Donna Karan's secondary DKNY line is where the designer takes a walk on the wilder side. She romps through pop culture, digesting current trends and reworking them into a collection of snappy items. In a blindingly fast-paced show that mixed the women's and men's collections, the designer showed she still has the touch.
Karan is nothing if not eclectic, and here she managed to mix some seemingly irreconcilable themes. But then, who else could reconcile the urban gypsy (ruched, ruffled or patchwork leather skirts, lace-trimmed tops) with the new prepster (a monogram sweater, a fisherman knit hoody, pinstripe pants)? The subdued palette helped: There were shots of color, but Karan mostly restricted herself to brown, gray, white, navy and ivory. Also helping keep things grounded were staples of the straightforward sportswear that was DKNY's original base: snug pinstripe pants, a great pea coat, even some of the tailored jackets that Karan, a working woman herself, always includes.
