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“I am looking for freedom,” a song from the Django Unchained soundtrack repeated over and over again at Donna Karan’s AW13 show in New York on Monday afternoon. A statement about the serenity which defines Karan’s life these days, it filtered through a collection influenced by her book Connecting the Dots featuring the art of her late husband, the sculptor Stephan Weiss – which she spoke to i-D about around the time of its release last year – which Karan worked on during the her collection. “Stephan was a sculptor, and so much of his work was inspired by the body. The curve of a woman’s neck. The sculpt of her lower back,” Donna told i-D after the show. “Working on the book, it really struck me just how similar our work is. He sculpted so many heads and torsos – many mine – and of course all in the abstract of varied media, from Lucite to stone to brass. My medium is different – I use fabric, I drape, I mold – and yet it’s still about finding expression by and through the body.” It translated into a collection heavy on tight, shape-defining jersey dresses, voluminous outerwear, and asymmetry. “We’re working in tandem, even now,” Donna said. “Stephan is a part of me and everything I do. The sensuality, the soulfulness and the sculpture are all influenced by Stephan.”
Text: Anders Christian Madsen
Photography: Mitchell Sams
