Growing up in New Zealand in the late Seventies and early Eighties, designer Karen Walker was equally terrified and inspired by a television series called “Sapphire and Steel,” whose main character, played by Joanna Lumley, demonstrated how to be tough and in control while still looking chic. In keeping with her aesthetic of unique prints and mixed materials, she used denim and a patent-shearling in off-colors such as olive, mustard and sapphire to create an explosion of texture and pattern.
A group of prints — with motifs such as timepieces, television static and Peter Max-esque faceless ladies — shined brightest, imagined as prairie dresses and paired with a nubby maxi-sweater or a cropped shearling jacket. At times the looks seemed a little too retro — a denim cullotte jumper, for instance — but then again, modern isn’t what the Karen Walker girl is all about.