Andre Walker

Andre Walker (born 1965) is a British-born fashion designer. Walker emerged from the downtown New York fashion scene in the 1980s. Known for his eclectic style and avant-garde silhouettes, former Vogue creative director André Leon Talley called him an "unsung genius." Walker was a fashion consultant for Marc Jacobs, Kim Jones, and Louis Vuitton. Along with his eponymous fashion line, he has also designed for WilliWear.

Life and career Born in London, Walker and his family moved to Ditmas Park, Brooklyn when he was 10 years old. 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. In the next few years, he has fashion shows at Danceteria and the Roxy in New York City. Walker called it his "African diplomat son's look" because it was "very rich and regal-looking." Most of the models for the show were Walker's friends and relatives, including his mother. In April 1990, Walker's Fall 1990 collection for WilliWear was poorly received by the fashion press. This coupled with financial problems led the company to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990.

Walker moved to Paris with the sponsorship of Bjorn Amelan former partner of designer Patrick Kelly. Amelan was a financial back for Walker's first collection in Paris, which debuted in March 1991. Back in Brooklyn, Walker published two issues of a high-concept art and fashion magazine called Tiwimuta.

After consulting for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, and Kim Jones, Jones introduced Walker to Adrian Joffe and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons. This led to Walker designing a women's Ready-to-Wear collection under the name And Re Walker for Dover Street Market. The collection was based on the clothing he designed between 1982 and 1986. In 2021, Walker collaborated with Virgil Abloh's label Off-White. In 2023, he collaborated with Pendleton to create a limited-edition blanket.

Personal life Walker is Catholic.