(4 of 5)
Karan's boldest assault so far on Seventh Avenue tradition has been her move into men's clothing. Apparel experts scoffed at the notion of a woman designer's label inside a man's suit. American men are too insecure, said the insiders; they'll never accept it. Nevertheless, the first Donna Karan suits for men rolled off the racks last year. "We spent seven years building the name," Karan says. "The image says something." It does. Her men's clothes, like her womenswear, are known for their comfort and sensuality. Strong sellers include leather vests ($475) and cashmere crewneck sweaters ($600). Last month Karan won the prestigious Council of Fashion Designers of America award for best men's designer of the year.
Karan's venture into fragrance, on the other hand, may prove to be one instance where unorthodox methods fail her. Introducing a perfume is very expensive -- commonly around $10 million to $15 million for the first year of a no-frills national launch -- so designers typically hire a company to market the product and retain a small royalty (usually between 3% and 5%). But Karan and husband Weiss decided to sell her fragrance themselves. It is available in Bloomingdale's stores in the New York metropolitan area and through a toll- free number. But since the public has no idea what the perfume smells like, the 800 number has been a bust.
Meanwhile the perfume's bottle, designed by Weiss, has sparked controversy. The bottle resembles the back of a woman's body and is also vaguely phallic. Says Robert Lee Morris, a jewelry designer who worked with Karan for nine years until they broke off their partnership four months ago: "It looks like a ray gun." Karan has also come in for a fair amount of ribbing for her oft- quoted comment that she wanted the fragrance to smell like red suede, lilies and the back of her husband's neck. (At Karan's show last month, Kal Ruttenstein, senior vice president of Bloomingdale's, approached Weiss and said, "I want to smell your neck!")
This would not be the first time that Karan has stumbled, of course. The company has confronted perennial problems with quality control and late deliveries. Some licensing arrangements have foundered as well. Since late 1990 the company has been battling Erwin Pearl over the terms of Pearl's licensing agreement to produce and sell jewelry for the DKNY line. The dispute is in arbitration.
Karan would be the first to admit that her professional success has come at a real personal cost. "Looking back, it was the most horrible pain of my life," Karan says. "When your child says, 'Don't go, stay home,' and the office is calling and screaming, it's brutal." Now that daughter Gabby is an 18-year-old college freshman, Karan reports, "the guilt is leaving me." Gabby describes her mother as "my best friend. I idolize her, and I want to be like her."