Diane von Furstenberg
Page 29
During my research in Paris, Isabelle Taudière provided a beautiful apartment, delicious meals and bright conversation, and mapped out Métro routes to my closely scheduled interviews. At the Musée Juif de Belgique in Brussels, Philippe Blondin and his staff spoke to me at length about the Nazi Occupation of Belgium and introduced me to documents in their archives about Diane’s family. For research and translation help, I’m also indebted to Régine Cavallaro, a journalist and author in her own right.
Thanks to Denise Oswald, who edited this book with perception and thoughtfulness, and to everyone at HarperCollins who helped bring it to publication. Thanks also to Jennifer Joel—who rocks a wrap dress better than any other literary agent in New York—for her loyalty, intelligence, and unfailingly astute judgment; to Susan Vermazon Anderson, the shrewdest of photo editors, for her invaluable help in selecting and securing photos for the book; Clare Fentress for her precise and careful fact-checking; and Devi Vallabhaneni for being my rabbi on all things related to the business side of fashion.
I was lucky to write part of Diane von Furstenberg: A Life Unwrapped at a guest house overlooking a sunny, bricked garden in Savannah, Georgia, where I was a visiting writer at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I’m grateful to Paula Wallace, the founder and president of this wonderful school, for making it possible.
I could not get through the long process of writing a book without my irreplaceable posse of friends. (You know who you are.) My husband, Richard Babcock, has been at my side through every stage of this project, as he has been for thirty-five years. I’m eternally grateful for his wisdom, his wit, his patience, and, mostly, his all-enabling love. I couldn’t bear life without him or our son, Joe.
Notes
This is a heavily reported book, based on scores of interviews. Other sources include newspapers, magazines, books, and documents in archives.
From the moment she started her business in 1970, Diane von Furstenberg has been regularly written about in Women’s Wear Daily, which has covered the fashion industry since the early twentieth century. Myriad other newspapers and publications from The New York Times to Vogue and People have covered her fashion openings and other activities and written profiles of her. I’ve drawn on these sources, as well as accounts in books and in the archives at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. For the chapter set during World War II, I’ve drawn on documents in archives at the Musée Juif de Belgique and the Services des Victimes de la Guerre in Brussels.
Short phrases and quotes that Diane has repeated often have not been included. Abbreviations for frequently cited sources are as follows:
Diane von Furstenberg: DVF
Alexandre von Furstenberg: AVF
Egon von Furstenberg: EVF
Tatiana von Furstenberg: TVF
Prologue
3“You’ve got it all wrong”: Diane von Furstenberg to the author, August 1, 2014.
4“I have clarity again: Ibid., March 18, 2012.
4“What is your sign?” Julie Baumgold, “Diane von Furstenberg and Her Jungle Romance,” New York, May 4, 1981.
5“She’s a terrible”: Alexandre von Furstenberg to the author, June 17, 2013.
5“I never get”: Diane Von Furstenberg, Diane: A Signature Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), p. 160.
5“The vibrations”: Olivier Gelbsman to the author, September 9, 2011.
7“Let’s wait until”: DVF to the author, November 5, 2009.
8“I have no secrets” Ibid.
10“Like Tolstoy”: Ibid., October 3, 2014.
Lily
11“turned life into gold”: Philippe Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
13“My father was not”: Ibid.
14“I think a lot”: Lily Nahmias to her parents, May 19, 1944, DVF private collection.
15“Do you smell”: Diane von Furstenberg, Diane: A Signature Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), p. 36.
16“the worst of the worst”: Rochelle G. Saidel, The Jewish Women of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2006) p. 153.
16“a huge mountain”: Ibid., p. 157.
17“wasn’t a fashion person”: Diane von Furstenberg to the author, July 31, 2014.
17“Lily was extremely”: Mireille de Hanover to the author, September 2, 2011.
17“My mother always”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
18“Wouldn’t it be more interesting”: Diane von Furstenberg, Diane von Furstenberg’s Book of Beauty: How to Become a More Attractive, Confident and Sensual Woman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977) pp. 54–55.
18“Lily had post-traumatic”: Tatiana von Furstenberg to the author, June, 15, 2013.
18“She had a lot of pain”: Ibid.
18“It must have been”: Ibid.
18“If I hadn’t been born”: Diane von Furstenberg, The Woman I Wanted to Be (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), p. 22.
18“He never stopped working”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
19“never saw limits”: Ibid.
19“There was very little”: DVF to the author, October 2, 2104.
19“He didn’t want”: Von Furstenberg, Woman I Wanted to Be, p. 24.
19“He loved Diane intensely”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
20“I really thought”: DVF to the author, October 2, 2014.
20“We met at school”: Didier Van Bruyssel to the author, September 2011.
20“I always wanted to be”: David Colman, Interview, September 13, 2012.
21“But you’re Jewish”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
21“She never talked”: Ibid.
