The designer, now 76, walks us past walls covered in prints and swatches as she revisits the origins of her most iconic dress. “First it was a wrap top based on ballet flat outfits with a skirt to match. Only later did I turn it into a dress. I never imagined I would sell so many of them, but it was tens of thousands of millions,” she says. She then shows a selection of dresses that show the evolution of design over the years – starting with the ballerina top and skirt, through the original wrap dress from the seventies to a current model.
In the exhibition, curator Nicolas Lor draws parallels to wraparound dresses from classical antiquity and to the Japanese kimono. “A wrap dress, like a kimono, has no buttons. So the model itself wasn’t new,” the designer clarifies, “but the difference was that my dress was made of jersey. The comfortable material and prints made women feel beautiful in it.” She then quickly swishes past another mannequin and jokes, “I can’t take the sight of it: the dress is clearly too big for the mannequin.” A favorite design she did not. “‘Which finger can you give up?’ That’s what my mother always said about her children,” she says, laughing.
Vionnet and Chanel
Another plaque points to like-minded fashion designers, Coco Chanel and Madeleine Vionnet, but also Belgian talents like Ester Manas and Sonia Rykiel. Von Furstenberg is indebted to Vionnet, who invented the bias cut, which gives woven fabric elasticity. Was she also inspired by Chanel? “I like Vionnet’s designs more. What we have in common is that Coco Chanel also wanted to live the life of a man in a woman’s body. We have more similarities in the life we wanted than in our fashion.”
symbol of freedom
With this Von Fürstenberg is referring to the quotes on the walls of the museum, such as “Freedom is everything”, and her philosophy of life, which revolves entirely around freedom. She has always strived for freedom in her own life and wanted other women to feel free as well, thanks in part to her clothes. The title of the exhibition, “Woman before fashion”, underscores the fact that these women are more important to her than fashion. She gave them confidence by designing a uniform for them, a design they can feel strong in. As the exhibition progresses, a connection is made with the Statue of Liberty, with which she has always identified and whose museum she has also been a sponsor of since 2016.
The inspirations of the designer
Diane von Furstenberg’s muses can be traced back to two sources – nature and women. But she was also inspired by the work of artist friends, such as Jackson Pollock or Andy Warhol. The designer even portrayed the latter. On the other hand, a large mood board shows the prints of fauna and flora she has selected in her environment, including in her country house, which she bought in 1973 as a retreat from busy New York life. As the exhibition progresses, we stumble upon an ad promoting a snake-print dress for its animal-friendliness.
new York
The last part of the exhibition deals with the career of Diane von Fürstenberg. In 1969 she moved to New York with a suitcase full of clothes. American fashion at that time was very diverse, but mostly made of synthetic fabrics. Her comfy designs immediately found the approval and endorsement of Vogue boss Diana Vreeland. Today the designer is still part of her eponymous brand and is also the face of DVF. She visits stores, supervises the manufacture of her clothes and takes part in fittings. She even does the make-up of the customers and listens to them.
awards
How special she is to American fashion is shown by the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2005 and her CFDA presidency from 2006 to 2019. An honor that is only exceptionally bestowed on a non-American designer. Diane von Furstenberg is often mentioned in the same breath as Halston and Calvin Klein, but the museum also credits her continued commitment to women’s empowerment, including through her own Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation. The woman before fashion, in other words.
‘Diane von Furstenberg. Frau vor Mode’ runs until January 7, 2024. Guided tours and activities for various target groups are also organized around the exhibition. Visit the Fashion & Lace Museum website for more information.
This article was published on FashionUnited.nl. Translation and editing: Barbara Russ