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Karen Walker's New Campaign Is The Definition Of Age Equality

Age and style are not mutually exclusive.
Walker's new collection was released this week.
Karen Walker / Ari Seth Cohen
Walker's new collection was released this week.

Australian designer Karen Walker continues to push the envelope when it comes to collaborative diversity.

The womenswear designer (who also boasts coveted accessory lines -- just ask the many buy-and-swap groups on Facebook) has again teamed up with L.A based photographer Ari Seth Cohen of Advanced Style after first working with him on the hugely successful Eyewear line in 2013.

Karen Walker / Ari Seth Cohen

"For me, it's always a joy working with Karen. Right from the start we've had this shared sensibility that just makes us click," Seth Cohen said in a statement.

The new jewellery campaign, out this week, celebrates age in a world of seemingly cookie cutter Insta-celebrities who are all of a similar aesthetic. Sure, there's nothing wrong with that, but Walker brings fresh breath to the forefront.

Entitled Magic Hands, no points for guessing the collection is a range of rings.

Karen Walker / Ari Seth Cohen

"Hands can be every bit as expressive as faces. These Magic Hands speak of a life well-lived and they absolutely have their own stories to tell," Walker said.

Of the two ladies who feature in the campaign, one was a ballet dancer with the Ballet Russes, and started yoga at the age of 85 (she's now 93). The other was an original cast member of the West Side Story and has partied with Princess Margaret.

Karen Walker / Ari Seth Cohen

Phyllis Sue, who is 93 years young, is a dancer. She was the first New Yorker to perform with The Ballets Russes, and at the age of 50 she started a fashion line which she did for 22 years.

At the age of 85 she took up yoga, as you do. She started playing the piano at five years old but quit when she took up the flute and ballet, but then started playing the piano again at 70 years old. Her dog Nico (who appears in the campaign) sleeps under the Steinway when she plays.

Roberta Haze is 78 years young. Part of the original cast of West Side Story in London in the 1960s, she still remembers the moves to 'America'. She partied with the likes of Princes Margret and Ossie Clark and dated Terence Stamp.

More of this, please.

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