Resume for fashion designer

Donna Karan is overwhelmed again. Here is singer Patti LaBelle, swathed in Karan's signature black couture, singing the praises of her soul sister at an AIDS charity benefit in Los Angeles: "Donna Karan is a real sister. She has no color, just love, heart and soul. Her heart is as big as New York City itself!" A standing ovation follows.

That was last week. Last month, Oprah gushed over Donna, devoting an entire hourlong program to the designer, featuringa fashion show of her latest clothing and a love fest of video vignettes tapedby a stream of celebrity fans, including Candice Bergen, Shirley MacLaine and Dennis Franz. The program was topped off by a live conversation between Karan and Barbra Streisand, who phoned in from an exotic movie location. "Hey, honey!" they greet each other. Oprah then asks: "Okay, Barbra, what's your favorite Donna outfit?" Barbra's response: "Ooh, it's the dresses she does that hide my fanny!"

Perhaps you've seen other playful Karan appearances recently on CNN or VH-1, or in a Mercedes-Benz ad. What they all have in common is an embrace of her most heavily marketed creation: Donnavision. The 47-year-old Karan, who has successfully steered her company through tough times, is a harried working mother who meditates. She understands what her customers, mostly upscale females, want: comfortable, practical-yet-sensual, hip-slimming clothes and peace in a world of chaos. Her "Woman-to-Woman" marketingcampaign also offers her clientele a real woman to connect with. "I have hit upon a universality of design," explains Karan. "Fashion-savvy, conscious women around the world are responding to what I'm saying. The totality of it just keeps growing and growing." Adds designer Diane Von Furstenberg: "[Karan is] a very good designer, a formidable woman, an American success story. She has created a name and an identity for herself very quickly."

Strong sales. Karan's uncanny ability to fashion and sell $1,200 black wool jersey dresses and pairs of $700 "skinny pants" has helped expand her global business empire, which now includes women's, men's and children's wear, fragrances, skin-care products, hosiery and eye wear. After hitting a rough patch, her company's gross revenues reached $550 million in 1995, a 20 percent increase over last year. The numbers are so strong today that Karan and her husband, co-CEO Stephan Weiss, are now predicting that sales will total $1 billion by the year 2000.

By the charmed look and sound of things, you'd never know how difficult it was for Karan and Weiss just a year and a half ago. Back then, there were cash shortages, late deliveries, an aborted public stock offering, alienation of key investors and a hailstorm of criticism on Wall Street. "We had a vicious cycle of problems," recounts Karan. "No matter where I turned, the fabric wasn't showing up on time, the factory was not ready, but Saks is calling and wants [the new line] in 28 [stores], not 11. How do you say you can't service the account? How can you not grow? It's like saying, `Tree, don't grow, tree.'"

The trouble began in 1992, when Karan added two new men's lines and started a beauty business. The concepts were right, but the financials were wrong: The designer's company was carrying too much debt for its cash flow at the time. Karan and Weiss, a sculptor-turned-executive, were also faulted for their unconventional approach to licensing, usually a major source of income for big-name designers. The pair resisted licensing their new fragrance because they feared losing creative and quality control over their beauty products. The result was a costly start-up operation with limited distribution and low market visibility. "My husband," recalls Karan, "was brutalized in the press for ... [not] taking the greedy path."

In the end, Karan's company restructured its debt. Last year, a group of banks led by Citicorp extended the firm a new credit line totaling $125 million. Weiss also negotiated a joint venture with Hotel Properties Ltd., a Singapore-based company that is pumping $21 million into Donna Karan Japan, a subsidiary. This new liquidity, according to Karan, has ended the domino effect of low cash flow, late fabric, tardy deliveriesand damaging gossip about her company's financial strength. "We needed more money to grow," she declares, "and we got it."

Going global. Today, after several trying years, Karan's beauty company is generating profits, and her two men's divisions have also turned the corner, with combined sales of $85 million. Meanwhile, the designer's lower-priced DKNY divisions are the darlings of the nation'sdepartment stores. Most impressive, however, isKaran's surging globalexpansion. With 278 foreign accounts, including27 free-standing Donna Karan retail stores abroad, the designer has established a strong and growing presence in Japan, the Far East and Europe. As a result, Karan's international sales now total about $150 million.

Citing a desire to return to his art, Weiss will soon step down as co-CEO. But he will retain his roles as legal adviser and head of Karan's beauty company. He may also help develop a line of Donna Karan home products, such as linens, flatware and candles. "[Stephan] made a major sacrifice in taking time away from his creative passions," explained Karan in September, when Weiss announced his plans. "There was never any question in our minds that, at the right time, he would resume his own creative journey."

Karan's creative journey, which has taken her from Long Island to Seventh Avenue, is the stuff of urban legend. After working as the head designer at Anne Klein, she launched her own collection in 1985 to rave reviews and instant demand. Supported by an initial investment from Japanese businessmen, her classic, elegant designs- -created with busy working women in mind--offered an alternative to the often whimsical and impractical fashions of the day.

The entrepreneurial Karan became a major force in the fashion business in 1989, when she launched her DKNY line. This move prompted top male designers like Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Geoffrey Beene to play catch-up. Karan now proudly assumes the mantles of Best Woman Designer in the World, Best American Designer to Emerge in 20 Years and other kudos bestowed upon her by the global fashion press and colleagues like Giorgio Armani, who saluted her when she was chosen as the best menswear designer in 1992.

Lately, Karan has been attracting even greater attention. In recent months, she has begun to fold more of her personal worldview into the public relations mix, launching a series of videos, a quarterly newsletter and a World Wide Web site, called "Woman to Woman." These new forms of communication, notes Patti Cohen, Karan's public relations vice president and longtime friend, "let [the designer] reach out and involve so many of the women who are curious about her." For her part, Karan says that she is now entering a new spiritual phase. She wants to simplify her life, which has been "too noisy," and she hopes to find some answers and inspiration in India, where she will spend most of this month.

Such revelations, vague as they are, intrigue legions of Karan's loyal fans. Last week, at the AIDS benefit in Los Angeles, Bea Daccardi, a 54-year-old psychoanalyst who lives in Bel Air, clad in a sleek, black DK Collection ensemble, wondered "what is influencing [Karan's] search." She soon had her answer. After Karan reached the stage and the crowd's thunderous applause died down, the designer thanked several activists in the audience, but especially Deepak Chopra, the New Age self-help author. Daccardi groaned with disappointment. But later, she jumped up from the table and ran to a nearby television monitor, exclaiming, "Oh, well. I've got to see what she's wearing!"

COPYRIGHT 1995 All rights reserved.
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