Donna Karan & Gabby Karan de Felice: A Mother-Daughter Powerhouse Like No Other
The American Fashion Designer and Restaurateur talk Tutto Il Giorno, Urban Zen, COVID-19, clothing, and more...
It’s one o’clock on a Friday in July in Sag Harbor, New York.
Donna Karan, her daughter, Gabby, and I are settling in for lunch at Tutto Il Giorno, one of the hottest restaurants in the Hamptons.
Tutto Il Giorno in Sag Harbor
It’s packed (per usual) with boldface names.
Kelly Klein at one table. Lisa Perry at another. Every seat is taken.
Gabby owns Tutto (as it’s known to regulars) – which is not just one restaurant but a mini empire – with outposts in Southampton and Tribeca, too.
Tutto Il Giorno in Tribeca
Tutto Il Giorno in Southampton
What makes the Sag Harbor location different is that Donna operates a boutique in the same space. Urban Zen, the brand she founded in 2007, has a shop inside the restaurant.
What could be better?
Eat and drink, then shop.
I’ve known Donna and Gabby for at least a decade. In fact, I acquired Donna’s memoir for Random House [published in 2015] back when I was an Editor-at-Large there.
Over a salmon niçoise salad (for me), fish and veg for Donna and chilled soup for Gabby, we dished on everything from Covid to clothes to food…
Buckle up, it’s an interesting ride.
MANAGING A HAMPTONS EMPIRE
ALINA CHO: Let’s talk about Tutto.
DONNA KARAN: Gianpaolo [Gabby’s husband] and Gabby moved out here [to the Hamptons]. He was Italian. His mom always cooked for him. He lived on the boat. He had the water down in Naples and then he comes to the Hamptons and goes, "I want my mom's food.”
Gabby Karan de Felice and her husband, Gianpaolo de Felice
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: He said, “There’s nothing authentic.”
ALINA CHO: But Gabby, having had no experience in the food space…
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: Growing up with my mother, who's a fashion designer, and a father who was an artist and marrying into an Italian [family], I wanted to create a space that was an experience. Whether it was huge communal tables that my mother designed and banquette couches with pillows… or pareos that we found in Bali or jewelry from a local artisan, it was an experience and it was a place that we could call home.
Tutto Il Giorno in Sag Harbor
ALINA CHO: What have you learned from your mother about running a business?
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: I think it’s how to embrace the community. I did a ton for the New York Academy of Art [located in Tribeca]. I moved to Sag Harbor. We were involved in the Sag Harbor Cinema, the food pantry, the retreat, and I think my mom has taught me how to embrace all the local organizations, because those are the people who are out in these communities year-round. And when you become a year-round business, you are sustainable because it’s not a moment. It’s not seasonal.
Gabby & Donna in Sag Harbor by Eric Striffler
ALINA CHO: You have three restaurants, you’ve got the [Urban Zen] retail space. I mean, when everything shut down, weren’t you freaking out?
DONNA KARAN: She liked shutting down.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: I think it gave us a breather.
DONNA KARAN: Gabby wanted isolation. I’m very different. Seeing New York shut down, that was the hardest thing for me to see.
DONNA ON GETTING COVID
ALINA CHO: You got the first shot [back in February].
DONNA KARAN: I got the shot and the next day, I find out that I have Covid.
ALINA CHO: Were you okay?
DONNA KARAN: My girlfriend called me up -- we had dinner the night before – and she says, "Donna, you're not going to believe this. I have Covid.” She says, "You better check out.” Sure enough, I got Covid. I was shocked.
ALINA CHO: What were your symptoms?
DONNA KARAN: I didn’t feel good, so they took me to the hospital and then, suddenly, I had no energy, no anything, and they thought it went to my brain.
ALINA CHO: Oh, God.
DONNA KARAN: Nobody knows, but what I’ve heard is where your weaknesses are, is where it attaches for a long period of time. My weakness is my memory. So, even though it’s been such a long time [since I’ve had Covid], my memory is worse now than it’s ever been.
ALINA CHO: Wow.
DONNA KARAN: And it’s very frightening. Sometimes, I get lost in a sentence, and that’s not like me.
ALINA CHO: Were you nervous?
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: My mother nervous, are you kidding me?
TUTTO IL GIORNO IN PALM BEACH?
ALINA CHO: You should open in Palm Beach. Have you thought about it?
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: Yeah, we're looking at places. My husband's always wanted to expand. But, if we're not living in a place and living and breathing the area, and I'm not going to be there, I don't want to do it.
DONNA KARAN: But you are going to be in Palm Beach.
ALINA CHO: You'll be in Wellington [in the winter, where Gabby’s daughter rides horses competitively; she will also attend University of Miami in the fall].
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: Right. So, Wellington is, what, 35 minutes [away]?
ALINA CHO: Exactly.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: And we dine and shop [in Palm Beach]. I feel – like the Hamptons and Sag Harbor -- everything [at Tutto] looks like Palm Beach. And I think we would bring something that's a bit more unique to the community that I think they would love.
THIS DUO "HATES" CLOTHES? HA!
DONNA KARAN: Gabby does not like clothes.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: Yeah, I love furniture, home and lifestyle.
DONNA KARAN: She's not a clothes person.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: No, I'm not a fashion person.
DONNA KARAN: Never has been.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: I have the same things in my closet.
ALINA CHO: I love this. I love this.
DONNA KARAN: Well, I hate clothes, too.
ALINA CHO: What do you mean you hate clothes, too?
DONNA KARAN: I love designing clothes. I love designing. A doctor wears white, whatever the case may be, or an artist is always in jeans.
ALINA CHO: And look at how people want to dress now, which is that whole concept that you created, which was such a revelation.
DONNA KARAN: Seven easy pieces.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: Yeah. And comfort. Comfort.
DONNA KARAN: My number one selling piece is my jumpsuit, right?
Jumpsuit on www.urbanzen.com
ALINA CHO: You never have an extra small, by the way.
DONNA KARAN: Yes, we do. [Donna, at this point, gets up from the table and retrieves two jumpsuits, one small and one medium].
ALINA CHO: Oh, my God. She literally cannot turn the retail off.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: We fight over that. She doesn't realize how small her customers...
DONNA KARAN: But we'll always have a customer who's big.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: I look at the orders. The [extra small] sells out.
DONNA KARAN: We're getting it. We have it.
GABBY KARAN DE FELICE: Mom, she comes in all the time looking for it.
DONNA KARAN: We have it. We have it. I swear to God. I did two this year.
ALINA CHO: I love her.