Donna Karan will be awarded the National Arts Club’s Medal of Honor in Fashion Thursday night as part of the club’s annual series recognizing people whose work has helped shape their fields. This award not only reflects Karan’s impact on American style, but her longstanding belief that creativity is a force that shapes how we live.
Across fashion, philanthropy and wellness, Karan throughout her career has focused on designing for real lives, from redefining modern wardrobes with the “Seven Easy Pieces” to expanding her creative philosophy through Urban Zen. It’s an approach centered on solving real needs rather than chasing trends, and one that has helped her designs endure across generations.
In an interview with Karan on Feb. 24 on topics ranging from her design philosophy, philanthropic efforts and plans for a documentary to her daughter and son-in-law’s new restaurant in Palm Beach, Fla., she shared her feelings about winning this award.
“I’m very honored,” Karan said. “It’s an honor that is so beautiful and came to me very early. The amount of people who are coming really touches my heart. But I didn’t expect to walk in with crutches and a wheelchair.”
Karan broke her femur recently when she tripped in Palm Beach and spent eight days in the hospital. “I have broken my bones so many times,” she said, reeling off different accidents she’s had over the years.
Karan just returned to New York City from spending two months helping her daughter and son-in-law, Gabby Karan and Gianpaolo de Felice, open their new waterfront restaurant Tutto Marre at the Royal Poinciana Plaza in Palm Beach. Within the restaurant is a little boutique for books and objects from different artists.
“And then I have my dresses and the response has been excellent. But listen, the number-one thing is Gabby and Gianpaolo’s food. They’ve been working on this for so long. And my favorite part is going out on the water. It’s the only restaurant on the water where there are no boats in front of it, and you see across the water. It’s an amazing sight,” Donna Karan said, of the Intercoastal Waterway.
Karan’s latest project is a documentary about her fashion career and philanthropy. “I call it dressing and addressing.” She said she has come up with a lot of titles for the film but they haven’t decided on one yet. “I’m not sure where I’m at right now because who’s the real Donna Karan? [The Donna Karan Co. has been owned by G-III Apparel Group since 2016, which she’s not involved with.] Donna Karan has existed for so many years. I’m now 77,” she said. Karan declined to reveal more details about who’s directing the documentary, which won’t be out for another two years, she said.
With a strong trend of ’80s and ’90s nostalgia dominating current fashion, Karan believes her original designs are just as relevant today. “What I believe in fashion is probably extremely different than what anybody believes in fashion. And I will show you very simply. The bodysuit that I did in 1984, I am still wearing the same clothes,” said Karan, pointing to her black body suit. “The wrap and tie sequin skirt, the bodysuit, the suede jacket. My ‘Seven Easy Pieces’ have evolved, but then there are seven easy pieces. And then all of a sudden, you see Michael Kors’ gold sequin skirt [on the runway]. I almost had a heart attack.”
Discussing how she catalyzed a movement in body-conscious dressing, she said, “You know, the bodysuit, the leggings, the wrap and tie skirt. It’s a group unto itself. That’s all you need. And I said the most important thing you could ever have is a scarf. You can do anything with it. You can make a dress out of it, you can put your head in it, you keep yourself warm, you keep yourself light. You cover up what you don’t want to see,” Karan said.
She recalled that period when she was in labor almost 52 years ago with her daughter, Gabby, and her boss, Anne Klein, was dying. “Anne’s not in the office, I’m not in the office and the collection is due. So everybody came to my apartment, I was excited. I had bagels and lox and everything for everybody. They’re all coming to see Gabby, and nine o’clock that morning, the phone rings, and it was the president of Anne Klein. Anne Klein had passed away.”
She said her whole life changed at that moment when she had to take over the design of Anne Klein. “I never wanted to be a designer. I wanted to sing like Barbra Streisand and dance like Martha Graham. I wanted to be on stage and let Barbra do the singing. I didn’t have to dress her,” she quipped about her close friend, for whom she frequently designs clothing. Karan enlisted her friend, Louis Dell’Olio, as codesigner at Anne Klein.
Fast forward through an influential career that revolutionized the way women dressed, with her luxurious interchangeable wardrobe that seamlessly transitioned from day to night.
