Fashion Designer Donna Karan was born 1949, in Queens, New York. She grew up in Long Island with her step-father who was a tailor and her mother who was a model. Being trained at Parson's School of Design, she entered the busines herself, designing for Anne Klein. Eventually she became head of the Anne Klein design-team and remained in this position until 1984.
The introduction of her DKNY collection in 1988 marks the beginning of a period of amazing growth of the company. Thought of as a bridge collection, DKNY has developed to be the pillar of the Donna Karan business. DKNY is a modern, moderately-priced young collection, drawing from the spirit of big city life.
Donna Karan is known to support the needs of modern women with her clothing. When designing her clothes, Donna Karan claims not have the top model in mind, but women like herself. The saying goes, that before the production of a piece of clothes is approved by Karan, it has to look good on her. It seems, that with Donna Karan clothing, function comes before styling.