Donna Karan Quotations

Delete the negative; accentuate the positive!

Basically, I was a hippie and still am a flower child.

Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul.

Design and style should work toward making you look good and feel good without a lot of effort so you can get on with the things that matter.

If I weren't doing what I'm doing today... I'd be traveling around the world on the back of a motorcycle.

I love building spaces: architecture, furniture, all of it, probably more than fashion. The development procedure is more tactile. It's about space and form and it's something you can share with other people.

I love skiing, I love the sun, I love my children, I love my grandchildren, I love my family and friends... and whatever I haven't done.

Evening is a time of real experimentation. You never want to look the same way.

Design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable.

Age and size are only numbers. It's the attitude you bring to clothes that make the difference.

I believe in comfort. If you don't feel comfortable in your clothes, it's hard to think of anything else.

My mother was a working woman, and I was alone a lot. So I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom.

Women should always take care of themselves first. It makes you more equipped to take care of others.

I've always been about the power of a woman - accentuating the positive, deleting the negative, whether you're talking her body, her voice or her leadership.

I'd rather promote New York than anything else in this world because New York to me means the world.

I think I was a nomad in another life.

It's really easy to get colors right. It's really hard to get black - and neutrals - right. Black is certainly a color but it's also an illusion.

Scheduling me is not easy, as most people know, because once I start, I don't stop.

Originally, back in 1992, DKNY started because I couldn't find a pair of jeans. I also wanted to dress my teenage daughter Gabby. So it was the perfect street wardrobe: jeans, anoraks, jumpsuits, boyfriend jackets, sweaters, skirts and dresses. Then DKNY grew into an entire lifestyle concept, including tailored clothes you wear to work.

My daughter Gabby very kindly once said that she thinks I was a better mother because I was doing a job I loved. I now think guilt is a universal part of being a mother. I used to think it was Jewish-mother guilt but now I think it is working-mother guilt.

We've come a long way. Power dressing now is designed to let the woman inside us come through.

I start my day with a mind, body, soul practice - yoga, Pilates or meditation.

I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together.

I design from instinct. It's the only way I know how to live. What feels good. What feels right. What is needed. Give me a problem and I will approach it creatively, from my gut.

Business, numbers, negotiations, all that stuff I wouldn't go near.

Everything comes out of what works for me.

I wouldn't be who I am without my husband, who handled the business end of Donna Karan so I could be creative.

To me, design and style should work toward making you look good and feel good without a lot of effort - so you can get on with the things that matter.

When I first started designing, all women were dressed like men, and I said, 'Hey, guys, let's be women, put the two together - it's not either/or. Let's celebrate our bodies. Our bodies are different.'

You don't have that much choice in your life, which is one of the big lessons I've learned. I was going to be a designer whether I wanted to be a designer or not. So there I was.

It used to be only yoga, but now I do Pilates as well; I feel like I need the balance.

I always thought I should have been a better mother.

I always thought what you wore underneath was as important as what you wear on top.

I feel very strongly about dresses on every level - a dress feels like underpinning.

I'm truly, truly boring! I don't change. If people know me, I have not changed.

I give Reiki, which is energy, but I don't tell too many people that.

I really feel that we need to scale back and get to what is important on so many levels.

If it's a regular day, I won't wear any makeup, just leave my hair down and head out to the car.

When I started Donna Karan, people weren't really accepting the idea of the working woman.

Natural, beautiful color on the face. We want the casualness of the hair and it's sort of rumpled, you know -- but it's done with intention. So it's not just letting your hair go naturally, but we've created the natural.

She has very big shoes to fill, but if anyone can do it, Angela can.

She's really tiny, but she's really cute. She reminded me of the first time I met Natalia a few years ago. She didn't speak English so well at the beginning, either.

I have always admired LVMH and the environment it has created for designers in supporting their creativity, emphasizing their individuality, respecting their brands and providing the resources to develop global luxury businesses,

Today, fashion is really about sensuality - how a woman feels on the inside. In the eighties women used suits with exaggerated shoulders and waists to make a strong impression. Women are now more comfortable with themselves and their bodies - they no longer feel the need to hide behind their clothes.

He was really the one man who was the voice of the designer. He understood us as designers, and then he could explain us to the consumer.

It is an evolvement of this last spring collection from last year and the fall collection of silhouettes and structure,

It goes to the body and then releases from the body. It's almost like reliving the wrap-and-tie skirt in a new way.

You know the thing I love about these oils? There are four of them and you can play with them, you can mix them, you can put them in your bath, ... And it's not perfume - there's no alcohol - so it's the nature of who you are in your soul so it really connects on a very, very deep level. It's like, you put it in your bag and let your handbag smell like it, it's that kind of thing. It's pure oil, pure essence, so it's never harsh. It never has that cut.

We'd rather they be in our footwear than Nike, Reebok, or anyone else. There's no question.

We have taken this process very seriously, ... We fully recognize the need to improve our expense structure and build shareholder value.

I believe in the power of women. As nurturers, we have a unique ability to care and share and make the world a better place. Women Who Inspire are women who are making a difference.

