Interview

KLEIN: I remember having a discussion with Karl Lagerfeld once about being involved with different collections and design studios and designers. Neither of us thought it was very easy. It’s so much work. No matter how many people you have helping, there’s still just one Donna Karan. But you seem to have the approach that working with different people is more of a pleasure than a headache.

KARAN: The inspiration goes both ways. The magic happens in the creative studios. But sometimes you’re inspired when you’re removed from it a little bit. That’s when the juice starts to percolate.

KLEIN: The fact is, you could talk about collaboration from now until next Christmas, but you’re the inspiration. You’re the woman who has built this global empire. Don’t you ever think about that?

KARAN: No. It’s a bit like passing the baton. When you grow a business, it belongs to a lot of other people besides you. As much as you want to control it, the minute you go public, it becomes a business . . . But obviously DKNY meant a lot to me in terms of vision. I wanted it not to be about fashion. I wanted it to be about the food you eat, the objects of desire. I wanted it to be about flea-marketing. I wanted it to have an energy that was beyond just the ready-to-wear component.

KLEIN: Can you believe that was 20 years ago?

KARAN: You’re double my age! Calvin Klein’s celebrating 40, darling . . . [laughs] This has to be a reverse conversation. I feel like your child.

KLEIN: I feel like that sometimes, too. In Africa . . . Do you ever get bored?

KARAN: Completely. That’s why The Urban Zen Foundation [a nonprofit Karan co-founded in 2006] was started. I saw the next dimension. I couldn’t help but see . . .

KLEIN: So that means you needed a new challenge?

KARAN: Constantly. I think it is a challenging period of time, which is more stimulating than I would say most times are. It’s not business as usual. It’s scary, but right now we’re looking at a time when we have to protect this industry. There was a time when it was just rhythmic. I think now we’re being called into action. It’s the sewers, the fabric people, the manufacturing—people’s lives are at stake. If I look at fashion from that point of view, I feel socially responsible.

KLEIN: I’ve known you for so long, but I don’t know how the spiritual side enters your work.

KARAN: [laughs] You should’ve come to some of my shows when the didgeridoos were walking down the runway . . . It’s very simple. My bodysuit is how I start everyday. I wear a bodysuit everyday of my life. It’s how I start my yoga practice. It’s underneath it all. For me, what goes under the clothes is as important as what goes on top of the clothes. It’s a layering aspect, so it’s inside. We could dress ourselves till we’re deaf, dumb, and blue in the face. I was extremely blessed and successful at a very, very young age, but I had to start asking questions. What did this all mean? It didn’t make sense to me, so I started searching. I’ve been doing yoga since I was 18 years old. That took me on a journey, and once you start, you never stop.

KLEIN: I always thought Stephan had a lot to do with your success. He showed incredible support and love for you.

KARAN: I would not be here today if it weren’t for my husband. Stephan was my protector, my support. Stephan took care of all the “stuff” and allowed me to create. Stephan humbly stepped back as a person who would be out there in the art world . . . To be able to say, two of us out there is too much—let’s let you be the face. You know, even though he’d be in his studio doing his artwork, which he loved, it was never his ego involved in letting him show his artwork. So Stephan had the intelligence, the vision, and everybody said “my pony-tailed husband,” because I had a creative husband who also had a brain.

KLEIN: He also pulled off one of the most brilliant sales of a company [Donna KARAN International to lvmh in 2001]. It was his way of seeing that you were protected if he wasn’t able to do that himself.

KARAN: It was his legacy. He had lung cancer and he wanted to protect me. Every day I celebrate my husband and the studio. That’s why Urban Zen is at the studio.