Twenty years ago, Donna Karan was wondering what to call her less expensive range of chic, black urban women swear, when her eye alighted on a shoe box bearing the legend "Maud Frizon/Paris, London" and the name Donna Karan New York, or DKNY, was born.
Yesterday’s DKNY show was the first major show of this New York fashion week. Of all the powerhouse American designers, Donna Karan is the most closely identified with the city, so much so that in the early 1990s the New York Times described her as "Ed Koch in a stretchy black dress", a reference to the city’s then mayor.
While Ralph Lauren long ago cornered the market in aspirational Hamptons preppiness, and Calvin Klein that in aspirational bodies in underwear, Donna Karan is as much a symbol of Manhattan style as yellow taxis and black coffee.
The much-anticipated relaunch of the Halston label at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea, due this afternoon, seems to have cast fashion week in a 1970s frame of mind. At DKNY there was a glam rock feel to the shaggy shearling waistcoats and Lurex tunic dresses, and a hint of hippy-luxe in the Paisley puff-sleeved mini and tiered, ethnic-print dresses.
Because the laid-back DKNY brand naturally leans toward coffee shop dressing rather than club wear, Studio 54 slinky dresses were eschewed in favor of the Ali McGraw in Love Story look: long, tactile scarves and flatteringly flared cords.
The 1970s theme looks set to continue through the week: Zac Posen, a young designer whose party dresses are much in demand amongst Manhattan’s It girls, has intriguingly cited Gloria Steinem as influence on his latest collection, which will be unveiled on Thursday.