Donna Karan

Donna Karan was influenced by the fashion world from childhood, as her father was a tailor and her mother a model. She started to design and sell clothing while still in her teens, and after high school attended the Parsons School for Design. She started her design career working for Anne Klein, but she was fired soon after. She jokes that she was too good, and that threatened Anne.

Donna didn't give up her dream, she started working in fashion again for Patti Caparelli and learned from her. While still in the 1970s, she went back to work at Anne Klein. When Anne died in 1974, Donna was the heir apparent. During the time she designed for the Anne Klein company she won three Coty Awards, the American fashion world's highest acclaim. In 1984 she left and launched her own design company, Donna Karan.

During the 1980s, Donna's elastic fabrics and stretchy dresses could be seen everywhere on "power dressing" women. She was perhaps best known for the Essentials collection, seven pieces of apparel meant to be mixed and matched endlessly. Her designs were intended to be sophisticated, elegant, yet comfortable. By 1984 she had been conducted in the Coty Hall of Fame.

Her designs for women in the 1980s were popularized by Barbra Streisand and Candace Bergen, who wore Karan on the set of Murphy Brown constantly. Karan's designs were thus associated with strong, independent women, and this fit the national mood in the 80s well. Her sexy clothing that could be worn day or night became enormously popular. Clothing that looked good but could be packed and worn with a minimum of care suited the busy life of executive men and women alike.

In the late 1980s Donna launched the brand she would become best known for, DKNY. This stood for Donna Karan New York, was designed for the younger set, and used denims heavily. The DKNY brand is seen as one of the first bridge companies that took high fashion to the teen set. Donna Karan started the line for her daughter, Gabby, a teen at the time the line launched.

Donna's practical approach to fashion has paid off, in the modern day her small design house has grown into a half-billion dollar a year industry. She herself stepped down from running the company, but still designs for the collections that bear her name. She shows no signs of stopping any time soon.