Donald Brooks was born in 1928 and raised in Cheshire, Connecticut. Prior to enrolling at Parsons School of Design in 1949, he studied fine arts at Syracuse University and at the Yale School School of Drama. In 1974, he received a Parsons Medal for distinguished achievement and an honorary doctorate in 1985.

Following his education at Parsons, Brooks worked as a window dresser for Lord & Taylor, where Dorothy Shaver encouraged him in his fashion design career. In 1958, following the death of Claire McCardell (KA.0082), Brooks began designing for Townley Frocks. He launched his own label in 1965. Brooks became known for designing bold and colorful fabrics for his collections. He was a three-time Coty American Fashion Critics' Award recipient and a two-time National Cotton Award winner. He was a founding member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, along with Norman Norell (KA.0035), whom Brooks considered a primary inspiration and influence. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Brooks began closing his fashion design business to concentrate on teaching and philanthropic work.

Brooks began pursuing his interest in costume design during the 1960s. Over the next three decades, he designed extensively for film, television, and the stage. Many of the productions Brooks worked on involved historically-inspired costumes, which required extensive research. His designs for The Cardinal (1963), Star! (1968), and Darling Lili (1970) earned him Oscar nominations. His costumes for Diahann Carroll in No Strings, his first Broadway production, received the New York Drama Critics award for Best Costume Design in 1963. Brooks received an Emmy for Costume Design in recognition of his costumes for Lee Remick in The Letter (1982). Other actresses costumed by Brooks include Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Mia Farrow, Ethel Merman, Liza Minelli, Jane Powell, Shelly Winters, and Joanne Woodward. In 1992, he was elected to the Tony Awards Nominating Committee.

Brooks was a visiting lecturer-critic at Parsons School of Design for forty years. Two years prior to his death in 2005, Parsons sponsored an exhibition centered around his fashion design career. An online component to the exhibition can be accessed at: http://www.stardesigners.com/exhibit/dbdfas/index.html