The Label
Donna Karan made her name by revolutionizing the working woman’s wardrobe, starting with her famous “Seven Easy Pieces” 1985 collection that proved it was possible to be simultaneously comfortable, professional, and feminine. In recent years, influenced by her late husband, the artist Stephan Weiss, and her own explorations of yoga and spirituality, she’s softened that look. What unifies Karan’s designs is the sensuality of fabric—she loves tissue-weight leathers, gossamer silks, and the softest cashmeres (one of her fragrances is Cashmere Mist)—and her own personal understanding of what parts of a woman’s body she’d like to have highlighted.
The Look
Body-hugging jersey dresses, often adorned with big statement jewelry or elaborate belts.
The Designer
Donna Karan (nee Faske) was born in 1948 in Queens. She attended the Parsons School of Design and was famously fired by her first boss, Anne Klein, a few days into her internship with the Seventh Avenue legend. Karan swallowed her pride and got the job back; she became Klein’s right hand and ultimately the label’s co-designer (with Louis Dell’Olio) after Klein died in 1974.
Karan started her own house in 1984, and her first collection was a sensation. Four years later, she launched DKNY, her casual, street-informed secondary line. Her company grew—as much by the designer’s instinct as by any strategic business plan—to include menswear, children’s apparel, beauty, home, and accessories. In 1996, Donna Karan went public, which netted the designer a fortune but had mixed results on Wall Street. In 2001, French luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton acquired the company, although Karan kept control of her name and remains creative director. She has received numerous awards, including a lifetime-achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2004.
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