The document provides an interview with fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. It discusses her upcoming trip to China, her inspiration from travel, and her new Fall collection. Von Furstenberg emphasizes themes of seduction, mystery, and empowerment in the collection. The summary also mentions her long career success and role in empowering women through fashion.

1. TIME(LESS)
traveler
Diane von Furstenberg reveals the adventures
that have helped define her indefinable life,
and why a rendezvous is a fantastic idea for fall.
BY LAURIE BROOKIns PHOTOGRAPHy BY MARTIN SCHOELLER
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2. I
“I’m leaving for China in a few hours, so I’m not sure
how much time we’ll have.”
Diane von Furstenberg thus enters the conversation
like a glamorous whirlwind crafted of energy and
spirit, qualities woven through a purring Belgian
accent that’s as effortless and sensuous as the way her
iconic wrap dresses hug the curves of a woman’s body.
The effect might be a little disarming if one of the
world’s most famous women were not equally adept at
putting those around her at ease, especially while
discussing her clear-eyed vision of her world.
For example, is that imminent trip to China for
business or pleasure? “It’s both—my life is a pleasure,” von
Furstenberg says. And you believe such an idea—that
she has carved out a masterful path that balances work
with philanthropy, travel with exploration. She clarifies
in an email sent later the same evening while en-route
that this particular excursion will be a short one—she
and husband Barry Diller were scheduled to speak at a
JPMorgan conference in Beijing—but adds, “I don’t like
to stay away from China for more than six months at a
time,” partly because, like so many other journeys, the
experience might inform a future collection. “My
camera is always with me—nature photos become
prints, an architectural detail becomes a handbag, a
vegetable market a color palette.” And yet von
Furstenberg’s inspirations are not always discovered
halfway around the world, but sometimes quite literally
in her own backyard, that of a Connecticut home she
The Ridley
Puzzle Dress
from DVF’s
Fall 2012
Runway.
The Mimosa
shearling clutch.
Anette suede
pump.
says keeps her feeling grounded and centered. “I really do feel like a New The pairing of von Furstenberg and Mispelaere seems a bit of a love
England person,” she says. “There’s something about the beauty of it, but affair, with the mutual admiration revealed in the beauty and polish of
also the four distinct seasons, that marries well with my background.” each ensuing collection. “We finish each other’s sentences,” she says.
This season we all benefit from von Furstenberg’s unique sense of beauty, “When you’re in design, your first references are super important, and he
confidence, discovery, and wanderlust, with a just-arrived Fall collection understands those ideas from me immediately. And it’s nice to see how I
(available at her Newbury Street boutique) that’s roundly agreed to be among inspire him and where he takes the things I’m thinking. We really
her strongest in recent years. It’s a chic juxtaposition featuring such pieces as complete each other.”
voluminous, cleanly cut coats mixed with close-to-the-body dresses featuring “You know, we are both from the north of Europe—she was born in
luxurious details—paillettes crafted to resemble pieces of a jigsaw puzzle Brussels and I was born in Normandy, but my family’s roots are in Belgium,
splashed across a pink sheath, or a bold black-and-white graphic that upon too,” Mispelaere notes. “So we have that in common, and with that I think
closer inspection is formed by a pattern of interlocking hands—a playful nod to comes a certain sensibility for light and also a sense of romance that finds
Surrealism. “I’ve always been influenced by the Surrealists—my fantasy was to its way into our aesthetic and how we react to that aesthetic.” They likewise
have had an affair with Man Ray,” she says, name-checking the artist known share that love of Surrealism, also seen in the accessories, such as the
for combining seemingly disparate elements to inspire meaning and oversized Carolina Lip clutch or a collection of nine limited-edition Fetish
conversation. Von Furstenberg christened her Fall collection Rendezvous, box clutches in whimsical shapes like hearts and clock faces; only 25 to 50
and it embraces all that the word implies. “We wanted something very of each style are set to be produced. “There is so much excitement in our
seductive, the feeling of a woman going on a seductive trip,” she explains. accessories right now,” von Furstenberg says. “The Fetish bags reflect that,
“There is a wonderful sense of the unknown and of expectation. And what’s but they’re also wonderfully timeless; you’ll keep it forever and then give it
going through your mind when you get a dress for a rendezvous? We wanted to your daughter or granddaughter.”
v
women to enjoy all of those ideas.”
