DKNY was founded in 1985 in New York by Donna Karan and Stepehen Weiss to create a brand that combines the comfort of sportswear with the elegance of pret-à-porter, while remaining placed in a medium price range.
Donna Karan is a woman who designs for women. Modern, farsighted, self-confident is a woman who is successful in the world, while realizing the balancing act of life. Karan intuitively understood the needs and desires of women by designing collections that will require bringing them from day to night simplifying life, without sacrificing elegance or sensuality.
Karan launched her first collection in 1984 revolutionizing the way women dress. A body, a tailored jacket, a skirt, trousers, a cashmere sweater, a leather jacket and an evening gaze. With Seven Easy Pieces, women can create endless services with these easy-to-wear items. Over time, the brand's production has expanded, covering numerous sectors of the fashion world, producing accessories, underwear, shoes, children's clothing and producing men's clothing lines.
As a woman's life evolved, she faced a new request: a teenage daughter who raided her closet. And so came the new generation of New Yorkers: DKNY. Since its establishment in 1989, DKNY has been synonymous with New York, inspired by the energy and attitude of the city. Drawing on Karan's original design for the woman who never knew where to take it, DKNY has been transformed into a global lifestyle: the dynamic wardrobe of everything needed to live in New York life, wherever it is.
The first DKNY boutiques were opened in London in 1997 and in New York in 1999. Currently there are about DKNY stores around the world, including twenty centers in China, planned in Canada and four in Dubai. In 2001 the brand was purchased by LVMH and since 2005 also DKNY also operates via the internet, through the official website of the brand.