Cannibals and Other Adventures after the name of her autumn/winter collection.

There are nine styles, ranging from metal-framed aviator models to large red-acetate 70s-type ones that Jackie O would have loved, or which would have been perfect for Angie Dickinson in the 70s cop show Policewoman.

They're $299 each and the idea is to have more than one pair so you can match your mood.

"It's a fun product, not a commodity product, so you don't have to worry about them all the time because your sunglasses cost $700," Walker says.

"It's not like you have to sell a kidney to buy them." 

When it came to the design, Walker recalled reading that Chanel makeup compacts were designed to click shut with a satisfying sound. She wanted there to be a comparable sensation when someone closed the arms on her sunglasses. "They feel like an expensive car door closing rather than a cheap one."

The range will be available from Karen Walker stores and leading eyewear retailers from October.