The “we” in her thoughts includes Yvan Mispelaere, who joined von
Furstenberg as her creative director in April 2010. “The way I work with Diane,
it really starts with words or thoughts,” he explains. “She’s always on the go, so
she sends me messages, emails, sometimes little pictures. The first word we on Furstenberg always has that duality in mind, how one of her
wanted to work around for this season was volupté: something voluptuous and designs will feel not only fresh but timeless, and how that design might
luxurious in colors and textures, and the idea of enveloping the body and inspire confidence in generations of women. It’s a philosophy that has
being able to hide yourself in a way, with a sense of mystery. It’s very sensory.” changed little since she arrived in New York 42 years ago with a plan to be a
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3. “I do feel like a Steven Kolb, CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America,
works with von Furstenberg largely through her role as the organization’s
New England president (a title she’s held since 2007) and believes her pragmatism to be a
chief reason for her success. “American design is a combination of creativity
Person. There’s and commerce; we’re not afraid to make money, and we’re not afraid to
sell,” he says. “If you’re going to create something so beautiful and it lives
something in a closet somewhere, but nobody gets to wear it or see it, what have you
created? Nothing. Diane understands that and celebrates creativity and
about the
commerce. There is an entrepreneurial spirit that exists in American
fashion, and she really represents that. She’s also a great American success
beauty of it
story; she had an idea and was able to frame that idea around what she was
looking for, how she felt a woman should dress, and she built an incredible
that marries
American brand around it.”
Von Furstenberg also has used the success of that brand to raise
well with
awareness of women’s issues, both through The Diller-von Furstenberg
Family Foundation (out of which she created the annual DVF Awards,
my background.”
bestowed each March at the United Nations) and such organizations as
Vital Voices, which recognizes and assists those women who seek to
make a difference largely through grassroots efforts all over the world.
“I’m on the board of Vital Voices and devoted to the work they do,” she
says. “I feel very privileged that I can use my success and the fruits of
designer, her suitcase filled with a dozen jersey dresses. That chapter of her my success to truly change people’s lives; it really is the thing that
life is now the stuff of fashion legend: how, still married to Egon von brings me the most happiness. But everything I do in my life, it all works
Furstenberg, and pregnant with her first child (Alexandre, now 42), she toward one goal: to empower women.”
chose independence and empowerment over the life of being a German
Y
princess. And through pieces such as that aforementioned wrap dress (which
celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2014), Diane von Furstenberg—the woman
and the brand—ultimately played a key role in the celebration of female
equality born at almost the same moment she stepped foot in Manhattan. “I
really did live the American dream,” she says. “I came here, and one, two, ou can divine a bit of psychology from the way a designer takes his
three, I was all over the place, a huge success very quickly.” Indeed, von or her bow at a show’s end—Carolina Herrera steps out only a few feet
Furstenberg vaulted almost instantly to the stratosphere of the New York’s for a brief wave, while Michael Kors fairly jogs the course of his runway,
social scene, one of that exclusive group who personified the high-wattage often wearing a smile that borders on ebullience. Diane Von Furstenberg
Studio 54 era. “You can’t describe history while you’re living it. Warhol walks the length of her runway at a pace that seems equal parts confident,
painted me twice, I was photographed by Richard Avedon and Helmut deliberate, and leisurely, stopping for a kiss from Diller or a bouquet of
Newton, but to me, they were all contemporaries,” she says of the time. flowers from her grandchildren. And for the past four seasons, by her side
The path, she is quick to acknowledge, has not always been pristine—By has been Mispelaere, holding her hand. “That was a big challenge for me,
1985 von Furstenberg had sold off most of the business and moved to Paris to to walk beside her,” Mispelaere says. “I’m a little more shy than she is, but
pursue other projects, but the lure of that dream again beckoned, and after I’m getting used to it. Now it’s a moment in which I feel very proud, and
discovering through a stint with Home Shopping Network that American also a little protective of her. Emotionally it’s a strong moment for me, and
women still wanted that sense of freedom and confidence von Furstenberg I think for her also. But my pace has gotten easier. I think she’s empowered
strives to inject into every design, she decided in 1997 that the time was right to me in a way also.”
re-launch her eponymous label. Today DVF is sold in more than 70 countries, Von Furstenberg always has an eye on the future, it seems, but she is also a
with 54 boutiques bearing her name, while the line has most recently grown to passionate believer that you’re a product of your journey, and the woman
include a home collection and a signature fragrance called “Diane,” both of who’s been twice painted by Warhol and who through her designs played a
which debuted in 2011. “I joke that there have been three stages to my business: role in the feminist movement of the 1970s, who went from being the wife of
the first was to be financially independent, the second was to show myself and a German prince to a bona fide icon of fashion and female empowerment—
the world that the first wasn’t an accident, and then the third is where we are well, she says she wouldn’t change one second of it. “Many years have passed
now, a company I think of as an asset for my children and grandchildren,” she since I landed in New York, pregnant and with dresses to sell,” she says. “A
says. “The most amazing thing about my brand, and to some degree me, lot of life, a lot of ups and downs. I have lived fully and learned a lot, yet I am
though it’s weird for me to say it myself, is the ability stay relevant for so long. I still the same person—the same love of life, curiosity, and desire to make
think a little bit of it is because I’m always interested in what’s happening things happen.”
around me. But I’m still the same woman I always was: I felt confidence about And with that, von Furstenberg is off to China, eager to embrace another
myself, and I sell confidence. I sell attitude, and that is completely timeless.” new adventure. BC
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