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Photo of Donna Karan and Gabby Karan de Felice by Russell James. All others courtesy of Urban Zen.
Donna Karan loves to giggle. In conversation, the legendary fashion designer has an engaging, low-throated laugh that welcomes the listener into her remarkable world. No matter what she’s discussing—her 45+ years in fashion, the philanthropic work she does with her Urban Zen Foundation, or the upcoming Stephan Weiss Apple Awards ceremony on October 24 that honors her late husband and people who have made a difference in health care, education and culture—Donna Karan finds a wondrous delight, spiritual joy and a keen sense of humor about everything life brings her. Karan is someone who looks forward, not back, but 2018 is a big year for the designer, who celebrates her 70th birthday on October 2 (she’s a Libra). That kind of milestone event naturally prompts reflection about everything she’s achieved up to now, and the list is long and accomplished—nothing to giggle at but to applaud, loudly. She began her career working with sportswear designer Anne Klein, who was the sole woman in the game-changing Battle of Versailles Fashion Show in 1973 that pitted five French designers (Pierre Cardin, Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent and Emanuel Ungaro) against five Americans (Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta, Halston and Anne Klein, who brought Karan as her assistant). “There I was, eight months pregnant, putting clothes on [model] Billie Blair, clothes you could just pull over your head and didn’t have to put hooks and eyes in,” says Karan. “The French were shocked!” The memorable show shifted the fashion spotlight from Paris to America; some six months later, Karan was appointed chief designer with Louis Dell’Olio at Anne Klein, after Klein’s death from breast cancer. It was a successful 10-year partnership, earning the duo two Coty Fashion Awards and Karan’s induction into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1984. A year later, the designer launched her own label, Donna Karan New York, with Seven Easy Pieces, a collection of chic basics including her famous bodysuit that transformed the way working women dressed, ditching businessman-like suits to adopt Karan’s signature classics. The idea evolved naturally out of her own lifestyle, she says. “I started doing yoga in high school, so that’s how the bodysuit became my functional way of dressing,” says Karan. “I always had on leggings and I would throw my clothes on from there.” She won the prestigious CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Womenswear Designer of the Year award that year, and won again in 1990, after launching DKNY, a more affordable line inspired by her daughter Gabby and youth culture. DKNY became a company that symbolized New York City’s return to prosperity and Karan’s burgeoning fashion empire, with its larger-than-life
Clockwise from top left: In 2006, Karan hosted HOPE, an event for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama to raise funds for the Norbulingka Institute in India; hard at work at Anne Klein in 1974 with baby Gabby; Karan visited Ethiopia in May of this year; a snapshot that reflects a strong motherdaughter bond.
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