Cruising the canals of Venice amid grand palazzos reveals why this iconic city serves as a home for fashion legend Diane von Furstenberg, who spends about five months of the year there. Now 79, von Furstenberg burst onto the scene in the 1970s. Though she once grew tired of discussing it, her fame was cemented by a single comfortable, practical, and affordable garment: the wrap dress. Debuting in 1974, the idea came to her while watching television news coverage of the Watergate hearings. She saw Julie Eisenhower wearing her wrap top with a snake-print skirt and realized they should turn it into a dress. By 1976, she had sold a million of them. At age 29, she landed on the cover of Newsweek, which crowned her the most marketable female in fashion since Coco Chanel. Diane Simone Michele Halfin was born in Brussels, Belgium, on New Year’s Eve, 1946. Her father was a businessman and her mother was a Holocaust survivor who weighed about 49 pounds upon liberation. Her mother often said God saved her to give Diane life, and by doing so, gave her life back. Before becoming fashion royalty, she became a princess by marrying Prince Egon von Furstenberg. They had two children, but the marriage ended. Her love life later made headlines through high-profile flings with figures like Richard Gere, Warren Beatty, and Ryan O’Neal, alongside early experiences of sexual fluidity. In 2001, she married media mogul Barry Diller. Last year, Diller revealed in a memoir that he was attracted to men, though it never conflicted with his love for Diane. She encouraged him to write the book, noting he had opened up to her long ago and remains her soulmate and companion for life. Despite financial ups and downs in business, the DVF brand has endured. Today, she stays close to the company while a new generation leads creative visions, focusing her energy on designing her legacy through initiatives like the annual DVF Awards in Venice, which celebrate extraordinary women. Approaching her 80th birthday on New Year’s Eve, von Furstenberg acknowledges her sensitivity to mortality. Entering what she calls the winter of her life, she regards it as her final act and hopes to be remembered as someone who loved life and tried to honor it in every way.
Source: cbsnews.com