Donna Karan
Lexie Moreland/WWD
Asked if she misses the hustle and bustle of Seventh Avenue, Karan said, “What I’m trying to explain to you is I feel you have to look at fashion through a different lens, period, end of report. It can’t be a ‘me’ in fashion. It’s a ‘we.’ I work at Parsons School of Design and I’m on the board, and I started the graduate program there years ago. I feel that the way you have interior design people, they work as a group. And I do believe there are too many me, me, me and we need more we, we, we.”
She acknowledged that “Ralph [Lauren], Calvin [Klein] and I were three rather notables. Afterward, and because I was at Parsons, I brought people together in saying there are two things that did not work for me in fashion. One is showing the clothes before they’re out for the season. The only people who we showed were WWD and The New York Times, who ran two photos. But then, it goes out, out, out and of course they all get knocked off. I’ve been saying this for a long time and it bores me. And, it’s too much clothes. Seven Easy Pieces. Do it simple. Usually the pieces that you do do last forever. You know, it’s like, ‘what’s new, what’s new, what’s new?’”
As a woman known for designing for women, Karan was asked how her understanding of women’s needs have evolved. “I love designing for men more,” said Karan, whose father was a tailor.
She said she comes out with a new Urban Zen collection twice a year. She does fall and spring. “We have the restaurant and everything out in the Hamptons, and now with Florida, it’s great, because the clothes can go right there. They have longevity to them,” she said.
Karan said they still own her late husband and sculptor Stephan Weiss’ studio downtown at 711 Greenwich Street in the West Village, which is a two-level, 8,000-square-foot event space. “My daughter created a whole new space in my husband’s studio so it’s brand new,” she said. Karan also has her Urban Zen store in that space. “It’s my husband’s studio where all the people come together to create change. We’ll have restauranting, talking. It’ll be a whole lifestyle, and right now I think people have to get together to talk.”
Karan’s work through the Urban Zen Foundation, which she founded in 2007, has helped to humanize health care, empowered artisans in Haiti and other places, and launched yoga, nutrition and education programs for children in underserved communities. She is also active in Kenneth Cole’s charity, the Mental Health Coalition.
She said while this award is looking back on one’s lifetime, “I will say, I’m not finished yet. This is just the beginning.”
As far as what she’s still interested in pursuing, she said, “Travel, travel and travel. I want to go to Mongolia. I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve done a lot of work in Africa. I’ve done a lot of work in Bali. All my furniture is made in Bali with Christina Ong. All the chandeliers over the restaurant are from Haiti. I was there when the earthquake happened, and President [Bill] Clinton got me involved in Haiti.”
Karan’s advice for aspiring designers is different from what her experience was in building a global brand. “I would say create a community. Let’s say one person does sweaters and one does leather. Pick what you do in a small way because you don’t have to make this big, huge collection,” Karan said.
“At one point I walked off, and said I can not do pre-fall and fall, pre-spring and spring. That’s insanity,” she recalled. Karan stepped down as chief designer of Donna Karan International, which was then owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, in 2015.
“This is a creative person who has to have her downtime to be able to get up again. I do not ever feel that design is a job. Design, for me, is a life. And design could be everything. It could be furniture. It could be plates, it could be wherever your heart sits. I get my color in design from the life around me.”
Was there a period of time where she had the most fun and was the most productive and happy?
“I’m going to be honest about this. In looking back, it’s black and white. I’ve had a lot of difficulty and I’ve had a lot of joy. I’ve loved the people who work with me. I love to help them. I love to create, but I also see how many people have passed away in my life. And what’s happening in the world today, I can’t explain it. I see a problem, I see a solution. It’s more, ‘how can I help?’ If we come together to create a community to help, to create a community to design.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be introducing the National Art Club event on Thursday night, and will be speaking of her relationship with Karan. “It is such an honor. I do not think I’d be the woman today had it not been for Hillary and Bill. They changed my life,” Karan said.
She said the Clintons brought her to Haiti. “Haiti blew me away….When I went to Haiti, my heart opened completely. Everything that I cared about, health care, education, the culture, artisans, I just fell in love,” Karan said.