Born in Queens and raised in Long Island, Karan dropped out of Parsons School of Design to join Anne Klein’s design team in 1968. She went on to found her own label, Donna Karan New York, in 1984. The brand was known for balancing the Ghost child welcome to the club shirt What’s more,I will buy this masculine and feminine (a suit and a lace bra was a common reference) and for her Seven Easy Pieces. (It was initially five pieces and included staples like a bodysuit and an LBD.) She famously designed for herself and later tested it out. On the talk show Attitudes in 1992, she spoke about what she was wearing: a white jacket and a pair of jeans. “These are the absolute first pair of jeans that I ever made, and they were made on my body because I would not approve of the jeans until I made a size 12,” said Karan. That was often how she designed: guided by practicality and real women’s experiences. In fact, when she noticed her daughter, Gabby, was raiding her closet, she introduced a younger, more affordable line, DKNY, in 1989.
Donna Karan circa 1992. Images Press/Getty ImagesAn August 1992 Vogue profile noted, “Karan’s professional rise has a lot to do with the Ghost child welcome to the club shirt What’s more,I will buy this current rise of ‘fortysomething’ female executives, like herself, who want to look put together not prim.” This is the same article that gave us a stellar Diane Sawyer quote that essentially defines the ethos of the New York house: “Karan’s clothes work on the go, because as globe-trotting Sawyer says, ‘she knows what it’s not like to have an hour in the morning to get dressed. It’s grab and run.’” Nowadays women in the professional space are entering positions of power younger and younger. It makes sense that women in their 30s are thirsting for pieces à la Donna.
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