Donna Karen isn’t one to rest on her laurels as an icon in the fashion world. Since stepping down from Chief Designer of DKNY, she’s only taken on greater responsibility thru her non-profit organization and center Urban Zen . She sat down with journalist Rebecca Jarvis at Tribeca Film Festival’s The Daring Women Summit to discuss life in fashion and social change.
This Tuesday Karen launched her Urban Zen collection at Berdorff’s 30 years after her first collection there. “It’s about dressing and addressing women. “ Karen shared that the idea for Urban Zen hit her like a shock of light. Founded in 2007, her aim was conscious retail. While the issues in Haiti are substantial, she immediately recognized the incredible talent there. Urban Zen became a bridge for social change thru artistry and commerce there. She also created D.O.T to train more Haitian designers.
Also, Karen dealt with family illness and spent a lot of time in hospitals. “Healthcare is trained in taking care of disease and not patient and loved one. My doctor was into integrative medicine. I don’t believe in the word alternative. I believe it’s integrative. I spent so much time in hospitals and saw the need for a type of person who can care for the doctors, nurses, patients and loved ones. “ She started the nonprofit as a collaborative movement about what is needed “Ideas happen when people are all together. We had a 10 day meeting healthcare and the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy Program came out of that. Urban Zen is about past, present, and future. Past is preservation, present is well-being and future is about education. “
This isn’t surprising considering that Donna Karen’s interest in fashion was solving problems. “In the 80’s there weren’t clothes for women. They were either dressing like men or wearing very frilly things.” She wanted to create clothing that was flattering and also highly practical. “The clothes are about you coming out in them. If you can sleep in them and then go out in them and look great that’s success“ Comfort, high style, versatility , and practicality became her specialty. “Also, you can decide what want to show and what don’t. I wear same clothes as my daughter and she wears the dresses short and I wear them long. “ When asked about her own closet, it’s massive because it’s her archival library but she herself only wears 7 pieces. It was a revelation to see models drape themselves in bolts of cloth or towels. “Every women looks great in a towel.” She realized that women wanted easy things to throw on that always looked great and felt great against their skin.
“We are not all models. Fashion is a dream. I have a spectacular love for the industry. I love fabric, it talks to me. And it’s about understanding a woman’s body and dressing her in a flattering way.” She told the story of a customer who eagerly shared her new purchases with Donna. Karen could see she made the wrong choices for her body type and recreated the woman’s whole wardrobe. “I want women to love the way they look. The woman had a vision of who she was and a designer can take her to the next level and educate the customer.” She created DKNY wanting just a small company for her and her friends. “But customers really reacted. It was shocking.” When asked if starting today as a designer would be more difficult than it was 30 years, she answered absolutely. “When I started it was very domestic. We weren’t dealing with the whole world of fashion that young designers face now. At the time people weren’t really dressing women and it was all quite small. Because it’s become so international, the amount of money that goes into building a brand is much higher now.” But she encouraged designers to still follow their dreams. “I failed at draping in college. Sometimes failure turns out to be great success. “
She shared some final words of advice : “Travel the world. Live in it before committing to a career path. “ And, “you are only as good as the people around you. Everyone around me is better at their job than I am. I hold it together but I surround myself with smarter people then myself. I am a mother, a daughter, a grandmother, a designer. I am a creative person who sees problems and thinks of the solution. I have so many ideas but if there is one that keeps coming again and again I know it’s something to really pay attention to. Stay true to your personal beliefs and surround yourself with loved ones. When you are with your children or grandchildren, make it all about them.”