Donna Karan

They are two labels from the same designer, at two price levels. Donna Karan created her eponymous Donna Karan New York line as the elevated mainline, then in 1988 extended it with a less expensive line for younger women called DKNY. So Donna Karan New York is the original designer collection and DKNY is the more affordable, youth-focused sister line.

For many women they remain the blueprint for a capsule wardrobe. Karan became well known for her Essentials line, initially offering seven easy pieces centred around the bodysuit that could all be mixed and matched into a fully integrated wardrobe, shown with her First Collection in 1985. The whole point is versatility, so a handful of interchangeable staples is exactly what the idea was designed to deliver.

She built her reputation on dressing real, modern women. Karan set out to design modern clothes for modern people, became known for her seven-easy-pieces approach and her jersey dresses and opaque Lycra tights, and was nicknamed The Queen of Seventh Avenue. That focus on clothes she would actually wear herself made her one of the defining American designers.

It is one of her signature designs. In 1992 Karan released her "cold shoulder" dress, a jersey long-sleeved dress featuring deep cutouts at the shoulders to reveal the skin beneath. It became a recognisable piece of her body-conscious, jersey-led design language.

She is American, and a New Yorker by birth. Born Donna Ivy Faske in the Forest Hills neighbourhood of Queens, she went on to study at the Parsons School of Design. Her New York roots run deep enough that the city is built into her DKNY label's very name.

In 1984. After years at Anne Klein, Karan left and, together with her then husband Stephan Weiss and the Takihyo Corporation, started her own business, showing her first women's clothing collection in 1985. That debut introduced the seven-easy-pieces idea that would define her.

At Anne Klein, where she spent the early part of her career. She joined as an assistant designer in the late 1960s, was promoted to associate designer in 1971, and after Anne Klein died in 1974 she became head designer of the house alongside her former classmate Louis Dell'Olio, remaining until 1984.

Yes, she extended the family steadily. Two years after launching DKNY she created DKNY Jeans, a denim-inspired collection, and DKNY for men launched in 1992, a year after her Signature line for men. So the broad DKNY universe most people know grew directly out of her own decisions.

No. In 2015 she announced she would step down as head of her eponymous company to focus on her lifestyle brand, Urban Zen, which she had established in 2007. She had already left the CEO position in 1997 while staying on as chairwoman and designer for the Donna Karan line.

A long list of major industry honours. She received Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards, was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1984, and won multiple CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year titles before receiving the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and the CFDA Founders Award in 2016. The recognition spans decades of her career.

Start where her vision started: the body-led essentials. The bodysuit sat at the centre of her seven easy pieces, and her jersey dresses and the iconic cold-shoulder dress are among her most enduring designs. Choosing one of those gives you a piece that carries the heart of her design philosophy.