Designer Spotlight- Diane Von Furstenberg

"She was born Diane Michelle Halfin in Brussels, Belgium in 1946. She is Belgian by birth, with Russian Jewish blood. Her mother Lily Nahmias, was a courageous survivor of Auschwitz German Concentration camp. Diane majored in Economics at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1969, she became an apprentice to Angelo Ferretti, an Italian textile manufacturer.

Using silk jersey prints she produced a line of clothes, mostly tunic dresses in varying length and bias-cut shirtwaisters. In the same year, she moved with her husband Austrian Prince Egon von Und Zu Furstenberg, to New York. She showed some dresses she had made to Diana Vreeland, then editor of Vogue, who put one of her dresses in the magazine. It was a hit. In 1972, she had enough orders toopen her own business in New York.

In the 70's, she created a wraparound dress, which became a best seller. It had long sleeves, a fitted top and a skirt which wrapped around the body to tie at the waist. By 1975, 5 million of these wraparound dresses had been sold.

Von Furstenberg favours jersey and often uses geometric prints in the dresses she designs.

In 1975, Diane Von Furstenberg made the cover of Newsweek magazine. She was called New York's fashion queen.

In 1984 she sold portions of her company for $24 million and moved to Paris.

In 1990, she moved back to New York.

In 1997, her daughter-in-law because creative director of Diane Von Furstenberg

In 1999 Diane von Furstenberg became a Director on the Board of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) the ruling body of the American fashion industry.

In September of 2002 at New York Fashion Week, one of the Diane von Furstenberg's most glamourous dresses was modeled by Indian model Meghana Reddy, which is the first time that an Indian girl has been seen on the New York fashion scene. "

Taken from http://www.designerhistory.com/historyofashion/von.html

DvF the brand still flourishes today, and Diane is still influencing its designs. The items you see pictured here are all by this fashion icon.