Donna Karan Departs Label to Focus on Urban Zen

[caption id="attachment_39516" align="alignnone" width="600"] Donna Karan.[/caption]

Last week, iconic fashion designer Donna Karan announced she would be leaving her fashion label, Donna Karan International, and will devote more time to her Urban Zen line and foundation.

Urban Zen, which has a retail outlet on Bay Street in Sag Harbor, is inspired by and devoted to artisans from around the globe. The Urban Zen Foundation was created by Ms. Karan to further preservation of culture, well-being and education around in the world in tandem with the fashion and home décor line.

According to The New York Times, Ms. Karan will continue to advise Donna Karan International, which is owned by the French company, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. According to The New York Times, the main Donna Karan Collection will be suspended for now and the firm plans to focus on the DKNY brand of Donna Karan International.

In addition to the Sag Harbor and Manhattan Urban Zen stores, a pop-up Urban Zen was reopened last week in Aspen, Colorado. In early June, Ms. Karan announced plans to expand both the retail component of Urban Zen and its foundation efforts. She took the brand online this year.

The foundation is also growing. Ms. Karan partnered with Paula Coles and Parsons The New School of Design for its DOT (Design, Organization and Training) program, aimed at creating an artisan vocational training center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Urban Zen Foundation has worked with Haitian artisans since its founding by Ms. Karan in an effort to give artisans a voice, and economy. It also created an Integrative Therapy Program in an effort to transform healthcare and healthcare education, and has opened the Urban Zen Center in Manhattan.

For more information on Urban Zen, visit urbanzen.com and urbanzen.org.