Donna Karan

Vocation

Lifestyle

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Family

American fashion designer of DKNY fame. Karan's mother was a showroom model and her father was a suit maker. Her dad died when she was three and her step-father was also in the fashion industry. With design in her blood, she entered Parson's School of Design in 1968. One of her summer jobs was at the design house of Anne Klein where she stayed. Within two years she was promoted to Associate Designer and subsequently, at age 26, head designer, at the age of 26. In 1985 she established her own fashion house, Donna Karan New York. She developed an award-winning fall fashion line for which The Council of Fashion named her designer of the year. Three years later she introduced the DKNY line, a more moderately priced line designed to appeal to a younger crowd. Outside of the fashion world, she is interested in meditation and Eastern philosophy. She married Mark Karan in 1973 and they had ond child, Gabby, in 1974. The couple divorced in 1978. She married Stephen Weiss, a sculptor, who became head of the company's cosmetics line. In late 1995 resigned to pursue his own career interests in the art world. In mid-1997, Karan gave up her CEO hat but remained Chairperson and chief designer. In 2001 her husband died of lung cancer. Link to Wikipedia biography