Andre Walker put on a series of presentations at the Musée des Art Décoratifs this afternoon. If you missed the short run of shows he did circa 2014–2016, Walker’s name might be unfamiliar. Before that he was last on an official calendar in 2001. But he’s a fashion veteran, all right, with a long run of service for Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton and the designer’s eponymous label, and a commensurate list of industry friends. The 21 looks Walker showed today were based on pieces he designed between 1982 and 1986. For some perspective, consider this: Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello was born in ’82.
The show was made possible by Pendleton, which provided the fabrics, and Walker’s friends and collectors—Patricia Field, Louis Vuitton’s Kim Jones, and the hairdresser Christiaan among them—who loaned him their originals to work from. In that mid-’80s time period, Walker was creating flat versions of garments cut freehand without a pattern. Imagine if you laid a three-dimensional coat or pair of trousers on the ground. In 2-D its volumes become flat curves and arabesques. Walker must’ve been way, way ahead of his time. Because even today, 30-odd years later, the mostly unisex pieces had an arty, avant-garde quality, alternately lean and languid, as in the case of a narrow wool opera coat fastened with an oversize gold safety pin at the neck, or with rigid volumes as in the series made from Glacier National Park blankets with bold stripes that compensated for their relative stiffness.
In a week bookended by mega-productions by fashion’s global powerhouses, the intimate scale of Walker’s shows and the personal output felt vital, even restorative. And it wasn’t only a moment for looking back. His notes said that the samples would be available for immediate purchase. Call it buy-now-wear-then-now. We suspect Jones and co. will all be placing orders.
