Donna Karan - Fashion Company Profile
Donna Karan is the New York designer and the house she founded in 1984 - the creator of the Seven Easy Pieces wardrobe system and, from 1989, of DKNY. LVMH owned Donna Karan International from 2001 until 2016, when it sold the company to G-III Apparel Group, which owns and licenses the Donna Karan and DKNY brands today.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - the Donna Karan and DKNY brands are owned by G-III Apparel Group, which bought Donna Karan International from LVMH in 2016
- Type
- Brands of G-III Apparel Group, Ltd. (NASDAQ: GIII)
- Headquarters
- New York, New York, United States
- Founded
- 1984, in New York City, by designer Donna Karan and Stephan Weiss
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Company Profile
This filing is a biography as much as a company profile: the Anne Klein years, the founding of her own label, and the DKNY, menswear, beauty and home expansions are summarised below and kept in full on the history page.
Her design philosophy is stated as a balance: 'That I'm a woman makes me want to nurture others, fulfill needs and solve problems. At the same time, the artist within me strives for beauty, both sensually and visually. So design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxury, the practical with the desirable.' The forms it takes run from the simplicity of a bodysuit - where it all began - to the artisan glamour of a limited edition hand-painted devore dress; whatever the form, it begins and ends with the body, its sensual expression, sense of security and freedom of movement. The system built on that idea is the profile's most famous passage: a modern system of dressing based on seven easy pieces, where a handful of interchangeable items work together to create an entire wardrobe that goes from day to evening, weekday to weekend, season to season. 'I'm designing for an international man and woman. A creative person who never knows where a day is going to take them. That's why New York is on the label. It sets the pace, the attitude.'
Donna Karan History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Donna Karan History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
What are Donna Karan's seven easy pieces?
Her modern system of dressing: a handful of interchangeable items that work together to create an entire wardrobe going from day to evening, weekday to weekend, season to season - design that begins and ends with the body, balancing comfort with luxury, in the historical record biography.
How did Donna Karan start her own label?
After succeeding Anne Klein as designer on Klein's death in 1974 and creating Anne Klein II in 1982, she founded her company in 1984 with her husband Stephan Weiss, backed by Takihyo, Inc.; the first Donna Karan New York Collection showed in fall 1985. The company went public in 1996 and was acquired by LVMH five years later, in the historical record.
When was DKNY created, and why?
In 1989, from Karan's quest for the perfect jeans and her desire to dress her daughter Gabby - fast fashion with an urban mind-set, 'the pizza to Collection's caviar', which later spun off DKNY Jeans, Pure, Active, Underwear, Juniors, Kids and Baby lines, in the historical record.
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