|
|
 |
No designer embodies the prevailing
fashion mood better than Diane Von Furstenberg.
Through two businesses—
now and in the Seventies—she’s
staked her name on feminine, womanly fashion.
As a new vanguard of hip working women embrace her dresses and
sportswear, Diane is expanding with a new make up line, fragrance
and her own stores.
Join me as Diane, her voice still flecked with traces of her native
Belgium, talks openly about conquering fashion twice and cancer
once, balancing career and family, and marriage to powerhouse
businessman Barry Diller. And oh, yes, along the way she shares
some style tips.
We met in her Tribeca studio. To reach her office, you must pass
her New York boutique housed in the complex, walk past a shimmering
reflecting pool in the foyer. A few steps up a winding staircase,
there’s a view of the gallery space, which she sometimes
loans out to art groups.
Upstairs, Diane’s warm, colorful office is dominated by
a wall covered with design inspirations, paintings and numerous
photos of Diane’s two grown children, three little grandchildren,
her husband and Diane herself.
Cosseted on her leather armchair and settee, we chatted over cups
of herbal tea.
CONSTANCE WHITE: Diane, what would we be surprised
to know about you?
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG (Long pause): It may be that deep, deep
down I’m actually lazy.
CW: That is surprising. How did you bring it
under control?
DVF: When I turned 22, I got married, I had two kids and I started
to work and I haven’t stopped since.
CW: Why do it? Particularly ’cause deep
down you’re lazy. Why do it again when you don’t have
to? In the past you’ve had so much success…
DVF: Well, because I had lost my brand and that made me suffer
a lot.
My brand is like one of my children. I had a son, a daughter and
a brand. I had created, so young, such a wonderful thing with
a certain spirit and I really loved that. It gave me an identity
and through giving me an identity I helped other women to get
their identity, so there was a great synergy and a great energy
that came out of that and I loved it. And I turned around and
it had disappeared.
So for me to regain that was a huge gift and pleasure. I like
the energy that it gives me.
CW: You mentioned you have two children, you’re
married, you have grandchildren. How do you keep balance in your
life?
DVF: In order to keep balance, the most important thing is to
have some time for myself. We need to be a little bit on our own.
If you have time enough to have some solitude, then you can handle
anything.
CW: What is the most difficult passage you have
been through in your life?
DVF: There were different times but the most difficult is when
I had cancer.
CW: In what part of your body did you have it?
DVF: At the base of my tongue. Almost 10 years ago.
The other thing that was a very hard passage was when I came back
to America [after living in Paris for many years] and I wanted
to get back to work and nobody took me seriously. It’s funny,
because I feel that my cancer was because I wasn’t able
to express myself about it.
CW: And what has been the most fun or fulfilling
passage in your life?
DVF: So many things. Usually the best satisfaction, the happiest
moments are very short, little things. Very often they have to
do with you. And you can almost not share them because they would
be meaningless to anybody else.
CW: You’re a very successful woman whose
designs have embodied women’s quest to have it all. Can
you have it all?
DVF: If you plan things well, I don’t think you have to
really sacrifice anything. It’s just that you have a lot
of planning to do if you want it all. If you want a family and
you want a career—which you should—it’s a lot.
It’s definitely a lot. So you have to plan. You have to
be very serious at the base. If you’re serious at the base
then you can afford to be frivolous.
CW: Many people are intrigued [about you and
Barry (Diller)]. You’re a wife—for the second time—how
do you and Barry complement each other?
DVF: The reason we complement each other is that we truly, truly
love each other. And he totally loves me and supports me and embraces
everything I do and I can do no wrong. When you accept someone,
it’s like when you accept yourself—life is much easier.I’ve
known him 28 years, so, I don’t know...It started with a
big, huge passion and then it turned into some other things and
then I left [America] but the relationship was still very, very,
very strong and it turned out, looking back, it is a major thing.
CW: It started as a big huge passion—you
were like lovers, girlfriend and boyfriend?
DVF: Maaadly, lovers
CW: Oh I didn’t know that. I thought you
were good friends then…
DVF: No, no, no, no. It started as a passion.
Then I left him. Then after that we became friends. And he was
always there. In fact, he made every other relationship complicated.
Not for me, for my boyfriends. There was always this other person
who would overshadow others. This very powerful man.
CW: So even when you had other boyfriends you
were still in touch with him as a friend?
DVF: Always.
CW: That is so hard for the other man. So do
you think there is anything you can take from that and share with
us, with women, about making relationships work?
DVF: I think the only way to make relationships work is to give
more. To give, to give…
And if you go about giving without thinking about getting back.
Giving, on one side. And not being needy, on the other side, that’s
it.
CW: What you’re saying is born of such
a sensibility of down-to-earth-ness, yet it’s so romantic.
DVF: I don’t know about romantic, but giving is the secret
of life. I think that you must know how to give. And you must
know not to depend. If you know these two things, then everything
you get is a plus. If you only expect from yourself and you don’t
expect from others, and you give a lot, then you’re bound
to win. Some people spend their lives blaming. Why waste the time?
CW: On a more prosaic note, one thing you do
is you travel a lot for your pleasure and for your business. What’s
the best way to pack?
DVF: Oh, I am the lightest packer in the world.
The best way to pack is to visualize where you’re going
and what you’re gonna do and have the key elements for these
things. Say, ‘Ok, I’m going hiking and I have one
night in the city.’ Then you have to edit again. No matter
what you do, you always pack too much...
CW: Where’s your favorite place to relax?
DVF: I relax at home in the country in Connecticut. I relax on
the boat (the Mikado).
CW: How do you define style?
DVF: Style is being able to be yourself. Being in harmony with
who you are, how you look.
CW: What would you say are the three things that
women should pay attention to if they want to look their best?
DVF: The most important thing is to be comfortable. To be comfortable
doesn’t mean to be sloppy. But comfortable means being at
ease with who you are and not trying to be somebody else. The
question always comes up—which
is better: To be underdressed or overdressed? Well, the truth
of the matter is, it’s probably better to be underdressed
- except if you’re not comfortable. Then probably it’s
better to be overdressed.
Second thing, is to be dressed for the occasion. When you plan
what you’re going to wear you need to plan, where you’re
going, who you’re going to be with and how you want to project
yourself.
The third thing to pay attention to is always to enhance what’s
most attractive about you and ignore the things that aren’t.
CW: What are your beauty rituals? How do you
enhance what’s most attractive about you?
DVF: I meditate. I try to eat as cleanly as possible (less sugar,
less alcohol, no smoking). Exercise. I do yoga, I hike and I swim.
I do a shiatsu (massage) every week. I do a facial every week.
I try to drink a lot of water. I try to keep as elastic and as
slender as I can. The important thing is to be moving.
Everything else is on top. The makeup, everything comes after.
|
|
|
|
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
