Diane von Furstenberg

Diane von Furstenberg,  born Diane Simone Michelle Halfin; 31 December

Diane von Furstenberg

1946) is a Belgian-born American fashion designer best known for her iconic wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg. Following their divorce in 1972, she has continued to use his family name, although she is no longer entitled to use the title princess following her divorce and subsequent remarriage in 2001.

She relaunched her fashion company, Diane von Furstenberg (DVF), in 1997, with the reintroduction of her famous wrap dress. The company is now a global luxury lifestyle brand offering four complete collections a year. DVF is available in over 70 countries and 45 free-standing shops worldwide. The company's headquarters and flagship boutique are located in Manhattan's Meatpacking District.

In 1970, with a $30,000 investment, Diane von Furstenberg began designing women's clothes—"The minute I knew I was about to be Egon's wife, I decided to have a career. I wanted to be someone of my own, and not just a plain little girl who got married beyond her desserts." Her former husband also became a fashion designer in 1974. After moving to New York, she met with famed Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who declared her designs "absolutely smashing." She then had her name listed on the Fashion Calendar for New York Fashion Week, and so her business was created.

She is best known for introducing the knitted jersey "wrap dress" in 1974, an example of which, due to its influence on women's fashion, is in the collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After the phenomenal success of the wrap dress, Furstenberg was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in 1976. The cover was intended to show Gerald Ford, who had just won his first Republican Presidential Primary, but was changed at the last minute. The accompanying article declared her "the most marketable woman since Coco Chanel."

In 1974, Furstenberg launched a cosmetic line and her first fragrance, Tatiana, which was named after her daughter.

At university, when she was 18, she met Prince Egon of Fürstenberg, the elder son of Prince Tassilo zu Fürstenberg, a German Catholic prince, and his first wife, Clara Agnelli, an heiress to the Fiat automotive fortune and member of the Italian nobility. Married in 1969, the couple had two children, Prince Alexander. and Princess Tatiana, who were born in New York City. She is now the grandmother of four, including Princess Talita. The Fürstenbergs' marriage, though not popular with the groom's family because of the bride's Jewish ethnicity, was considered dynastic, and on her marriage she became Her Serene Highness Princess Diane of Fürstenberg, but is no longer entitled to the title following her divorce and her 2001 remarriage.

In 2001, she married American media mogul Barry Diller, with whom she had been involved, off and on, since the 1970s.

She was born in Brussels, to Jewish parents. Her father was Romanian-born Leon (Lipa) Halfin, who had migrated to Belgium in 1929 from Chişinău. Her mother was Greek-born Liliane Nahmias, a Holocaust survivor.18 months before Fürstenberg was born, her mother was in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Furstenberg has spoken broadly about her mother's influence in her life, crediting her with teaching her that "fear is not an option".

Furstenberg attended Madrid University before transferring to the University of Geneva to study economics. She then moved to Paris and worked as an assistant to fashion photographer's agent, Albert Koski. She left Paris for Italy to work as an apprentice to the textile manufacturer Angelo Ferretti in his factory, where she learned about cut, color and fabric. It was here that she designed and produced her first silk jersey dresses.

Furstenberg is referred to in Dolly Parton's 1981 song "Working Girl". In 2014, Ovation TV featured the The Fashion Fund, a documentary about the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund competition. Furstenberg starred alongside Anna Wintour in the program.

In 2014, the E! network aired the first season of reality show House of DVF. Contestants on the show performed various tasks and challenges in the hopes of becoming a global brand ambassador for Diane von Furstenberg. On the December season finale, Diane chose finalist Brittany Hampton as the winner. The show has since returned for a second season.

As of 2014, she is listed as the 68th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.