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“For me design is a constant struggle for a harmonious combination of comfort and luxury, pragmatism and passion” – Donna Karan.
 Donna Karan is one of the most well-known names in the world of fashion, style and beauty. She was born in 1948 in New York into a family of a haberdasher and a model. She made her first dress sketches while being a child, as a teenager she created her first clothes collection.
In 1968 she entered the Parsons School of Design, but didn't graduate from it, because she got an invitation to work from a famous designer, Anne Klein. Karan's first designer elaborations were highly appreciated by fashion connoisseurs and fans: the plasticity of shapes and the comfort of the clothes became an alternative for the classic fashion style with its fanciful gracefulness.
After the death of her mentor, Donna Karan took charge of Anne Klein fashion house. For the ten years of working at the fashion house she was twice awarded the prestigious Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards. In 1985 Donna founded her own DKNY (Donna Karan New York) brand.
The company was founded in New York: it's reflected both in the brand's name and in the brand's products' style. Karan says, that New York was included in the brand's name not as a mere chance, “namely it represents the modern urban life pace”.
The first DKNY collection show was a great success. Karan presented the clothes for a business-lady, which harmoniously combined pragmatism and elegance. After the first collection production, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) recognized her as the best designer of the year. In 1989 she launched a youth clothes line and in 3 years she started making men's clothes. As before, in the collections, created by her, pragmatism, comfort and the austere urban style are put in the forefront.
Because of the incompetent financial government, the company soon ended up on the brink of bankruptcy, but in 1997 with John Idol becoming the company's financial director, it got a second wind: the brand's assortment was widened, its representatives' offices in Europe, Asia and the  Middle East were opened. At the turn of the century the company's shares were purchased by the French LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) conglomerate, but the design department is still governed by Karan.
The brand's target group are business-ladies and business-like men, for whom comfort and pragmatism are the dominating factors. Nowadays the brand produces not only clothes, but also accessories, that ideally supplement every person's individual image. Among the accessories, watches, considered a required attribute of business people, take a special place.
Donna Karan considers the main features of watches to be pragmatism and comfort, “their full harmonizing with all gowns – from everyday to evening, from summer to winter”. During one of her interviews she said: “I design watches for international men and women, for creative people, who never know where the day will take them”.
Women's DKNY watch models attract attention with their bright lines and the elegance of style. They are universal in their usage, they can ideally combine both with a business suit and an evening dress. Men's watches combine strict classics and the dynamic style of a metropolitan city, so that they will look great both with a business suit or with a jeans. It's notable, that during the recent years Donna has broadened the limits of the strict style, designed by her.
DKNY watches are classic design, incontestable quality, the newest production technologies.
A license for the watches production was issued to an American “Fossil Group” watch corporate group, cooperating with many other popular watch brands. All DKNY watches are equipped with Japanese quartz Miyota movements.
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