Donna Karan New York by Donna Karan c1992

Donna Karan New York by Donna Karan: launched in September 1992. Created by Jean-Claude Delville and Pierre Wargnye.

Spurred by her husband Stephan Weiss' desire to leave a lasting legacy beyond her fashion house, Donna Karan entered the world of fragrance. Taking a cue from Coco Chanel, whose iconic fashion empire was revived by her perfume ventures, Karan's husband persuaded her with the eventual fact that "hemlines go up and down, but fragrance is forever". 

However, Karan was less than thrilled as she noted in her autobiography My Journey, "I hate fragrance. Hate!... I truly did. It was always too strong, too fake, too old-lady-ish. I loved essential oils or the clean, fresh scent of shampoo and soap."

Weiss promised her "We will make a fragrance you love. We will create and control everything about it." Remembering her love of Casablanca lilies, they started there and went onto the next scent..."What else do you like?" he asked her. "Vicuna suede," she replied.


The New Yorker - Volume 70, 1994:

"It took Karan and Weiss five years to approve a formula for their first beauty product, Donna Karan New York Parfum. Weiss would bring vials of the "juice" home for doctoring. When Karan thought the mix needed a citrus note, he added grapefruit essence.  

Cosimo Policastro, a fragrance specialist at International Flavors & Fragrances, told me, "I gave Stephan pipettes, and he would call and say, 'I added a hundred drops of this material, five drops of that material."Designers will come in and evaluate the fragrances, but I've never had anyone come in and work from the ground up in the lab." In addition to revising the scent, Weiss, at Karan's urging, also designed the bottles of the fragrance line. They are black and gold plated recyclable plastic (except the glass bottle for the high priced perfume), in abstract forms that would be familiar to anyone who knows Weiss's sculptures but are puzzling, if not risible (silly), to others. 

At Arnell/Bickford Associates, which designed Karan's Everywoman marketing campaign, the model shop craftsmen who created the packaging product only when anything 'passed inspection' with her taste level," Julius Stern, an executive vice-president of the company who has worked with her since her Anne Klein days, told me."

Fragrance Composition:

So what does it smell like? It is classified as a leathery floral chypre fragrance for women. Described as a veil of sensuality for the body, a blend of lily, the odor of suede, and the scent of Karan's husband's neck. Its top and middle notes include casablanca lilies, osmanthus, ylang ylang, cassia, rose, Moroccan jasmine, heliotrope and succulent apricot. The base intermingles with patchouli, sandalwood, incense, precious amber, vanilla and sensuous musk.

• Top notes: Casablanca lily, pineapple, apricot, orange blossom, green notes, osmanthus, peach, bergamot
• Middle notes: carnation, cassia, orchid, Moroccan jasmine, heliotrope, ylang ylang, rose
• Base notes: amber, sandalwood, tonka bean, patchouli, musk, benzoin, vanilla, citruses, vetiver, incense, cedar, cashmere, suede

New York Magazine, 1993:

"“Designing is a personal expression of who I am,” says Donna Karan, who created the luxurious, modern system of layered dressing based on comfort, sensuality, and day-into-evening flexibility. 

"Scent is a woman's most basic, personal, and unique possession, " she believes, "and fragrance ought to be the first layer in dressing. I created Donna Karan New York Parfum to enhance the inner beauty that my husband Stephan Weiss - sculptor, artist, and kindred spirit - has taught me is the most invigorating and seductive kind of beauty a woman can capture for herself.”  

Donna Karan New York Parfum has the power to invigorate and the sensuality to arouse. “The fragrance reminds me of my favorite things: Casablanca lilies, the skin scent of suede, and the warmth of cashmere,” says Karan. It blends florals, natural earthy tones, and patchouli, amber and sandalwood. 

As sensual, personal, and modern as the fragrance itself, the Donna Karan New York Parfum bottle was designed by Stephan Weiss “for women with love and passion and commitment.” According to Karan, “The relationship between art and fashion is one of craftsmanship, ideas, creativity, and of responsibility to people, changing events, modern attitudes, and the way they all mix. It’s a natural combination, a marriage.” 

