BY DESIGN : The Secret of Their Success : Donna Karan and Her Husband ‘Got Together Through a Passion and Grew a Business’
Donna Karan and her husband, Stephan Weiss, are seated across from one another in a Hollywood restaurant. Her long slender fingers are wrapped around a “cleansing” cup of hot water spiced with lemon. His hands rest on the table, ready at any moment, it seems, to reach out to touch the woman he repeatedly says he loves.
She is an animated speaker, wrinkling her nose, flashing her blue eyes, tossing her long, shiny brunet ponytail. His silver ponytail stays close to the nape of his neck as he jokes, teases or turns somber statesman, carefully choosing words such as passion , which they both use in sentences loaded with verbal caresses.
After a day of checking out local Nordstrom cosmetic counters, the couple are plodding on with a series of interviews before attending a party to thank the troops and rally them for more action. Two weeks ago, Nordstrom launched DK Men on the West Coast and, a store representative says, it has joined the women’s fragrance, Donna Karan New York, as one of the chain’s top five performers.
Weiss, co-chief executive officer of the company and part-time sculptor, designed the throttle-shaped black glass and gun metal bottle. The scent inside is equally masculine--inspired by the smells of a New York tobacco shop, race cars and a scrap of chamois-soft suede. Just as Karan’s signature perfume is said to be inspired by the aroma of red suede and the back of Weiss’ neck.
To Karan, Weiss is more than just a sexy neck; he is her muse and soul mate. Describing their 10-year marriage and professional life, she says: “It’s two people who got together through a passion and grew a business that’s quite wonderful. Certainly, he’s my inspiration for everything I’ve designed in menswear. And when I think about my women’s clothes, I have to tell you I think about him--what he likes, what he doesn’t like.
“I depend on him for a lot,” she says.
The past two years have been difficult for them both, he adds, alluding to press criticism of the company’s finances, which followed an aborted public offering last year. Things have settled down now. They recently obtained refinancing for the next 4 1/4 years, Weiss says, “which secures the growth of the company going forward.”
Combining work and marriage has its ups and downs, says Karan: “The pros are that you’re building a baby together and it’s very consuming. And it’s nice to know your husband is involved in it because you share the pleasures and the pain. On the other hand, it makes it difficult because you’d like to escape it some time.”
They work hard at achieving a balance. They have offices on different floors of their Seventh Avenue headquarters, rarely leave the house together or lunch together. When they connect in the evening, he is usually the one, he says, who calls a halt if they “drift into some work conversation. I’ll either say, ‘I’m leaving the room,’ or ‘You can come hug me.’ Or ‘Let’s think or talk about something else.’ Or we’ll meditate and clear ourselves that way.”
Karan, 46, calls them complex, private people who are not terribly social. They share a love of the outdoors and their combined family (she has a daughter from a previous marriage, he has a son, daughter and three grandchildren). Weiss, 56, lauds her “sometimes frightening” energy level. She praises his intelligence. He raves about her creativity. She commends his artistic expression and his self-discipline, calling him “the most centered person I know.” And she, he says, “is my best friend.”
Despite Karan’s reverence for Weiss’ opinions, she reduced her long hair to almost a buzz cut just one day after they were married. “Because she felt secure,” he teases. She says it happened because she was feeling “old and dowdy” on a shoot where all the models had short hair. To please him, she spent two years growing it back.
Tops on her list of ways to keep romance burning is a whiff of the men’s fragrance (friend Liam Neeson is the voice on the commercial). But Weiss objects to her flip retort and suggests that “there might be some small other issue--like hard work and recommitment.”
That said, they move out to meet another journalist, then on to the party where guests surround them, treating them like celebrities and asking for autographs. When it comes time to address the crowd (all dressed in black, as one amazed waitress points out), Karan is quick to say what has been on her mind.
Despite her own youthful appearance and trendy outfit--black coat, skirt and tank top worn with bare legs and high-heeled suede ankle boots--she is amazed by the age level in the room.
“I feel intimidated, and I’m rarely intimidated. Everyone looks so young. I feel like your mother,” she says.
“You look great,” shouts a woman, drawing a round of enthusiastic applause. Karan moves on to the issue at hand, the fragrance, and suggests every woman give it to her significant other, saying: “Yes, it does work.”
Weiss chimes in dramatically: “Yes, it does.” Whistles everywhere, followed by more applause. Karan apologizes for not getting to every Nordstrom store in the vicinity. In response, as the 30-second commercial repeats and repeats, a woman in the back of the room puts the capper on the evening.
“Donna, we love you,” she calls out, bringing down the house.