21“about little things”: Von Furstenberg, Diane, p. 36.
21“He said it was part”: Lorna MacDonald to the author, December 5, 2011.
21“Lilly didn’t seem”: Fran Lebowitz to the author, April 1, 2011.
22“no numbers”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
22“She was so depleted”: TVF to the author, June 15, 2013.
22“She was a tiger mom”: DVF to the author, October 2, 2014.
23“When I was eight”: Von Furstenberg, Diane, p. 40.
23“I still feel sorry”: DVF in conversation with Fern Mallis at the 92nd Street Y, September 12, 2012.
23“pretending we were princesses”: Hanover to the author, September 2, 2011.
23“It would be something”: Miriam Wittamer to the author, September 3, 2011.
24“totally sure”: von Furstenberg, Woman I Wanted to Be, p. 94.
24“were two devils,” Hanover to the author, September 2, 2011.
24“Beware, your parents”: Ibid.
24“I’m sure it was”: TVF to the author, June 15, 2013.
25“during the years”: Martin Muller to the author, September 27, 2013.
25“I never saw”: Ibid.
25“By his early thirties”: Ibid.
26“become a woman soon” and following: Marlo Thomas, The Right Words at the Right Time (New York, Atria, reprint, 2002), p. 107.
26“I didn’t recognize Diane”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
26“My mother wanted me”: DVF to the author, October 2, 2014.
26“my grandparents were trying”: TVF to the author, June 15, 2013.
27“The divorce was war”: Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
27“Growing up I was:” Alexander Fury, “An Audience with a Living Legend: Diane von Furstenberg Has Fashion All Wrapped Up,” Independent, November 2, 2013.
28“at fifteen I was”: DVF to the author, October 2, 2014.
28“She was very shy”: DVF to the author, September 12, 2014.
30“had no social life” and following: Von Furstenberg, Diane, pp. 46–47.
30“a gaudy dream”: Taki, Nothing to Declare: A Memoir (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991), p. xi.
31“one thing I don’t”: DVF to the author, August 31, 2013.
Egon
33“I looked
tan”: Diane von Furstenberg: Diane: A Signature Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), p. 48.
34“Every pretty girl”: Michael Gross, “The Education of Diane von Furstenberg,” Manhattan, Inc., February 1985.
34“chubbier than she is”: Nona Gordon to the author, December 2010.
35“Egon was beautiful”: Marina Cicogna to the author, November 28, 2012.
35“to go to Paris”: Ibid.
36“were very spoiled” and following: Ibid.
36“My grandfather”: Alexandre von Furstenberg to the author, June 17, 2013.
36“oyster-in-an-r-month,” Stanley Elkin, Searches & Seizures, ebook, location 2620.
36“He was adorable”: Gordon to the author, December 4, 2010.
36“Egon wasn’t studying”: Marc Landeau to the author.
37“childish,” DVF to the author, July 3, 2014.
37“like a rich girl,” Barbara Rowes, “Women Buy, but Men Dominate the Fashion World: Then Along Came Diane von Furstenberg,” People, May 21, 1979.
37“At the time”: DVF to the author, August 1, 2014.
37“I wanted to see whether”: Julie L. Belcove, “Diane’s Wild Ride,” WWD, September 17, 1998.
37“He was twenty-seven” Mireille de Hanover to the author, September 2, 2011.
38“We were all waiting” and following: Mimmo Ferretti to the author, September 12, 2011.
38“At the time”: Albert Koski to the author, September 8, 2011.
39“My mother was very”: Philippe Halfin to the author, August 30, 2011.
39“I was like an assistant”: DVF to the author, August 1, 2014.
39“Diane was very good”: Albert Koski to the author, September 8, 2011.
39“I had to put together”: Ibid.
39“There was a lid”: Thompson to the author, September 8, 2011.
40“when you had a girlfriend”: Cedric Lopez-Huici to the author, May 13, 2011.
40“Diane was wild”: Gordon to the author, December 2010.
40“He was the worst lay”: DVF to the author, August 1, 2014.
40“in the most superficial way,” Von Furstenberg, Diane, p. 50.
41“Diane was a plump” Taki to the author, December 2010.
42“didn’t know [Diane]” and following: Florence Grinda to the author, September 8, 2011.
42“My whole life”: Marisa Berenson to the author, October 9, 2012.
43“We became” and following: Ibid.
44“who was a tyrant”: DVF to Fern Mallis, conversation at the 92nd Street Y, September 13, 2012
45“I knew everyone”: Berenson to the author, October 9, 2012.
45“We were all Eurotrash” and following: Ferretti to the author, September 12, 2011.
45“hedonistic pleasure,” Von Furstenberg, Diane, p. 51.
46“I didn’t wait”: Ibid., p. 53.
46“I guess she knew”: Koski to the author, September 8, 2011.
46“I was looking for”: DVF to the author, August 1, 2014.
