Andre Walker (designer)

Born in London, Walker and his family moved to Ditmas Park, Brooklyn when he was 10 years old.^[3][4] As a child, he poured through all his mother's fashion magazine subscriptions such as W, Vogue France, British Vogue, and Vogue Italia, and he began sketching clothes in them.^[3] His Jamaican mother was a hairdresser and she supported his aspirations.^[4] He experimented with construction such as dresses made of two T-shirts, and his mother sold his first designs in her hair salon.^[4]

Walker was part of the downtown New York club scene in the 1980s. At 15, Walker had his first fashion show at a nightclub called Oasis in Brooklyn in 1980.^[5] In the next few years, he has fashion shows at Danceteria and the Roxy in New York City.^[5] Eventually, he caught the eye of Patricia Field who sold his creations at her boutique on 8th Street in Greenwich Village.^[4]

Walker attended Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.^[3] "I was studying architectural design and rendering, pattern-making for the foundry–meaning how to make and design tools like hammers and wrenches–and learning about perspective drawing and things like that," he said.^[3] While he was a senior in high school in 1983, Walker began to gain recognition for his "pantskirt," a unisex garment that combined slacks and a belted over-skirt that wrapped around the front.^[6] Walker called it his "African diplomat son's look" because it was "very rich and regal-looking."^[6]

In 1986, Walker produced a fashion show at the Palladium nightclub.^[7] Most of the models for the show were Walker's friends and relatives, including his mother.^[7]

In 1989, Laurie Mallet, president of WilliWear, hired Walker to design the women's collection.^[8] In April 1990, Walker's Fall 1990 collection for WilliWear was poorly received by the fashion press.^[9] This coupled with financial problems led the company to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990.^[10][11]

Walker moved to Paris with the sponsorship of Bjorn Amelan former partner of designer Patrick Kelly.^[12][13] Amelan was a financial back for Walker's first collection in Paris, which debuted in March 1991.^[3] Walker had five collections up until March 1995.^[3]

In 2000, after he’d won the ANDAM Fashion Award, the French equivalent of the CFDA Award, Walker closed his company and returned to New York.^[14] Back in Brooklyn, Walker published two issues of a high-concept art and fashion magazine called Tiwimuta.^[15]

After consulting for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Kim Jones, Jones introduced Walker to Adrian Joffe and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.^[16] This led to Walker designing a women's Ready-to-Wear collection under the name And Re Walker for Dover Street Market.^[5]

In 2017, Walker presented his Spring 2019 Ready-to-Wear collection at the Musée des Art Décoratifs in Paris.^[17] The collection was based on the clothing he designed between 1982 and 1986.^[5]

In 2019, Walker designed a collection of upcycled furs for Yves Salomon.^[18] In 2021, Walker collaborated with Virgil Abloh's label Off-White.^[19] In 2023, he collaborated with Pendleton to create a limited-edition blanket.

Walker is Catholic.^[20]