1. Running head: DIANE VON FURSTENBERG 1
Diane Von Furstenberg: The Irreplaceable Fashion Maverick
Genesis Garibaldi
South Mountain Community College

2. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG 2
Diane Von Furstenberg: The Irreplaceable Fashion Maverick
Now considered as an icon in the fashion industry, Diane Von Furstenberg was born on
December 31, 1946 on the streets of Brussels, Belgium as Diane Simone Michelle Halfin (Diane
von Furstenberg, 2004). Weighing 49 pounds, her mother survived Auschwitz and impacted von
Furstenberg deeply. In her interviews, she mentions how thankful she is for her life because her
mother was suggested by doctors to stop her pregnancy due to her delicacy. In an interview with
United Kingdom’s BBC Radio (2014), “My birth was a miracle…she always told me that… the
reason God saved her was [is] so that she can give me life and by giving me life, I gave her [her]
life back and I was her ‘flag of freedom.’”
She attended the University of Geneva in 1965 and majored in Economics. As a student
there, she met Prince Eduard Egon von Furstenberg, “heir to the Fiat automobile fortune.” In
1969, they wed in in Paris and shortly after, the new princess and her husband migrated to the
United States. In New York City, “her husband worked on Wall Street” (“Fashion designer”,
2014), while she pushed herself into the fashion industry. Her plan consisted of displaying
sample designs to clothing manufacturers, hoping that they would be interested in them. Wanting
to be an independent woman, she divorced the prince a few years later and raised her children
Alexandre and Tatiana on her own (“Fashion designer”, 2014).
Designers Bill Blass, Kenny Lane, and Vogue magazine editor, Diana Vreeland
persuaded von Furstenberg to start a dress collection. In 1972, DVF started her own
manufacturing business after working for a clothing company. Before she established her
company, she loaned $30,000 from her father to open a Seventh Avenue Showroom (Diane von
Furstenberg, 2004).

3. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG 3
DVF began her company by designing “Angela,” a sweater dress inspired by Angela
Davis. However, this dress was not as much of a success as the “wrap dress.” This jersey-knit
fabric dress changed her business, selling over five million of them. “After only a few months of
business, her wholesale sales topped $1 million” (“Diane Von Furstenberg,” 2004). Using her
education in both economics and fashion, she enlarged her business by designing different items,
such as shoes, eyeglasses, jewelry, cosmetics, and home accessories. In 1979, her fragrance,
Tatiana, was an instant hit (The seventies, n.d.). At its second year, the fragrance exceeded $40
million dollars (The eighties, n.d.). In the 90s, with her new line, she sold $40 million worth of
clothes for four years of television commercial appearances in a home shopping network (The
nineties, n.d.).
After the wrap dress, salesmen and manufacturers were not cooperating adequately with
the business, causing a saturation. With DVF’s (the company) millions of dollars in inventory,
she had 20 licenses and built a cosmetic business. However, she did not know that she had to
request a loan for the expansion (“Fashion designer”, 2014). With all this wrapped up in her
head, she was so stressed out that she decided to leave the industry. In 1983, the designer sold
her company to “British pharmaceutical giant Beecham Group Ltd.” Once she left, she realized
that fashion was who she was. She did not identify herself as anything else. She was also
inspired to return in 1997 by spotting young fashion enthusiasts wearing wrap dresses. She
wanted to connect with the fashion community (“Fashion designer”, 2014). Today, the
company’s merchandise is sold in 98 stores worldwide.
In the 70s, when von Furstenberg already developed her company, she met Barry Diller,
now Chairman and Senior Executive of Expedia, Inc. They dated for quite a while, but they
stopped and he always seemed to be there for her. According to an interview with The

4. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG 4
Independent (2008), “…one day it was his birthday and I didn't know what to give him – so I
said, 'If you want, I will marry you for your birthday.' So we went to City Hall with my children
and my brother and we got married.” Since 2001, they have both been very happily married and
even set up a non-profit organization called The Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation.
To this day, von Furstenberg has invested a dedicating lifetime full of work to the fashion
industry. “In 2005, Diane received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of
Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for her impact on fashion, and one year later was elected
the CFDA’s president, an office she continues to hold.” As president, she initiated the Design
Piracy Prohibition Act, where design companies are prohibited to replicate other merchandises
(“Diane von Furstenberg,” n.d.). Additionally, she is a board representative of Vital Voices, “a
non-governmental organization that supports female leaders and entrepreneurs around the
world.” In 2010, she instituted the DVF Awards, where impactful women are recognized for
their strenuous and courageousness influence in the community (“Diane von Furstenberg,” n.d.).
In an interview with Elle Décor by David Colman, Diane von Furstenberg (n.d.) stated,
“A challenging economy is always good for design. It unites necessity and functionality. You are
forced to be creative with poor materials.” In my opinion, this does not just work for fashion, it
works for every industry. When a company struggles with their finance, they have to think
outside the box to increase their cash. All in all, by watching her new reality television show, her
interviews, and listening to portions of her new book, The Woman I Wanted to Be, I can tell that
Diane von Furstenberg is full of creativity, knowledge, and soul. DVF has the power and
confidence that every woman idolizes (“Diane von Furstenberg,” n.d.).

5. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG 5
Works Cited
Colman, D. (Interviewer) & von Furstenberg, D. (Interviewee). (n.d.). Women in Design: Diane
von Furstenberg [Interview Transcript]. Retrieved from Elle Décor Web site:
http://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/women-in-design-diane-von-furstenberg-a-
66851
Diane von Furstenberg. (2004). In Encyclopedia of World Biography (2nd ed., Vol. 16, pp. 20-
21). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3404706658&v=2.1&u=mcc_smtn&it
=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=bba5eb4fac37d29da3ee84e7085438eb
DVF. (n.d.). Diane von Furstenberg. Retrieved by November 14, 2014, from
http://www.dvf.com/board-of-directors-diane-von-furstenberg.html
DVF. (n.d.). The eighties. Retrieved by November 14, 2014, from http://www.dvf.com/timeline-
80s.html
DVF. (n.d.). The nineties. Retrieved by November 14, 2014, from http://www.dvf.com/timeline-
90s.html
DVF. (n.d.). The seventies. Retrieved by November 14, 2014, from
http://www.dvf.com/timeline-70s.html
DVF. (n.d.). The tens. Retrieved by November 14, 2014, from http://www.dvf.com/timeline-
10s.html
“Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg.” Woman’s Hour. BBC Radio 4. United Kingdom. 6
Nov. 2014. Radio.
Sowry, B. (2012, April, 5). Diane von Furstenberg. Retrieved from
http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/diane-von-furstenberg

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(2008, March). Wrap superstar: Designer Diane von Furstenberg tells her story [electronic
version]. The Independent. Retrieved November 14, 2014, from
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/wrap-superstar-designer-diane-
von-furstenberg-tells-her-story-801189.html#