Donna Karan imagines a DKLA
One of the most celebrated fashion designers in the U.S., Donna Karan has always been a step ahead of the pack. She featured a female presidential candidate in a 1992 ad campaign titled “In Women We Trust” for her namesake label. She championed the working woman’s wardrobe in the mid-1980s with “seven easy pieces,” basically mix-and-match essentials.
Through her signature line and her DKNY label, Karan put fashion pieces such as bodysuits and “cold-shoulder tops” on the map — timeless looks that have been resurrected in recent seasons.
But last year, the 68-year-old walked away from her role as chief designer at Donna Karan International (acquired by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in 2001 and sold to G-III Apparel Group in July) to focus on her independently owned and globally minded Urban Zen fashion, home and lifestyle brand and philanthropic Urban Zen Foundation, both founded in 2007.
Recently, Karan sat down at her 2,000-square-foot Urban Zen boutique in West Hollywood, originally opened in October 2011 and reopened last month with expanded offerings from her own brand and others, to talk about her mission and her dream of living and working in L.A.
“I’m not the sitting-still type,” said Karan, in reference to doctor’s orders to rest during a recent bout with pneumonia and a broken foot. “My products are as important as lifestyle because they have a purpose and a meaning.
“At first, it was all philanthropy, but everyone would come to my Urban Zen Center [in New York] and say, ‘Where are the clothes?’ ” she said. “So I realized that dressing and addressing are very important . ... I believe in finding the empty space that nobody else is occupying [in terms of philanthropy] and finding calm in the chaos of fashion.”
The Urban Zen Foundation’s Integrative Therapy Program adds alternative wellness practices such as yoga, aromatherapy, meditation and reiki to patient care at hospitals. The foundation has been working in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake and is helping in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.
The Haiti Artisan Project’s mission is to create jobs and vocational education for artisans who craft jewelry, bags, pottery, chandeliers and other home accessories for Urban Zen, which has a training and design facility in Port-au-Prince. Her foundation also is committed to bringing meditation, yoga and nutritional education into schools and to preventing gun violence. Also, 50% of net proceeds of leather Not One More bracelets — Karan wore several during this interview — is donated to the organization’s Not One More cause.
Urban Zen’s teak furniture, oversize poufs filled with downy kapok fibers, and ceramic dishes with a textural rice pattern finish are crafted in Bali, while other jewelry pieces are made in Africa — a continent where Karan is beginning to work more.
Meanwhile, fall 2016’s Urban Zen womenswear collection, dubbed the Alchemist, includes Karan signatures such as seasonless jersey scarf dresses and tops that can be tied in multiple configurations, slimming stretch leggings and tube skirts, cashmere knits and jackets in tufted silk, suede and shearling — all designed for layering in a palette of burgundy, brown and black.
“It’s almost back to how I started my company, with seven easy pieces,” Karan said. “So it’s re-looking at who I was, who I am and taking it to the next level. You can sleep in [these clothes] and go out in them; they take you from day to night.”
The Alchemist collection was shown in a “see now/buy now” format — a concept that Karan has long supported — at New York Fashion Week in September.
“It is so vitally important because of the Internet, where the customer sees fall in February, and then there are the immediate knockoffs,” said Karan. “So the customer says, ‘I’ve seen it already; what’s new?’ Which is the instant gratification world that we live in. They want to see it, wear it and take it home.”
Karan’s next big project is adding yogawear staples, such as bodysuits, to the Urban Zen line. She also plans to design menswear and expand handbag and footwear offerings.
“I’ve been obsessed my whole life with the perfect pair of shoes; the way I fit clothes is the way I want to fit feet,” Karan said.
And her vision doesn’t end there.
“My dream is an [Urban Zen] hotel-condominium living environment,” Karan said. “Upstairs would be meditation, yoga, acupuncture, Thai massage and a garden. Next door would be cotton and cashmere, the clothing, candles, a cafe and concierge. Next to that would be a center of change where I would have the conference aspects.
“Here, I’d like to move my Urban Zen Center down to Malibu, because I want to live there. I’ve been looking for a house for almost seven years and I have so many friends there. And then I’d like to do my designing in Santa Monica.”
Besides “hanging out at Barbra [Streisand]’s house in Malibu,” Karan said she likes to venture to the We Care Spa in Desert Hot Springs, known for its detox juice fasts and colonics when she’s in L.A., “where I do a real cleanse.”
“I do love L.A.,” she said. “The whole Urban Zen concept is so L.A. I could see DKLA in a minute.”