Donna Karan’s memoir My Journey recounts her career at Anne Klein, the creation of Donna Karan New York and her 2015 decision to step back from daily design duties to focus on Urban Zen. Published on October 13, 2015, the book describes the development of her Seven Easy Pieces alongside the staffing, production and financial planning involved in building a fashion company.
Karan presents her wardrobe concept as a response to her own working life: clothes that could be combined for the office, travel and evening events. She traces that approach to lessons learned in Klein’s design room and her interest in fabric and fit.
Working with Anne Klein
Karan writes that she became Klein’s chief assistant in 1971. She recalls Klein directing both design and business decisions, from garment details to where collections were sold and how they were presented. Karan credits Klein’s lengthy fitting sessions with shaping her own practice of developing clothes on the body.
The memoir describes the overlap between Klein’s illness and Karan’s preparations for motherhood. Karan recalls working long hours before maternity leave and says staff brought racks of clothing to her home shortly after the birth of her daughter, Gabby, so work on the collection could continue.
After Klein died in 1974, Karan and fellow designer Louis Dell’Ollio continued the label’s design work. Karan recounts completing the pre-fall collection and preparing a fall presentation for May 1974 while grieving her mentor. She describes feeling uncertain about taking on Klein’s legacy and recalls receiving a standing ovation after the show.
Building Donna Karan New York
By the early 1980s, Karan wanted to create a smaller collection based on clothes she and her friends would wear. In the memoir, she says Anne Klein’s management rejected her proposal to develop that collection within the existing business and subsequently declined to renew her contract. She writes that the owners then supported her new company.
Karan established the business in 1984 with her husband, sculptor Stephan Weiss, and Takihyo. The Donna Karan New York collection followed in 1985. Her account describes recruiting design, sales, merchandising and production teams, creating a sample room, setting budgets and planning the collection’s retail introduction.
Karan recalls choosing the label’s name after seeing a shoebox bearing another designer’s name alongside city names. Adding New York to her own name, she writes, made the company’s identity feel larger than her individual role.
The Seven Easy Pieces
Karan describes her design goal as a concise wardrobe whose components could be combined for different occasions. In the memoir, she identifies seven core pieces: a bodysuit, a wrap-and-tie skirt, pants, a tailored jacket, a suede wrap jacket, a camel coat and a gold sequined skirt.
These were the collection’s core garments rather than its entire contents. Karan also lists additional coats, skirts, a tunic and evening dresses. She writes that she wanted each piece to change in use depending on what accompanied it, combining tailoring with softer garments and keeping structure to a minimum to allow movement.
The memoir dates the first Donna Karan New York show to May 1985, shortly after the company moved into its headquarters at 550 Seventh Avenue.
Stepping back to focus on Urban Zen
In 2015, Donna Karan International announced that Karan would step down from daily duties as chief designer while remaining a close adviser. Karan said she wanted to devote more time to her Urban Zen company and foundation.
At the time, the company said it would suspend runway shows and collections for a period and would not immediately seek a replacement. The memoir’s final chapter addresses Karan’s decision to leave her daily role and concentrate on Urban Zen.
Karan established Urban Zen as a lifestyle brand and foundation in 2007. The foundation’s stated areas of work include health care and well-being, education and preserving cultures.