Donna karan biography vogue knitting

With her Fall 2014 collection, Donna Karan celebrated the 30th anniversary of her label. To mark this milestone, here’s a look at the earliest Donna Karan sewing patterns.

Donna Karan (b. 1948) was born Donna Faske in Queens, New York to parents in the fashion industry. She attended Parsons School of Design before beginning her career at Anne Klein. In 1984, after over fifteen years at Anne Klein, Karan left to launch her own label. Her first collection, Seven Easy Pieces, explored the concept of layering mix-and-match pieces over a ‘body’ (a snap-crotch bodysuit) and laid the foundation for her brand. (See a New York Times timeline here.)

Vogue Patterns’ licensing began two years after Seven Easy Pieces. Karan was introduced to readers in the September/October 1987 (or Autumn 1987) issue of Vogue Patterns magazine:

In an editorial photographed by Benoit Malphettes, Suzanne Lanza models the four new patterns for a Donna Karan wardrobe. The designs were from the current, Fall/Winter 1987-88 collection (see Bernadine Morris, “Beene and Karan Redefine Today’s Luxury” or watch a runway video on YouTube):

(Scans via Top Models of the World.)

Vogue 1958 is a bias coat and draped, long-sleeved dress:

Here’s the envelope description: Misses’ Coat & Dress. Very loose-fitting, unlined, A-Line, bias coat, above mid-knee, has front extending into standing back neckline and long sleeves. No Provision for Above-Waist Adjustment. Tapered dress, above mid-knee, has draped neckline extending into collar and long sleeves, shoulder pads, front pleated and gathered waist, side front pockets, front zipper (skirt), underarm gusset and elasticized back waist (no seam).

A black, wool knit version of the Vogue 1958 dress is in the collection of the Museum at FIT, where it was featured in the 2008 exhibition Arbiters of Style: Women at the Forefront of Fashion:

Vogue 1960 is a dou

There’s been a bit of that big-D moment beyond fashion. Consultant Mellany Sanchez texted me lyrics to Nicki Minaj’s brand new song, “Red Ruby Da Sleaze”: “We don’t be Karen like Donna-na, na-na-na-na”. On TikTok, hundreds of people are raving about Donna Karan Cashmere Mist. The deodorant is based on Karan’s popular Cashmere Mist Eau de Toilette that she launched in 1994, with notes of Moroccan jasmine and sandalwood. According to Google Trends, there’s also an uptick in searches for her perfume Chaos 1996, which was discontinued in 2002. (Used bottles, some containing a thimble worth of scent, are up for grabs on eBay for $150 upward.) If you are in your late 20s to mid-30s, you may remember your mother dousing herself in the fresh stuff at the time.

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 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 is a problem solver—always has been and always will be. The Seven Easy Pieces concept, which kicked off Karan’s solo career, for example, answered a straightforward question: “What should my friends and I wear?” As she turns 70, Karan is asking the same question. (At Urban Zen, the response is stretchy knits and layers, which gives women of all shapes and sizes options and agency.)

In the latest installment of Sally Singer’s Vogue Voices series, Karan, who “grew up on Seventh Avenue” and admits she always wanted to be an artist, talks us through her stellar career. She takes us from the art to the delivery room and from Anne Klein to Donna Karan New York and DKNY. Along the way, she offers us glimpses into her private life, too, speaking candidly of her working mother’s guilt, her philanthropy, and, movingly, her late husband Stephan Weiss. “He was,” she says, “my partner in crime; he was brilliant.”

Her m.o. isn’t too shabby, either: Believing that “women are the changemakers,” Karan aims not only to dress a customer but to address her. “The fashion today,” the designer states, “is to be aware.”

Director: Phil Pinto
DP: Sam Wootton
Gaffer: Rommel Genciana
Sound: Greg Tobler
Executive Producer: Kris Rey-Talley
Producer: Matt Glueckert
Editor: Theo Rosenthal

With the pleasure of a bit of time on my hands and limited activities that I can engage in because of the carpal tunnel, (knitting is out), I have turned my hand to a bit of sewing. This is completely practical given that I am inevitably going to be a little bit bigger than my regular wardrobe for at least a few months after our little one is born but I also don’t want to go through the ongoing drama of truly, truly having nothing to wear. Seriously, right now I am down to four outfits!

So early this week I began “the hunt”. I was somewhat mortified that Ganters in Kingston had closed down. It was a beautiful shop with bolts of luxurious and fabulously expensive fabrics displayed in the windows. Many of my vintage patterns acquired over the years have the Ganters stamp. The shop name remained printed in gold and beyond the glass panes remained the shell of what the shop had been. Stripped! I thought this was very sad given that it had been around for two generations (at least) but it was also one of the few family stores to sell that kind of merchandise. The only options left now for anyone that sews are the warehouse-like Spotlight or Lincraft that are less specialist, less personal and at times of questionable quality.

In the spirit of my love of “vintage” I decided to use two metres of luxurious Malay batik that I was lucky enough to chance upon in an op shop one afternoon. I holidayed in that part of Malaysia with my Dad a decade ago and immediately recognised the style and the quality. The fabric was in immaculate condition, simply unrecognised and under-appreciated beneath a pile of poly-something-a-rather and I snapped it up for a few humble dollars- I had an absolute gem!

The pattern I settled on was fairly simple- a wrap skirt from a 1992 Vogue American Designer pattern by Donna Karan Ne