Donna Karan Quotes & Sayings

I think we're on a journey ... It was very easy to write about my past in my book, but writing about the present is all a new chapter. I hope that people find this journey fascinating, informative and educational. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

You look at the world situation, look at London, Paris, Italy, it is all basically the same as the U.S. Then you look at other places such as India, Bali, with warmer climates, you know the Southern climates, they are very different. I think there is a time and place for everything and in Australia, for example, it is completely the opposite. I don't think we can be designing for that customer per se. — Donna Karan

When I see a non-yogi [benefit], that's when it really affects my life. — Donna Karan

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

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. — Donna Karan

Delete the negative; accentuate the positive! — Donna Karan

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

I think Calvin [Klein] is a minimalist. — Donna Karan

I do remember how sexy my collection was after I first got involved with Stephan [Weiss]. That's one thing I don't have in my life now and ... if anything, that's one thing I would love. — Donna Karan

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

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

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

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

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. — Donna Karan

I love Thieves, it is therapeutic, if you're not feeling well. It has a very strong scent but is quite wonderful. I also use lavender. Peppermint, when my stomach is upset. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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

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

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

When I go to Bali, when I come to India and travel and see different cultures. I make sure I'm involved in the world out there, creatively, culturally. — Donna Karan

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

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! — Donna Karan

I'm more eclectic.Maybe I'm minimalist in the respect that I love black ... black for the winter, white for the summer, you know? But I love artisanal things. — Donna Karan

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

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

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. — Donna Karan

Many of the customers here are traveling all over the world so they need multiple types of clothes. That's one thing about Urban Zen - it is seasonless and it is timeless. So it's not about the fashion of a moment saying, "I have to have it now." It's something that you become a part of ... sort of like a sari. — Donna Karan

Sometimes it takes a germ of an idea, which takes a long time to digest. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

I must say that the more you give, the more you get. Being able to find solutions, to help other people is extremely gratifying. — Donna Karan

I live for what I haven't done. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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

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

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. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

I don't feel burdened, but I do feel a little frustrated. Because I see the problem, and I can see the solution - but there are two strongly different points of view on this - like the Republicans and Democrats. — Donna Karan

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

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

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

I celebrate my people a lot and that's why people stay with me as long as they do. — Donna Karan

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

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. — Donna Karan

Every problem has a creative solution. — Donna Karan

My favorite journey is anywhere I haven't been — Donna Karan

I truly believe that philanthropy and commerce can work together. — Donna Karan

I would love to work with the artisans and take it to another dimension, the same way I did in Haiti. — Donna Karan

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

I'm very involved with Pilates as well; you have to be careful. I can't do headstands any more, I have a neck and a spinal problem, but I used to do it. — Donna Karan

Everything comes out of what works for me. — Donna Karan

I'm really quite simple. — Donna Karan

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

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

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

Accent your positive and delete your negative. — Donna Karan

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?" — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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 ... — Donna Karan

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

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.' — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

I was so overwhelmed by India when I first came - it still inspires me because I still go for the culture, I still go for the colors. — Donna Karan

Just take a breath and see what happens. — Donna Karan

I love working in the markets, I love working with fabric. So I'm not that conditioned to one thing. — Donna Karan

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

I always need a support team, even at Donna Karan. I like collaborating. There is something in collaboration that is wonderful. — Donna Karan

I think it's changing is that business is not as good as it was and it has become a real question in the world of fashion. You see, bags and shoes don't take on the seasonal quality that fashion does. A black leather bag can be good in any season, but you can't say the same about fashion, particularly about fabrication. — Donna Karan

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

There was a time when we would pick up Women's Wear Daily and couldn't wait to see what it read. And now, you get it five minutes later on your iPad or your phone! The same has to apply to fashion. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

Its all about finding the calm in the chaos. — Donna Karan

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

I love to play, I love to dance, I love to party ... I'm a liver. I think what I need to learn is how to find the calmness, the centeredness. — Donna Karan

I think I was a nomad in another life. — Donna Karan

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

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

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. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

The magic happens in the creative studios. But sometimes you're inspired when you're removed from it a little bit. That's when the juice starts to percolate. — Donna Karan

Now the industry is looking at the change in a very real way - to find ways of talking to the consumer much faster. Everything we have is changing with communication - from fashion to newspapers. — Donna Karan

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

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. — Donna Karan

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

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. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

Everything in life ... has to have balance. — Donna Karan

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

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

I'm a nature bug. — Donna Karan

I've been away and haven't seen my family. I speak to them every day though. I miss them, but I love traveling. — Donna Karan

I spent two weeks at the Sadhguru's [Jaggi Vasudev]. It was a wonderful experience. It was very different from what I normally do - earlier I used to do Ashtanga [yoga] all the time. — Donna Karan

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. — Donna Karan

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

I'm not as obsessive-compulsive about certain things; I give a lot of latitude to people and support people. I know that I can't do it myself and that you're only as good as the people you have behind you. — Donna Karan

My biggest faux pas is not giving time for myself. — Donna Karan

For me, the soul is connected to a higher being. It's not about religion; it's about connecting to your true self - your truth, the truth inside of you, the one you were born with. — Donna Karan