Diane Von Furstenberg is a celebrated fashion icon, designer, mother and grandmother. This week she adds renowned author to her list of accomplishments. Her book ‘The Woman I wanted to Be” hit stores Oct. 28th.
The book archives her upbringing in Brussels, her “jet-set” princess lifestyle and becoming a designer. Although her career and accomplishments span over the course of 40 years, the name DFV is most synonymous with the wrap dress.
In 1972 the young designer moved to New York with a suitcase full of ‘jersey dresses’. Two years later, with the support of Vogue’s Editor in chief, her wrap dress hit the market. Since the seventies her celebrated dress has morphed into a bevy of styles and become a symbol of empowerment. Diane’s longevity as a global fashion icon is a testament to her creativity and smarts.
She came to New York with an idea of the women she wanted to become. And she has become that women in many respects.
“The kind of woman who is independent and who doesn’t rely on a man to pay her bills.”
In the 200-page book DVF , 67, addresses her successes and failures, her incredible journey in becoming a global brand and her passion for empowering women. She talks about paying it forward and the women who influenced her. Women like her late mother, Diana Vreeland and Amy Spindler.
“I want every woman to know that she can be the woman she wants to be.”
“I think it’s very important for any woman with success to share her success, I think it’s important for a woman, once she empowers herself, to try to empower others.”
Here are some powerful quotes from the book.
On learning how to listen
“… I always tell young people[,] “Listen, always listen. Most people at the beginnings of their lives don’t know what they want to be unless you have a real vocation, like a pianist or a doctor, so it is very important to listen. Sometimes there are doors that will open and you think it is not an important door and yet it is—so it’s very important to be curious and pay attention, because sometimes you learn and you don’t even know you’re learning.”
A reflection on sexism
“Even the staid Wall Street Journal took notice and on January 28, 1976, ran a feature about my “fashion empire” on the front page. I was beyond proud of myself that morning as I took a very early flight to Cleveland for a personal appearance… There were almost no women on that flight. I sat next to a businessman with my pile of magazines and newspapers on my lap. The Wall Street Journal was on top. After a few minutes of staring at me and my legs, huffing and puffing, trying to figure out how to start a conversation, the man asked, “What’s a pretty girl like you doing reading the Wall Street Journal?” I looked at him, but said nothing. I could have shown him my front-page story, but it seemed too easy, and to this day, the fact that I did not remains one of the best personal satisfactions I’ve ever had.”
On being labeled a Designer
“Still, I didn’t dare call myself a designer then, any more than I dared call myself a good mother while my children were still growing. You cannot make these claims until you get much older, because you need to have proof, and so it wasn’t until after I discovered I did have a second act, that I could do it again and be relevant and be right that the first time was confirmed, that it wasn’t an accident. Only after almost two decades since I’d created the wrap dress, did I call myself a designer.”
