Donna Karan Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear Runway, Fashion Show & Collection Review

A year ago, eight iconic supermodels appeared in the megawatt campaign for Donna Karan New York’s spring 2024 collection, marking the relaunch of the classic American brand at an accessible price point. Clad in the revamped collection, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Amber Valletta, Shalom Harlow, Carolyn Murphy, Imaan Hammam, Karlie Kloss and Liya Kebede proved the Karan name’s enduring power with the archive-inspired lineup that stayed true to the founder’s roots with modern twists.

The momentum and star power hasn’t slowed down. Since last summer, the G-III Apparel Group-owned brand has been on a celebrity dressing roll, with both archival and new Donna Karan New York pieces being worn by Kate Moss, Alek Wek, Cristin Milioti, Emily Ratajkowski, Halle Berry, Julia Stiles, Kerry Washington, Nicole Scherzinger, Kelsea Ballerini, and Zendaya, to name a few. 

The increased visibility is translating at retail, too, according to the design team (preferring to stay anonymous), noting that shirtdresses, for the first time in vegan leather, head-to-toe knit dressing, and rich outerwear, including tailored topcoats and cozy shearling and frosted mohair options, continue into their fourth collection.

Evening dresses with the very Donna, urban-luxe, glam-yet-easy look have also been hitting, they said. Fall’s standout liquid panne velvet number and square high-neck paillette styles, along with wrap jersey dresses and burnout velvet frocks evoking the look of cracked pavement, delivered on the brand’s goal of a strong palette and rich textures in lieu of loud prints or trendy styles.

To that end, the hue of the season was a chocolate plum. 

“Donna [Karan] did such an incredible job with the colors that she’s made it so easy for us. The colors are so important and something that we’re really realizing now at market and at retail is our customer is responding to it. It doesn’t have to be these typical bright primary colors; it can be moody,” the design team told WWD, explaining the shade was directly inspired by Karan’s archive.

It looked great head-to-toe, whipped into an appealing variety of tonal layers that melded the archival with the modern, with plenty of tactile appeal. Also all in chocolate plum, a faux fur vest atop sleek trousers and an easy blouse was another strong look, as was a hybrid leather-and-knit halterneck top and pencil skirt.

“We’re trying to make luxury attainable,” the team said. (Fall ranges from $125 to $800 at the brand’s e-commerce and with select retail partners.) “We want pieces that you can buy new ones each season and layer to make this beautiful, timeless wardrobe that’s not leaning into trends. It’s really just tapping into Donna’s archive and recreating it for today’s customers.”

Timeless sophistication in fall’s palette of rich chocolate plum, accented with neutrals extended the idea, as seen on Karan’s signature soft suiting with a twist — a single-breasted jacket with draped lapel, held together with sculptural gilded Robert Lee Morris inspired hardware, for example, and a jacket in black velvet with gold brush strokes. Ditto styles in the brand’s brushed jersey fabric that was recreated from an original wool jersey of Karan’s from the early ‘90s. Here, it was a great wrap dress with an attainable price-point for empowered woman now.