Today, fashion is really about sensuality-how a woman feels on the inside. In the '80s women used suits with exaggerated shoulders and waists to make a strong impression. Women are now more comfortable with themselves and their bodies-they no longer feel the need to hide behind their clothes.

I'm very involved in my business and with my family and my friends. I don't play the social world very much, and not to promote my product. I do it for the philanthropic problems because there I feel that I'm making a difference, and that I'm helping. So I do it in a soulful way.

The most important thing any woman can do is promote her inner well-being

Every woman has the power to seduce the world with her uniqueness, passion and creativity.

With all the yoga and meditation that I do, when the chaos happens it happens. But I'm not as affected as a lot of people - I don't react as much. I just let things drip off my back a little bit.

Personal Style comes from within. It's when the woman, her individuality and spirit come through. She uses clothes to express who she is and how she feels

Fragrance is the first layer of dressing, a woman's invisible body suit.

I couldn't live without something that touches my heart. No one should.

I have tried to hold my philanthropic passion to fashion, because I think this is very important, and I realize I need to delve even deeper into it.

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.

My favorite journey is anywhere I haven't been

Everything in life... has to have balance.

If you look at the world today, there are as many solutions as there are problems. I think that is a big part of creativity. That's why I started Urban Zen. Because I wanted to dress and address people.

Its really easy to get colors right. Its really hard to get black - and neutrals - right. Black is certainly a color but its also an illusion.

A fashion victim is dressed in designer clothes from top to bottom.

I think I was always inspired by seeing a problem, and finding a solution.

Every problem has a creative solution.

I never see one woman when I design, it's always a universe of women

Accent your positive and delete your negative.

Women are now more comfortable with themselves and their bodies-they no longer feel the need to hide behind their clothes.

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 . . .

My biggest faux pas is not giving time for myself.

I believe Hillary [Clinton] should be the president. I believe having her and her husband in the White House is what the country needs .

Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul. For me, designing is an expression of who I am as a woman, with all the complications, feelings and emotions.

There's such a void in the medical system. When my husband was sick, it became very apparent to me that the nurses were doing the doctor's job, and the doctors were doing the disease job, so no one was caring for the patient and the loved one.

My New Years Resolution is to find the calm in the chaos. Practicing yoga is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. It's where you connect mind, body and spirit.

You have to keep your eyes and heart open -- there are always new things to discover, new problems to solve.

Where there is creativity there is hope and Haiti is the most hopeful place I've experienced

It's hard to keep the energy going sometimes, that's why I like to go with a group of people who are meditating. I love meditating in groups, it's fantastic.

Its all about finding the calm in the chaos.

I wanted to create something that would live on forever, beyond my time, and out of that came Cashmere Mist.

Usually I do a practice in the morning first and then meditate. I'm fortunate that I can do it in a car, in a bus, in a plane.

You know the bodysuit that I built my line on? . . .That was about me being able to go directly from work to yoga class. It just wasn't as accepted to talk about then.

I also miss the support that I had of so many people. You know I'm a very Ma and Pa operation right now, and I was used to having everything working for me. It was a similar situation when I left Anne Klein and started Donna Karan. All of a sudden I was working in my apartment and it was, "Oh my god, what am I doing?"

Smell is the primordial sense, more powerful, more primitive, more intimately tied to our memories and emotions than any other. A scent can trigger spiritual, emotional or physical peace and stimulate healing and wellness.

Where there is creativity, there is hope.

One of our greatest gifts is out intuition. It is a sixth sense we all have - we just need to learn to tap into and trust it.

I like the idea of having many different ways to express myself. There is a part of me as an artist and a creator who would like to express myself in many different ways. But then at the same time I know I have limited hours in the day, and I can only do so much successfully.

Every time I see the sunshine in the bright blue sky, I cannot help but think how blessed I really am to see another day. There are so many who may have not woken up to see it but I have been blessed.

My biggest style regret is that I can't fit into the models' clothes.

I worked with a writer, Kathleen Boyce. It was a wonderful experience...but I didn't expect that the last chapter would be the last chapter of Donna Karan. That was probably the biggest shock.

I realized I needed to address people, not just dress them.

Just take a breath and see what happens.

I did Urban Zen for myself, to make clothes for me and my friends, a similar philosophy to when I started Donna Karan. Except this time I hope it will stay that way so that I will be able to support young designers and mentor them.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate these young [Israeli] designers. There's too much strife in the world. If we become united in our creativity, not only in what we wear, but what we do, we will change the world. It's truly an honor to be around such inspiration.

I look in my closet, and if I need it, I design it.

I do not believe I can no longer dress people, but it's more about dressing their insides. Everyone is affected by healthcare. Everyone is affected by education. And for me, a personal inspiration is the preservation of culture.

For me, starting each collection is always about what I really want, what I really need, and I was personally dying for sensual comfort. I think when you think of Donna Karan, you think of sensuality, but it's a different kind of sensuality. A kind of comfort sensuality that is one with your body and the way clothes feel on.

I couldn't stand the fact that anybody else was dressing like me. It was supposed to be for me and my friends, not my daughter and her friends!