Diane Von Furstenberg

One of the most influential, admired, and colorful women of our time: fashion designer and philanthropist Diane von Furstenberg tells the most personal stories from her life, about family, love, beauty and business: “It’s so good, you’ll want to take notes” ( People ).Diane von Furstenberg started with a suitcase full of jersey dresses and an idea of who she wanted to be—in her words, “the kind of woman who is independent and who doesn’t rely on a man to pay her bills.” She has since become that woman, establishing herself as a major force in the fashion industry, all the while raising a family, maintaining that “my children are my greatest creation.”In The Woman I Wanted to Be , “an intriguing page-turner filled with revelations” ( More ), von Furstenberg reflects on her extraordinary life—from her childhood in Brussels to her days as a young, jet-set princess, to creating the dress that came to symbolize independence and power for generations of women. With remarkable honesty and wisdom, von Furstenberg mines the rich territory of what it means to be a woman. She opens up about her family and career, overcoming cancer, building a global brand, and devoting herself to empowering other women. This “inspiring, compelling, deliciously detailed celebrity autobiography…is as much of a smashing success as the determined, savvy, well-intentioned woman who wrote it” ( Chicago Tribune ).

“ Own It is a must-have survival guide that you can come back to time and again for immediate inspiration from the heart and soul of the trailblazing business leader and creative genius that is DVF!” —Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO and Founder of Bumble "Many books describe paths to success, but only Own It helps us to find our own. My friend Diane von Furstenberg gives us the biggest faith in our uniqueness." —Gloria Steinem, writer, activist and feminist organizer​ Diane von Furstenberg, entrepreneur and philanthropist, presents her words to live by. In an easy-to-navigate A - Z dictionary format, designed to be browsed or as read a whole, Own It offers readers Diane’s well-earned wisdom for enjoying both personal and professional growth at any age. The words included in this book are ones that have been key to DVF attaining self-awareness and realization, the fuel for all her accomplishments personally and professionally. Own It is an A - Z dictionary of life-enhancing vocabulary that is the basis of her accessible and empowering philosophy. It is a true manifesto, a compilation of words that together will empower you to attain the satisfaction and serenity you have always wanted. "The secret of life,” DVF says, is to “Own our imperfections. Own our vulnerability; it becomes our strength. Whatever the challenge is, own it. Owning it is the first step to everything.”

Diane is the frank and compelling story of an extraordinary woman and her adventures in fashion, business, and life. "Most fairy tales end with the girl marrying the prince. That's where mine began", says Diane Von Furstenberg. She didn't have to work, but she did. She lived the American Dream before she was thirty, building a multimillion-dollar fashion empire while raising two children and living life in the fast lane.Von Furstenberg's wrap dress, a cultural phenomenon in the seventies, hangs in the Smithsonian Institution. "No one was making a little bourgeois dress, so I did," she told Newsweek in her 1976 cover story. The dress achieved such popularity that in the five years it was on the market, Diane sold more than five million of them. Her entry into the beauty business in 1979 was as serendipitous and as successful.Diane learned her trade in the trenches, crisscrossing the country to make personal appearances at department stores, selling her dresses and cosmetics. "As I was learning to be a woman and enjoying being one, I was sharing my discoveries, designing for my needs, and making a business of it", she writes. That business had its ups and downs. Eventually, there was so much demand for and exposure of the dress that the market became saturated; on the verge of bankruptcy, she licensed that part of the business, focusing on her fragrance and beauty products.Von Furstenberg's personal world unraveled a bit in 1980 when her mother, Lily, a survivor of Auschwitz, had a breakdown. Diane of course knew about her mother's experience in the camps, though her mother had never wanted to dwell on it. She understood that her own need for freedom came from her mother's lack of it, and that her resilience derived from her mother's life lesson to always turn a negative into a positive.Leaving the glitz of Manhattan and the music of Studio 54 behind, Diane escaped to Bali with her children, returning inspired and renewed. With all of this energy, the cosmetics business flourished. But it grew so fast that in 1983 she found herself undercapitalized and was forced to sell.In 1985, having given up control of her brand to licensees and with her children away at school, Diane turned her back on America and packed for Paris. She spent four years in her new role as part of the literary scene there, trading in her spike heels for flat shoes and tweed.In 1990, she found she missed the chase and returned to New York to regain control of her name and relaunch her company. Frustrated by the degraded status of her brand and dismissed by the retail community, she searched for a new way to reconnect with her customers. She found it through the revolutionary new medium of teleshopping and once again became a success. However, she still wanted to return to retail.In 1997, as the wrap dress was making a comeback with the nostalgia for the seventies, Von Furstenberg, with the help of her beautiful daughter-in-law, Alexandra, redesigned the dress for the nineties and made her name relevant to a whole new generation.Now, at fifty, Diane works to make sense of the contradictions in her life: glamour vs. hard work, European vs. American, daughter of a Holocaust survivor vs. wife of an Austro-Italian prince, mother vs. entrepreneur, lover vs. tycoon. She emerges wiser, stronger, and ever more determined never to sacrifice her passion for life.

