Donna Karan's daughter inspiration
Donna Karan's daughter inspired her DKNY line.
The American designer already had a successful range, the expensive and fancy Donna Karan New York, but soon realised she needed to create clothes which were suitable and affordable for teenage girls and younger women.
She told Britain's Harper's Bazaar: "My daughter Gabby and her friends were borrowing the clothes in my closet - she was constantly walking around in these glamorous dresses. I would say, 'Wait a second, that's a $15,000 gown you are wearing.' And she would go off to school. She thought my closet was her closet, that's kind of how mothers and daughters work.
"I thought, 'This is going to be a problem,' because I was designing for me and my friends, not my daughter and her friends. I realised there was a whole generation I could be designing for- my children and my grandchildren. I needed to design the jeans, the T-shirts, the basics."
DKNY was launched in 1988 and because it was such a hit, she is often regarded as the first designer to successfully establish a diffusion line.
Two years later she created DKNY Jeans - a denim-inspired collection - while DKNY for Men was launched in 1992.
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