Donna Karan on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Donna Karan (, born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as "DK", is an American
After leaving college, Karan worked for Anne Klein, eventually becoming head of the Anne Klein design-team, where she remained until 1984, when she launched her Donna Karan label.
Karan began her career as an assistant designer with Anne Klein in the late 1960s, where she was promoted to associate designer in 1971. As Klein's assistant, Karan was a participant in The Battle of Versailles Fashion Show on November 28, 1973. When Klein herself died in 1974, Takihyo Corporation of Japan became the new owner and Karan, together with her former classmate and friend Louis Dell'Olio, became head designer of the house. In 1984, Karan left Anne Klein and, together with her then husband Stephan Weiss and Takihyo Corporation, started her own business "to design modern clothes for modern people". She showed her first women's clothing collection in 1985.
Karan became well known for her 'Essentials' line, initially offering seven easy pieces centered around the bodysuit which could all be mixed and matched, and created a fully integrated wardrobe with her First Collection in 1985. Karan always insisted that she would design only clothes like jersey dresses and opaque Lycra tights that she would wear herself.
In 1988, Karan, nicknamed ''The Queen Of Seventh Avenue'', extended her women's 'Donna Karan New York' line by creating a less expensive clothing line for younger women, called 
In 2015, Donna Karan announced that she would be stepping down as head of her eponymous company to focus on her lifestyle brand, Urban Zen, established by Karan in 2007.
Designer Donna Karan promotes craftwork of Haiti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karan, Donna American fashion businesspeople American fashion designers American women fashion designers Businesspeople from Queens, New York George W. Hewlett High School alumni Jewish fashion designers Living people Parsons School of Design alumni People from Woodmere, New York People from Forest Hills, Queens Jewish women in business 1990s fashion 1980s fashion 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)
fashion designer
Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashio ...
and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY
DKNY is a New York City–based fashion house for men and women, founded in 1984 by Donna Karan.
History
Karan worked for 15 years at Anne Klein, including 10 as its head designer. In 1984 Karan and her late husband Stephan Weiss were offered ...
clothing labels.
Early life
Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabinowitz) and father Gabriel "Gabby" Faske (born Faskowitz) in the Forest Hills neighborhood of the Borough ofQueens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York City. Her family is Jewish. Karan's mother had been a model and had also worked in designer Chester Weinberg's showroom. Her father was a tailor and haberdasher
In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothi ...
who died when Donna was three years old.
Karan and her older sister Gail were raised by their mother in Woodmere, in the Five Towns region of Nassau County, New York
Nassau County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of New York. At the 2020 U.S. census, Nassau County's population is 1,395,774. The county seat is Mineola and the largest town is Hempstead.
Nassau County is situated on western Long Isla ...
. Donna took pleasure in softball, volleyball, and basketball, cut classes in high school, and passed much of her time in the art department. She graduated from Hewlett High School in 1966, and then went to the Parsons School of Design
Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...
.
Career
After leaving college, Karan worked for Anne Klein, eventually becoming head of the Anne Klein design-team, where she remained until 1984, when she launched her Donna Karan label.
Karan began her career as an assistant designer with Anne Klein in the late 1960s, where she was promoted to associate designer in 1971. As Klein's assistant, Karan was a participant in The Battle of Versailles Fashion Show on November 28, 1973. When Klein herself died in 1974, Takihyo Corporation of Japan became the new owner and Karan, together with her former classmate and friend Louis Dell'Olio, became head designer of the house. In 1984, Karan left Anne Klein and, together with her then husband Stephan Weiss and Takihyo Corporation, started her own business "to design modern clothes for modern people". She showed her first women's clothing collection in 1985.
Karan became well known for her 'Essentials' line, initially offering seven easy pieces centered around the bodysuit which could all be mixed and matched, and created a fully integrated wardrobe with her First Collection in 1985. Karan always insisted that she would design only clothes like jersey dresses and opaque Lycra tights that she would wear herself.
In 1988, Karan, nicknamed ''The Queen Of Seventh Avenue'', extended her women's 'Donna Karan New York' line by creating a less expensive clothing line for younger women, called DKNY
DKNY is a New York City–based fashion house for men and women, founded in 1984 by Donna Karan.
History
Karan worked for 15 years at Anne Klein, including 10 as its head designer. In 1984 Karan and her late husband Stephan Weiss were offered ...
. Two years later, she created DKNY Jeans, a denim-inspired collection. DKNY for men was launched in 1992, one year after the 'Signature' line for men had been presented. In 1992, Karan also released her "cold shoulder" dress, a jersey long-sleeved dress which featured deep cutouts at the shoulders to reveal the skin beneath.
Karan left her CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
position in 1997, but continued as chairwoman and designer
A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans.
In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...
for the Donna Karan line. After 2002, Karan's designer contributions became less and less. In August 2008, Karan relaunched her discontinued fragrance lines from the 1990s.
In 2015, Donna Karan announced that she would be stepping down as head of her eponymous company to focus on her lifestyle brand, Urban Zen, established by Karan in 2007.
Awards
* 1977: Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award * 1982: Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award (together with Louis Dell’Ollio for Anne Klein) * 1984: Inducted into the Coty Hall Of Fame. * 1985, 1986, 1987: special CFDA awards * 1992: Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) * 1990, 1996: Womenswear Designer of the Year by the CFDA * 2004: Lifetime Achievement Award by the CFDA * 1994: Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
Personal life
In 1976, Donna Faske married Mark Karan, with whom she had a daughter, Gabby Karan De Felice. They divorced in 1978. In 1983, she married artist Stephan Weiss, who would later become co-CEO of the Donna Karan company. They had one son, Corey Weiss. Stephan Weiss died of lung cancer in 2001. Karan currently resides in Northwest Harbor ( East Hampton), New York, but maintains residences in New York City and the Turks & Caicos Islands.Citations
General and cited references
*External links
*Designer Donna Karan promotes craftwork of Haiti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karan, Donna American fashion businesspeople American fashion designers American women fashion designers Businesspeople from Queens, New York George W. Hewlett High School alumni Jewish fashion designers Living people Parsons School of Design alumni People from Woodmere, New York People from Forest Hills, Queens Jewish women in business 1990s fashion 1980s fashion 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)