Having learned the ropes from the mistress of 7th Avenue herself, Anne Klein, she was well schooled in the ins and outs of sportswear separates where styling is as essential as the design itself. Fashioning herself into the embodiment of the easy, confident, and sensual Anne Klein woman — the working woman who’s style and class matches her ambition and chutzpah, Karan created a unique personal style of her own. Now shrouded in vaguely ethnic (by way of Tibet, I guess) drapery in olive green, ocher, and anthracite cashmere jersey topped off with wooden necklaces and bangles, her own style was once as bold as the feminist proclamations she built her fashion career on. Relentlessly keen, even in the late ’80s, understanding a new current of street fashion and urban living, she adopted her DKNY persona, full of the street swagger and boisterous bravado that only she could pull off.