Donna Karan’s system of dressing has been translated into her recently launched Donna Karan New York Bath and Body products. “Just like the perfume, my beauty products are an extension of myself, my fashions, my needs, and my relationships. The products are gentle. Rather than perfume the skin, they moisturize, protect, and beautify it.” Scented with a subtle, clean scent, the collection softly blends with Donna Karan New York Parfum but can also be worn alone."

The fragrance was available in various products:

• 1/2 oz Parfum
• 1 oz Parfum
• 1/2 oz Eau de Parfum Purse Spray
• 1 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
• 1.7 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
• 3.4 oz Eau de Parfum Spray
• 1.7 oz Eau de Parfum Splash
• 3.4 oz Eau de Parfum Splash
• 1.7 oz Bath & Body Brumisateur
• Solid Perfume

In 1993, the perfume won the FiFi award for Women's Fragrance of the Year - Luxe.

A short while later bath and body products were introduced but as Karan explains in her autobiography that she "put her foot down. "I don't want to wash my face with my fragrance! Let's make the bath product scent subtler, cleaner, and softer. Once again, Stephan delivered: He took a few notes from the fragrance and we named the bath and body collection Cashmere Mist. The body lotion was its star. It sold five times the amount of any other product in the line, and almost the same amount as the original fragrance. I wore it morning, noon, and night."

• Velvet Body Cream
• Cashmere Body Lotion
• Washed Silk Body Cleansing Lotion
• Chiffon Body Powder
• Satin Bath Bar

Bottles:

The Donna Karan Beauty Company was lucky in the fact that they had an in house sculptor to design their bottles for them, which would have added an extra cost if they had to contract out this job to someone else. An expert in using mixed media  and combining opposite materials for his own works of art, Weiss was able to utilize recycled plastic and glass to create beautiful bottles, today we would call this upcycling. He wanted bottles that felt good in a woman's hand and he wanted them to be modern, abstract shapes, but sensuous and evocative of women's curves, Karan noted that Weiss was especially fond of the curve of a woman's back.

The bottle used for the 1.7 oz and 3.4 oz Eau de Parfum is the graceful so-called "swan's neck" bottle made up of clear glass with a black and gold plastic shell. The top surface of the button on the spray mechanism is made up of thin rubber and has a tendency to malfunction over time due to the natural disintegration of the rubber coming into contact with the volatile perfume.

The 1/2 oz and 1 oz bottles used for the Pure Parfum (Extrait) were made up of clear glass with black and gold plastic fittings. The 1/8 oz Parfum bottle is black glass with plastic. 

Donna Karan New York Collector’s Edition 1 oz Perfume bottle was made up of clear crystal and had frosted and gold plastic fittings. This originally retailed for $450.

The 1/2 oz Eau de Parfum Purse Spray was a modified form of the swan's neck bottle, made up of clear glass with a black plastic shell without the gold trim.

 The 1 oz Eau de Parfum spray bottle was very simple, and looks a lot like a computer mouse. This design was made to look like a smooth and glossy river rock. The design was later adopted to be used solely for the Donna Karan Black Cashmere line.

Donna Karan New York Pressed Powder Perfume. It originally retailed for $75. It has a 24 karat matte gold finish in an unusual curved shape, resembling a snail to me, very heavy, with a label on the base. It was housed in a black silk velvet drawstring pouch with silk cords.  The pouch also has Donna Karan's label stating: "All Silk Imported From Italy Hand Made in USA". The compact has a hinged lid and holds perfumed pressed powder. The compact measures 1 7/8" long by 1 1/2" wide by 1 1/8" tall.

Donna Karan New York perfume pendant, originally retailed for $100.

Fate of the Fragrance:

After a few years, the fragrance turned out to be a flop and it was discontinued, today it remains hard to find and commands high prices when offered for sale.

However, one silver lining was to be found under that cloud, the Cashmere Mist line of fragrances. Donna Karan herself explains in her autobiography, "One day, two years later, I came across a beautiful frosted bottle with the name Cashmere Mist on it's label. Excuse me? I grabbed it, stormed into Jane's office, and screamed "What is this?"I may have thrown the f-word in there. "Stephan didn't tell you? We're making a fragrance of Cashmere Mist." "No my loving husband didn't tell me," I said, furious. But it's a good thing he didn't. Cashmere Mist remains our best selling fragrance."