Word: karan
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...Donna Karan has built an empire on style, savvy and drive...
...Karan, fighting the constant deadlines, sometimes wonders what there is to envy. "I do love the ability I have to create something from nothing. What I hate is the pressure, the toll it takes on my physical being. Do I have to pay this price to do something I love?" The answer is yes, and she knows...
Over the years, Karan has consistently demonstrated a golden commercial touch, but not by taking the predictable approach or by heeding conventional wisdom. As Vogue's Wintour says, "Donna quite enjoys breaking the rules." Before Karan, for example, most designers' second collections were watered- down versions of their high-priced lines. Karan did something entirely different when she opened her second line, DKNY, in 1989. She offered stylish, casual and affordable clothes without cannibalizing her main collection. Under the direction of Karan's advertising guru, Peter Arnell of the Arnell/Bickford agency, the new line was shrewdly marketed with a portfolio...
...less contrarian was Karan's approach to the hosiery business. In 1987 the designer became convinced that women would spend more money if they could find heavier, more opaque pantyhose to cloak the sags that most female flesh is heir to. The product that she and her licensee, Hanes, came up with was nearly twice as thick and twice as expensive as usual hose. "Everyone here thought we were on drugs," recalls Hanes vice president Cathy Volker. But the gamble paid off. Customers recognized the superior quality and paid for it. This year the business is likely to gross...
...young women who work for Karan feel the same way, much as the young Donna felt about Anne Klein. Karan attracts talented people who are famously loyal and willing to put up with her constant demands. The designer has been known to give employees a ride home in her limo just to keep a conversation going. "Donna draws you in. She's this irresistible force," says Beth - Wohlgelernter, who worked as her executive assistant for six years. The staff, in fact, amounts to something of a Karan cult. Says Jane Chung, the senior vice president for design at DKNY...