Donna Karan Modern vintage

Never heard of 7 easy pieces? Then you may not have heard of Donna Karan, originally born Donna Ivy Faske in 1948 New York.

With both her parents in the world of fashion, her mother was a model while her stepfather was a suit designer, Donna had a head start in the fashion world.

Donna Karan -7 easy pieces

In the late 60s Donna Karan had been accepted into the Parsons School of Design in New York and from there she would work for Anne Klein during the summer and within 2 years become associate designer. She was head designer by the time she’d married at 26.

She divorced and struck out on her own as a designer, meeting her second husband, both a painter and sculptor, and produced her first collection during the mid-eighties.

You can create Karan’s 7 easy pieces for a capsule wardrobe and create modern looks with vintage pieces….

Donna Karan – Modern clothes for modern people

What Donna Karan wanted was to design clothes meant for modern people, with an affordable fashion line for busy working men and women. During the early nineties she would launch both her perfume and DKNY jeans for both sexes. She has since designed many different products ranging from furniture to children’s clothes.

7 easy pieces and the capsule wardrobe

Without a doubt Donna Karan’s clothes are easy to wear and feel as good as they look. The 7 easy pieces was a concept developed in 1985 and it can work as easily today as it did back then.

In 1985 it was a body suit, which as we know is slowly coming back into the fashion arena. For the 7 easy pieces concept to work, it’s important to wear pieces that can be transformed into different looks, versatility is key (hence the easy).

The bodysuit was the central piece, with wrap skirts, tailored jackets, cashmere layers and pull-on pants added and taken away to create effortlessly stylish looks. With this versatile combo, a suitcase was so much easier to pack, with a versatile set of clothes to mix and match in any way you wanted.

You can still make the 7 easy pieces work for you

Today of course this can be adapted to suit you. Seven easy pieces can consist of a skirt worn with a simple shirt that can be unrolled to reveal a strapless dress. You can add a jacket to the skirt and tee, or a cashmere sweater, the cashmere sweater can be worn over the dress or the t and skirt. Get it?

Of course, you can choose 7 easy pieces of your own, but the whole point of this is to choose pieces that can be worn in many different ways to create many different outfits, without filling a suitcase with clothes you’ll never wear, or can’t match easily. Also, a capsule wardrobe is a dream come true when you apply simple rules – mix and match.

Donna Karan – Still current, still relevant

Donna Karan is still as popular as ever, her easy pieces, tunics, straight pull on pants, culottes and long-sleeved sweaters are modern, smart yet comfortable.

Karan made dressing easy, aimed at modern working women with no time to put together a complicated outfit, and with the flashy dressing of the 80s, Karan’s easy styles came as a relief to thousands of women. Easy mix and match separates in neutral colours made everyone’s life so much easier, as well as giving a woman an elegant, flattering silhouette.

Of course Donna Karan’s goal may have been to create affordable clothes, but many of Karan’s pieces were and still are affordable only to the well off and well paid. With £800 per cardigan, and over £700 for a v neck sweater, it’s not necessarily that affordable for a lot of working women.

Donna Karan Modern vintage

All is not lost however, as vintage allows you to buy designer labels at a fraction of the price. What’s good about Donna Karan is that her clothes are timeless, and what was in fashion 20 years ago, is still bang on trend.

Rather than buy cheaper copies that won’t last as long, vintage allows you to buy the real thing – giving you the opportunity to own a high quality item for less than you’d pay for her more contemporary pieces available today. Cashmere is definitely worth looking out for – it’s a real find, with the potential to last many years.

Donna Karan by David Shankbone

Back in 2011, 7 easy pieces – for any year, any time, any piece you like

With the 7 easy pieces concept (nordstrom)- you can make your own rules

Donna Karan 2014 style

Courtesy of nordstrom fashion blog – 7 easy pieces done any way u want

Find your bodysuit….Donna Karan Modern vintage

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