Donna Karan designs tales of New York City

JAKARTA (JP): Donna loves her town. It doesn't matter if other fashion designers have been dreaming of being called as Parisian couturiers, American Donna Karan is more than proud to put New York the unseparated label for her collections. Not only is New York treated as a geographical identity but it also plays a great role as a never-ending spirit for her work.

The city look, identified as Donna Karan's, is different from established European-based designs. For years, Donna has taught her loyal costumers to minimize the previously in vogue full fashion appearance. Unlike Paris-made masterpieces which are quite rich with fashion details, Donna presents simple and slim outfits in her American collections. Initially, competing designers underestimated this simplicity since fashion crafting was still considered as the finest achievement in a couturier career.

But her customers were hugely enthusiastic, vaulting Donna Karan styles to global prominence. Her New Yorker simplicity approach has became a global trend. Her very wearable collections were favorites with the internationally aware women of the nineties. And it seems that women of the third millennium also intend to be themselves, choosing the most convenient clothing. Her New Yorker look continues to be appreciated as "the only uniform" for career-oriented women.

The look is not only simple but also dominated by plain colors. "Choosing to wear a plain color emphasizes a strong character," fashion expert Irma Hardisurya once said. And the strength continues because Donna Koran's preference continues to be basic colors such as black, white and red.

These tendency is clearly shown in the latest Donna Karan collections presented in a monthly fashion show at the Mulia Hotel, last week.

From fully tailored working suits to casual and formal wear, all are packaged in very simple lines. The Evening dress, for example, is a black knee length slipdress without any further fashion details.

However, Donna Karan's clean line is also flexible. It can be varied with a small artistic ruffle, plunging neckline or those smooth diagonal wrapped cuttings as shown in her latest Spring Summer collections. This newest collection is dedicated to the late Martha Graham, a great American dancer who inspired a whole new school of creative dance theater.

As a New Yorker, Donna Karan lives close to America's biggest art stage, Broadway theater life. And Martha Graham has long been an inspiration for Karan. According to fashionguide.com, Donna Karan said that she always wanted to be a dancer. "I am still in awe of Martha Graham's work. Both masculine and feminine, graceful and strong, she captured the art of body language, communicating deeply felt emotions without saying a word. Always an innovator, she wore spare black garments onstage -- unheard of at the time -- so nothing would distract from her movement," Karan said in an interview when launching the collections last month.

Donna Karan previously cooperated with Graham when she designed the costume for Snow on the Mesa (1995), an abstract dance theater piece honoring Graham and choreographed by Robert Wilson. For her latest collections, Donna Karan who had just visited Asia, contributes a light Asian flavor to her work. She said, "I had my wrap and tie jersey, kimono jackets and I needed the sensuousness of silk, a yin to the yang, a structure for the softness." Well, just remember that there is a place called Little Asia in New York, right? (Agni Amorita)