Dresses are the most wonderful pieces of clothing in my book — and the great designer Diane von Furstenberg is one of the reasons I think that. Long before her new E! show, House of DVF, she has been on the fashion scene, and photos of the young Diane von Furstenberg prove how she's been a fashionista almost her whole life. After over 40 years in the business, Furstenberg has made an epic comeback. House of DVF premieres Sunday, Nov. 2 at 10 pm, it’s the 40th anniversary of her most notable creation — the wrap dress, and she has memoir out called The Woman I Wanted to Be.
Furstenberg has been rocking the fashion world since 1970. Best known for her wrap dresses and patterns, I'm hoping her new show on E! pays homage to the empire she has created and doesn't get too stuck in the traps of reality TV in the 21st century. Because of my concerns, I think it's better if we take a look back to when she first made a name for herself. Back in 1969, she married Prince Egon von Furstenberg (which yes, means she is a former princess). After a failed attempt at modeling, she moved to the world of fashion design in 1970 with a "suitcase full of jersey dresses." The rest is fashion history.
Her backstory on how she ended up to be the icon she is today is truly remarkable. Von Furstenberg was born in 1946, and her mother was a survivor of the Holocaust (she had been imprisoned in Auschwitz) and had von Furstenberg in Belgium. She became a princess, but the marriage didn't last long. The couple was a New York magazine cover story and the article portrayed Diane and Egon as the couple who had everything. Von Furstenberg told NPR that was one of the reasons that their marriage ended:
"When I actually read the article — it was a cover story and it says 'The Couple That Has Everything: Is Everything Enough?' Somehow, when I read that, I just thought that's not really who I am and, therefore, I can't really be a couple — I have to be me."
That wouldn't be the only life-changing magazine cover she had. In 1976, she was on the cover of Newsweek, which solidified her status as fashion's "it girl."
She had ups and downs after the '70s, but she relaunched her fashion company in 1997 after several other business ventures.
Throughout her history, von Furstenberg has stayed true to her independent, bold, and commercial style. And her long journey in the fashion industry has made her a wealth of wisdom. I can't wait to see what this fabulous woman has planned next.
