Karen Walker

NEW YORK, September 6, 2008
By Meenal Mistry
It's always fun to hear Karen Walker's free associations on the season. Spring's blithely hopscotched from the Yearning for Zion Ranch (the Texas polygamist compound that was in the news this spring) to voodoo to baptismal dresses to the trippy seventies cult film Holy Mountain—all of this tied together by a rhapsody of blue.

From the old-time prairie look of Warren Jeffs' disciples she borrowed a certain high-collared austerity: buttoned-up shirting in classic oxford cloth, sheer pastel poplins, a quirky chicken print, and a lovely China-print silk voile. There were cuffed and cropped trousers and even a terrific pair of groovy wide-leg jeans. She worked the talismanic motifs of ram's heads and spiders into wearable printed-silk dresses and several highly covetable superfine T-shirts. Despite the general boyishness—one highlight being an adorable, boxy royal-blue shorts suit—she also provided a touch of glam, via chic L.N.D.s (little navy dresses; act like you know) and a peachy leopard print that was a perfect wild take on her cult-y cocktail frocks.