Karen Walker has her fans in Utopia

Designer Karen Walker with Sisters and Co boutique owner Rodelle Payne and staff before the Tauranga launch of her new range. Photo / George Novak

Top New Zealand designer Karen Walker made a fleeting stop in town for the Tauranga launch of her autumn/winter 2014 collection Utopia.

Walker mixed and mingled with fans and customers at the Sisters and Co fashion show in Mount Maunganui last night.

It was the designer's first visit to the store, owned by Rodelle Payne, which has been selling her line for about three years.

"Rodelle asked if I'd come down and say hi to the customers. I do one or two a season," she said.

"Sisters have been a really great business partner with us for quite a few years now. It's a really important market for us.

"This is one of our five biggest cities. That's not insignificant. These guys are pretty big time."

For Tauranga shoppers the evening was also the first chance to get their hands on Walker's new bag range, a collaboration with Benah.

"That's the first time we've done handbags. We launched them at New York fashion week in September," Walker said.

It might have been Walker's first visit to the store but she is a regular in the Bay often visiting New York stylist Heathermary Jackson at her holiday home in Papamoa.

Walker admitted the first thing she did when she arrived yesterday was take a photo of the view from her hotel balcony and send it to her husband with the caption "retirement?".

"I do like the area," she said.

Mrs Payne said Karen Walker was one of the store's best selling brands and she expected between 50 and 70 customers at the "intimate" night.

"We're just all so excited," she said.

"She's my idol."