New Year Honours: Birthday surprise for fashion designer

By JULIET ROWAN

Fashion designer Karen Walker had an especially pleasant birthday on December 4. It was the day she found out she'd been included in the New Year Honours list.

"It was a great surprise," said the 34-year-old, who was recognised for services to the fashion industry.

One of New Zealand's most renowned designers, Walker is no stranger to accolades. But she likes the fact that her inclusion in the honours list is an award all her family and friends can appreciate.

"It's one of those acknowledgments that everyone understands whereas not everyone understands the importance of being acknowledged by British Vogue or a buyer in New York," she said. She is "thrilled" with the thought that someone nominated her.

"It's very flattering and always wonderful to be acknowledged for the work you do."

She said her parents and her husband of 14 years, Mikhail Gherman, were "very proud".

The Auckland designer shot to international fame when she showed her first runway collection, Daddy's Gone Strange, at Hong Kong Fashion Week in 1998. Barneys New York immediately placed an order and Madonna wore a pair of "killer pants" from the collection to the MTV Music Awards the same year.

The designer's subsequent collection, Live Wire, also received rave reviews.

Walker, whose clothes often combine feminine and masculine extremes, now regularly shows at the British and Australian fashion weeks.

Her clothes are stocked in about 90 boutiques and department stores worldwide.

Her work has also appeared in exhibitions at museums including Powerhouse in Sydney and Te Papa in Wellington.