Donna Karan
Diane von Fürstenberg
April 20, 2020
Marc Jacobs
April 20, 2020
Donna Karan was born in New York City in 1948 to parents working in the fashion industry. After graduating from the prestigious Parsons School of Design, the future fashion diva worked her way up to become head designer of classic American fashion brand Anne Klein. In 1984, Karan left Anne Klein and, together with her then husband Stephan Weiss and Japanese investor Takihyo Corporation, started her own business "to design modern clothes for modern people".
She designed practical clothing for women to wear not only to work but to easily transition to the cocktail parties after work - sleek and practical basics mixed with glamorous and feminine pieces. The Donna Karan brand quickly grew into the successful empire that it is today, including lower priced lines DKNY and DKNY jeans, and other kids, mens, home, and beauty lines. In recent years, Karan’s designer contributions became less and less, and she finally stepped down from the company in 2015 to spend more time on her lifestyle brand, Urban Zen.
Donna Karan has left a lasting impact on the world of clothing, bringing uptown New York chic into the mainstream.
