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Arguably the most successful American woman designer, Donna Karan, 76, built the Donna Karan Company and DKNY to define the look of the modern, powerful woman. Karan’s design philosophy was

based on “Seven Easy Pieces,” which she felt every woman should have to go from day to evening in style and comfort. In 2001, Karan sold her company for more than $200 million to LVMH (which

later sold it to G-III Apparel Group for more than $640 million); that same year, she lost her husband, fine artist Stephan Weiss, to cancer. In 2007 Karan launched Urban Zen, an umbrella

lifestyle company under which she continues to design and sell clothing while also promoting wellness and extending a philanthropic hand to those in need, such as the medical staff at the

former Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in New York City and artisans in Haiti. BECOMING DK My father was a custom tailor. My mother worked as a model on Seventh Avenue [in New York City’s

Garment District]. When I was a child, they would bring me there from our home out in Queens, and I said the one thing I never wanted to do was to be a designer! My dream in life was to sing

like Barbra Streisand and dance like Martha Graham. Donna Karan, 76, built the Donna Karan Company and DKNY to define the look of the modern, powerful woman. Taylor Miller LEARNING ART I

was not a very good student in high school — I was good at the art world. I would sit in the art room all the time, often with [now world-famous artist] Ross Bleckner. I made my first

collection while I was at George W. Hewlett High School in Five Towns on Long Island. AND THEN THERE WAS ANNE KLEIN I went into Anne Klein to apply for a summer internship after my sophomore

year at Parsons School of Design, and Anne asked me to walk for her because she thought I was a model. When I showed her my portfolio, she said, “You’re hired.” Then Anne told me I should

quit school because I was already a designer. I did. Fashion designers Louis Dell'Olio and Donna Karan collaborate in the Anne Klein design studio in 1980. Rose Hartman/Getty Images

LOSS OF A MENTOR I was pregnant and working for Anne Klein when Anne found a lump. She was sick. I was having a baby. We ended up in two different hospitals. The next collection was due.

Anne and I were on the phone discussing how many buttons we want on a navy blue blazer coat. Six or eight? I had no idea she was dying, and I never saw her again. FLYING SOLO I came up with

the idea for Seven Easy Pieces at Anne Klein: a bodysuit, a wrap-and-tie skirt, a jacket, a coat, leather and suede, knitwear and an evening piece. I was going to build that for them.

Instead, they fired me and told me it was time to start my own business. DONNA KARAN + CALVIN KLEIN + RALPH LAUREN For a while it was the three of us, but I was the baby. Calvin Klein, oh my

God. I had a crush on him. I will admit he was hot, is hot. We were so completely different. Calvin was more of a minimalist, very neutral and beautiful and worldly in color. Ralph was

jeans, vintage shirts and ties. And I was all black. I could always tell who worked for who when staff got on the elevator because of how they dressed.