Books

Karen was a witness and participant in the 1960s political protests, ecological, sexual and feminist revolutions that liberalized society and changed not only the way we dress but the way we think. In her third year of art school in Canada, inspired by Kerouac's On the Road, she took off hitchhiking to San Francisco where she met Ferlinghetti and the beatnik poets. From there to New York and Paris, as an artist in training, she attended art classes, hung out at the Beat Hotel and participated in Poetry and Art Events, becoming friendly with artists and musicians, Robert Filliou, Daniel Spoerri, Jean Tinguely, Eva Appelli, John Cage, Andy Warhol, Yves Klein, Beuys', Fluxus artists and Visual Poets. In London she became a highly successful designer, first in her own boutique - Twiggy modelled her clothes - and then with sales to Carnaby Street and Kings Road, Paris' Tiffany's, Dorothée Bis and Le Gaminerie boutiques and across America. She partied with the pop world of Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Rolling Stones and frequented Indica Bookstore and Gallery where Yoko Ono met John Lennon. With her Maoist friend Adrienne, she participated on the 1968 Paris barricades. In 1969, she established the first textile design studio in London. In 1976 after winning awards and gaining international recognition, she moved her studio to Paris. In 1985, with Li Edelkoort she created Trend Union, a design consulting and forecasting firm that became world famous for predicting trends for famous fashion houses. TIME magazine named Trend Union as ‘One of the world's most influential fashion futurists'.