Donna Karan is a woman of many moods. At New York fashion week, the designer's spring 2014 collection opened with a casual denim vibe (although the fabrics are linen, stretch silk and jersey) and ended with languid brown and rust-colored evening gowns better suited for lounging around the mansion.
There's certainly something in the varied collection for just about every woman. If the unforgiving stretch fabric doesn't work on the average woman's body, there are plenty of nifty white cotton blouses that can be worn with jeans or a suit.
The collection has a lot of separates that can be mixed and matched or worn with what's already in the closet for a chic city wardrobe.
The opening looks resembled a Ralph Lauren Santa Fe scene with a canvas-laced denim skirt worn with a big brown belt, oversized chambray shirts and a stunning indigo hand-painted python jacket. It would be hard to find a woman who could look chic in the floppy hats shown with many of the outfits — even model-of-the-moment Karlie Kloss couldn't pull it off — but the jagged stone jewelry could easily fit into any wardrobe.
The collection has a lot of separates — in addition to the crisp white shirts and a killer-looking white shirt dress, it featured embroidered skirts in varying lengths and styles and a range of coats, from a printed black and brown cotton trench to a brown leather below-the-knee coat with black appliques — that can be mixed and matched in many different ways or worn with what's already in the closet for a sophisticated city wardrobe.
Karan was her own best advertisement for her clothes when she came out at the end of the show in a brown trench coat with graphic print scarf, black stretch jersey dress with a big brown belt, stone necklace and large leather tote.
Now, that's how a powerful, confident woman dresses.
Donna Karan musk black block printed silk/linen coat, sandalwood shirt and embroidered skirt.
