DKNY to lose its founder
Donna Karan will focus on her Urban Zen brand, but will leave hole in the industry
Donna Karan announced on Tuesday that she will be stepping down as chief designer of Donna Karan International to devote more time to her stand-alone Urban Zen brand, and to her charitable causes. “Donna Karan New York is a part of me, past, present and future,” she said in the statement. “It has been an honour to speak woman to woman about seven easy pieces that forever changed the way women dress.”
Reaction was swift as insiders lauded Karan as a visionary, with the Council of Fashion Designers of America tweeting: “The end of an era! Donna Karan departs DKI.”
“Donna created a way of dressing that was womanly, practical and empowering, and came from a deeply personal, instinctual place; she has always let her empathetic heart rule her design head,” Anna Wintour, the artistic director of Conde Nast and editor of Vogue magazine, told the New York Times.
No successor will be named. For now, the brand has decided to suspend Karan’s runway shows and collections, and rely on licensees to support the business, including the contemporary brand DKNY. Karan will remain as an adviser at Donna Karan International, according to a statement.
“I have arrived at a point in my life where I need to spend more time to pursue my Urban Zen commitment to its fullest potential and follow my vision of philanthropy and commerce with a focus on health care, education and a preservation of cultures,” Karan, 66, said in a statement. “After considering the right time to take this step for several years, I feel confident that DKI has a bright future and a strong team in place.” Karan’s departure also leaves a hole on the Hollywood red carpet. Over the years, Karan’s atelier has dressed a constellation of stars in body-conscious looks, including Sofia Vergara for the 2015 SAG Awards, Viola Davis for the 2015 Golden Globes and Jane Fonda for the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. “Her talent is in the clever cut and the innovative fabrics that make a woman feel empowered and feminine all at once, as the fabric sculpts and envelops her body,” said stylist Tanya Gill, who works with Fonda.
Founded in 1984, DKI went public in 1996. In 2001, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton bought all the outstanding shares, plus the licensor of Donna Karan trademarks. Karan established the lowerpriced DKNY brand in 1989, followed by DKNY Jeans, DKNY Underwear, DKNY Eyewear, DKNY Kids and more.
In April, DKNY hired Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne, founders of the hot New York menswear brand Public School, as designers. They will show their first DKNY collection in September.
Karan’s decision to step down doesn’t come as a complete surprise. In recent years, she has devoted herself to Eastern philosophy and yoga, and a nomadic lifestyle (she travels often to do humanitarian work, including to Haiti, where she’s an honorary ambassador working closely with the Clinton Global Initiative). Karan founded the Urban Zen Foundation in 2007 with a friend, British fashion designer Sonja Nuttall. —