An avid traveler, Walsh went to India for the first time in 2003 and couldn’t get enough of it. She was inspired to create her own silk pieces and showed them to her family (her father is the ‘America’s Most Wanted’ host John Walsh), who told her she had real skills in fashion. But Walsh is no greenhorn when it comes to creating clothes; she was on both cheerleading and dance squads in high school, and the year she did the costumes for her dance squad, they went on to win a national competition in Las Vegas.
After several years of philanthropy and working with the Tribeca Open Arts Studio, Walsh felt it was time to take the next step and went to live in Delhi by herself for a year to develop a collection inspired by the rich colors and exotic traditions of India. She strove to create a sophisticated but comfortable collection for both men and women that could be worn anywhere. Her garments have flow and fairly defy gravity as they move. She also makes some bold design choices while keeping the details spare and pointed. Motifs occur successfully, although the occasional appearance of those M.C. Hammer Aladdin pants that seem to be proliferating these days seems like a misstep. If some of her outfits are a little Katherine Hepburn on the smoking couch, she still displays a sense of whimsy.
My main quibble with Ms. Walsh’s collection is that while she has created pretty clothing, she hasn’t necessarily pushed the envelope enough with her design choices. Many of her outfits are pretty much literal translations of traditional Indian outfits, and the style of dress she’s trying to translate is familiar enough that some of the outfits look a bit like costumes. This is a surprise considering the Impressionist style of her painting. She says that she is returning to India to develop another collection for February of next year. Here’s hoping she challenges herself to take the aesthetic that has enchanted her so much to the next level with a bit more of the free association she does in other mediums.