how to become a more attractive, confident and sensual woman

An unprecedented visual odyssey celebrating Diane von Furstenberg’s forty years as a groundbreaking designer and fashion icon and the dress that started it all. In 1972, Diane von Furstenberg arrived in New York with a suitcase full of jersey dresses that she had made at her friend Angelo Ferretti’s factory in Italy. Two years later and encouraged by Vogue editor in chief Diana Vreeland, the distinctive design of her timeless wrap dress took the fashion world by storm and has evolved into a multitude of much-loved variations ever since. As visually dynamic as the prints that made von Furstenberg famous, this vibrant and long-awaited volume collects for the first time the rich illustrated history of her career and celebrates the forty-year journey of the iconic wrap dress. Featuring photographs by Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, and Francesco Scavullo, among many others, artwork by close friends such as Andy Warhol and Francesco Clemente, and pictures of wrap dress lovers past and present—from Jerry Hall and Iman to Penélope Cruz and Michelle Obama—this is the definitive, must-have DVF fashion book.

Book by Diane Von Furstenberg

"Life is made up of many routine events; what makes each of us unique is the way we choose to celebrate them." Thus author and design authority Diane Von Furstenberg shares her fascination with the daily rituals common to us all that were her inspiration for The Bath. In this sumptuous coffee-table treasure, featuring 175 original color photographs of extraordinary baths and bathrooms around the world, Von Furstenberg explores the inextricable link between home design and personal well-being.The Bath's five chapters offer an ideal mix of useful fact and escapist fantasy. They trace the history of the bath and its rich folklore, showcase and inspire innovative design ideas, and offer five natural recipes for do-it-yourself bath aromatherapy. Von Furstenberg starts with "The Source of the Bath" and "The Private Bath," and goes on to "Thermal and Public Baths," "Bathroom Suites," and "Bathing." Learn how ancient cultures embraced the primary needs of hygiene and pleasure: Egyptians bathed to purify themselves before daily prayers; Greeks believed in the fortifying powers of cold showers; and Romans saw the bath as supremely social. Private baths, once the province of kings, are now taken for granted. Von Furstenberg guides you through world-renowned thermal baths and spas, from Italy to Budapest, where mineral-rich waters and mud baths have legendary healing powers.Bathing is a sacred personal ritual, a private time when the senses are indulged. Marrying ancient ceremony and modern technology, the bath has become a unique sanctuary offering endless design possibilities. A companion to Von Furstenberg's popular book Beds, The Bath takes us across time and around the world, to remind us that as our lives get ever more frenetic, the ultimate vacation for the senses is right down the hall.

Along with the hosts' favorite recipes, 33 unique and inspiring dining situations are presented here. From Calvin Klein's country house to Dolly Parton's pied-a-terre, attention is paid to the presentation of meals, and to the linens, silver, china, crystal, and decorative accessories. The rooms are beautiful, and the choice of recipes is offbeat and amusing. 175 full-color photos.

how to become a more attractive, confident and sensual woman

InStyle Magazine October 2012