A Short Biography of Donna Karen

Extraordinary fashion designer Donna Karen was born Donna Faske in October of 1949 in the great state of New York.

Donna Karen spent her early years growing up in the long island New York area. Her stepfather worked as tailor and her mother was a fashion model thus giving the young lady an early taste of the world of design and fashion. Beginning her formal training at the Parson's School of Design Donna Karen then entered the exciting world of fashion on her own by becoming a designer for Anne Klein in 1941.

Donna Karen remained one of the top designers for close to ten years before debuting her own collection in 1984. Ever the hard worker Donna Karen welcomed her first child into the world that same year and worked all the way through her maternity leave. The Next year she left the Anne Klein label to branch out on her own. Along with the founding of her own company Donna Karen also introduced the Essentials line. The Essentials line showed the women of the world seven pieces of clothing that were an absolute must for their wardrobe. Eventually the seven original pieces of the Essentials line would expand into two hundred separate pieces.

1988 brought about the introduction of the DKNY collection. The Donna Karen New York collection became the backbone of the entire company. It's moderately priced, modern style really provided for a huge period of growth for the company along with it's most talented creator.

Until very recently Donna Karen's husband Stephen Wiess shared the majority of the companies responsibilities with his talented wife. an artist by trade Wiess made the decision to back off from his company duties to focus more on the creation of his artwork. Following suit Donna Karen pulled back from her duties as well but still remains the chairwoman of her ever expanding label.