Donna Karan, Fashion’s Cassandra
Donna Karan has long predicted that too-early deliveries would ruin fashion. In the wake of COVID-19, others finally believe her.
“For some reason beyond my comprehension, stores want us to ship them six-ply cashmere sweaters and double-face coats by July 15. Of course, that’s fine with the consumer, because she’s learning to buy on sale by Oct. 15….The industry has to come together, to support one another and sell the right clothes at the right time of year. — 1997
“We’re all in trouble. We have to collaborate to create the kind of change [we need] to get out of these waters that we’ve created for ourselves. Nobody else did this. We did this.” — 2009
“What I think we’ve got to do is lower the volume on the press shows….Why do we need to blast out five months in advance rather than when it goes into the store?” — 2010
“When it’s snowing out, they’re looking for a pair of boots or a warm coat [and can’t find them]. That’s why I started Urban Zen. I
couldn’t take it anymore. If they’re not going to do it, I was going do it.” — 2016
Donna Karan — fashion’s own flesh-andblood Cassandra. The Trojan princess was doomed to foresee the future, its dire straights perhaps preventable if only people listened and believed. Yet her cries fell on deaf ears. Donna has predicted cause-and-effect fashion industry maladies for years, and no one believed her — at least not until a global pandemic hit, killing hundreds of thousands of people and bringing the worldwide economy to a screeching halt.
A major thorn for Donna: those early deliveries. The comments above are hers from the years noted, the first two made at the WWD CEO Summit, the others, from published interviews. For years, Donna has decried the self-defeating practice of shipping clothes into stores months in advance of their weather appropriateness, all but insuring early, extreme markdowns. For years, some in the industry would nod in false agreement, secretly willing her to just shut up. Mostly, eyes rolled and shoulders shrugged, silent declarations that this was all just “Donna being Donna.”
Not anymore, with the industry thrust into turmoil by the coronavirus pandemic that has stunned even the power players into pause mode. Meanwhile, for legions of independent brands, many of which were already struggling to stay afloat, prospects are now grimmer than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdown and the everdeteriorating retail landscape (many, many such brands remain dependent on the traditional wholesale model) with, in ►
the U.S. alone, Barneys New York gone, Neiman Marcus Group in bankruptcy and Nordstrom permanently closing 16 of its department stores, as well as all three Jeffrey outposts.
Now, Donna’s decades-long proselytizing doesn’t ring so kooky. Last week saw the launch of overlapping initiatives aimed at pushing deliveries back to better align with the true seasons and instituting markdowns only at the end of selling seasons. Dries Van Noten leads the most notable of these efforts. It calls for women’s and men’s fall collections to be in store from August through January, with markdowns in January, and spring collections, from February through July, with markdowns in July. In addition, the plan seeks to increase sustainability by creating “less unnecessary product, less waste in fabrics and inventory, less travel.”
Giorgio Armani didn’t seek consensus. He kickstarted the slower fashion movement last month, committing to a more seasonally correct delivery schedule on his own, while Saks Fifth Avenue also called for such a shift.
If this isn’t a moment for a Donna check-in, what is? Though no one involved with any industrywide initiatives had approached her for advice or involvement, if she feels at all exasperated, frustrated or hurt, she’s not letting on. Last week, she signed Van Noten’s consortium letter at forumletter.org.
“This is not about an ego,” Donna said. “There’s no ‘me’ here. This is a ‘we.’ This virus has impacted the world.” She feels encouraged that broad pockets of the industry are finally realizing the need for change, while saddened by the depth of devastation wrought in getting to that point. “I’m happy that this [industry effort] is happening. I’m sorry that it took this pandemic, a crisis of this level, to bring everybody together. This is a very, very difficult time. We are going to be looking at changes every single minute of the day. But where there is a problem, there is a solution — this is what I believe.”
Donna has long trumpeted the importance of marshaling the industry’s various factions and individuals to work together for the common good. In articulating that desire now, she indulged in a little classic Donna-speak. “I have always wanted to collaborate, to communicate, to create change,” she said, launching heartily into a litany of her beloved c-words, “cotton, cashmere, café, concierge, create, collaborate, communicate, change. Clothes. Country. City. Conscious consumerism.” At that last one, she stopped herself. “I mean, a consciousness must go into this,” she mused. “We will all be more conscious of the choices we are making. We are more conscious of our reality from an economical and environmental point of view, and that will dictate not only how but also why customers buy from a brand…. It’s a wakeup call. God forbid, something [terrible] happens to you, there’s a lesson. With darkness comes light. It’s a guarantee.”
That said, in pursuit of that light, Donna acknowledged feeling “like a broken record” after 25-plus years of passionate campaigning. “We’re not serving us [as designers], and we’re not serving the community, we’re not serving our industry. We’ve got to redesign it. I mean, that’s what we stand for, designers. We have to redesign this industry.”
Though she believes that measures should have been implemented years ago, she’s resolute that the past is over, and that the future offers no gray area: Now, change must occur. “I’ve been saying this till I’m deaf, dumb and blue in the face…. We don’t have a choice,” she said, except to agree “how we all have to come together.”
While history offers no exact parallel to this extraordinary moment, Donna cited precedent for the industry functioning as a genuine community in pursuit of the greater good. She noted two examples: the AIDS crisis and the aftermath of 9/11. “Never will I forget what happened to an industry at that moment in time,” she recalled of the latter, while still highlighting a difference between then and now. The September 11th attacks happened during New York Fashion Week, shaping a grim milestone for the entire ►