Donna Karan: “Nobody Realizes How Hard It Is to Be in Fashion”

“I swore I would never, ever be on 7th Avenue. I wanted to sing like Barbra Streisand, which I couldn’t. I wanted to dance like Martha Graham, which I couldn’t,” designer Donna Karan tells Joe Zee. “So I found myself designing clothes instead.”

In this episode of Fashion Bites, Karan, who recently stepped down as head designer of her eponymous brand and “passed the baton” to Public School’s Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chao for DKNY, reminisces on her legacy as one of America’s most beloved designers. “Nobody realizes how hard it is to be in fashion,” Karan says. “People think, ‘Oh my God, this is the most glamorous position.’ It is day and night and night and day.”

Let Karan serve as proof that such hard work pays off. She’s spearheaded countless collections, penned a book, and opened Urban Zen to benefit those less fortunate around the world. She’s dressed such women as Hillary Clinton and Jennifer Lopez, designed two wedding dresses for Barbra Streisand, and still swears that feeling good on the inside trumps any outfit.

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