47“He was like a king”: Sue Feinberg to the author, November 1, 2010.
47“Today he’d be in jail” and following: DVF to the author, August 1, 2014.
48“It was article 6030”: Mimmo Ferretti to the author, September 12, 2011.
48“horrible stuff”: Sue Feinberg to the author, November 1, 2010.
48“Ferretti had thousands” and following: DVF to the author, October 2, 2014.
49“borrowed a dress”: Ibid.
49“that I’d lost the love”: Von Furstenberg, Diane, p. 52.
49“I was making a lot” and following, Berenson to the author, October 9, 2012.
49“He used Marisa” and following: DVF to the author, October 3, 2014.
50“We didn’t think”: Marisa Berenson to the author, October 9, 2012.
50“When they were with you”: Gigi Williams to the author, May 14, 2011.
50“She was not terribly”: Marina Cicogna to the author, November 28, 2012.
51“and this way”: DVF to the author, October 4, 2014.
New York
54“Diane tried desperately”: Bob Colacello to the author, December 6, 2011.
54“Egon introduced me to all”: DVF to the author, October 3, 2014.
54“He was in perpetual”: Colacello to the author, December 6, 2011.
54“He never really made any money”: AVF to the author, June 17, 2013.
55“boy-about-town” DVF to the author, October 3, 2014.
55“What I did know”: Diane von Furstenberg, The Woman I Wanted to Be (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), p. 14.
56I’M SORRY TO DISTURB: DVF to EVF, telegram in DVF’s possession.
56“We were in this little”: Marc Landeau to the author, July 19, 2011.
56 MARRIAGE WILL OCCUR: EVF to DVF, telegram in DVF’s possession.
56“Egon wasn’t the most” and following: Landeau to the author, July 19, 2011.
57“They felt that Diane”: John Richardson to the author, February 21, 2014.
58“Tassilo was the younger”: AVF to the author, June 17, 2013.
58“Egon is a prince”: Anonymous to the author.
58“Jews are clever” and following: Linda Bird Francke, “The Couple That Has Everything. Is Everything Enough?” New York, February 5, 1973.
59“enthusiasm was genuine” Diane von Furstenberg: Diane: A Signature Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009), p. 57.
59“I got ambitious”: DVF to the author, October 2, 2014.
59“felt it wasn’t”: DVF to Fern Mallis, conversation at the 92nd Street Y, September 12, 2012.
59“Romany romantic” and following: Vogue, October 15, 1969.
59“a charming provincial inn”: von Furstenberg, Diane, pp. 55–56.
60“Eddie”: New York, February 5, 1973.
60“like a woman,” Town & Country, August 1970.
60“I have a vision” and following: Nona Gordon to the author, December 2010.
60“was like Pan”: Bob Colacello to the author, December 6, 2011.
61“Go to Paris”: EVF, Ginia Bellafante, “Front Row; Just Plain Egon,” New York Times, July 10, 2001.
61“That’s the kind of thing” and following: DVF to the author, August 1, 2014.
62“My strengths have”: Susan Alai, “Fashion’s Shy Di,” WWD, September 10, 1985.
62“I’m involved with”: Eloise Salholz, “The Little Wrap Returns,” Newsweek, February 11, 1985.
62“classic dress bodies”: Richard Conrad to the author, February 9, 2013.
63“was dancing madly”: Kenneth Jay Lane to the author, June 9, 2011.
63“I was racked”: Diane von Furstenberg, Diane von Furstenberg’s Book of Beauty: How to Be a More Attractive, Confident, and Sensual Woman (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977), p. 16.
64“We had the model”: Grace Mirabella to the author, May 2, 2011.
64“Terrific, terrific, terrific,” von Furstenberg, The Woman I Wanted to Be, p. 151.
64“body-celebrating fashion”: Amanda Mackenzie Stuart: Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland (New York: Harper, 2012), p. 245.
65“the sharks”: Kathleen Brady, “Diane Means Business,” WWD, June 14, 1973.
65“This is princess”: Bernadine Morris, “For the Princess, A Stylish Business,” New York Times, April 21, 1970.
66“who was really crazy”: Gloria Schiff to the author, January 28, 2013.
66“I think your clothes,” Diana Vreeland to DVF, private collection.
66“Don’t put me in Vogue”: Grace Mirabella to the author, May 2, 2011.
68“We were sort of stuck” and following: John Fairchild to the author, June 9, 2010.
69“Longuette is the length”: undated WWD clip from Diane’s scrapbooks.
69“We object strongly”: quoted on the blog “A Vintage Ramble,” June 1, 2009.
69“Diane just showed up”: Ron Ruskin to the author, August 25, 2010.
69“Diane totally charmed”: Mimmo Ferret
ti to the author, September 12, 2011.
69“because I’d hardly”: Von Furstenberg, Diane, p. 73.
70“I just liked the names”: DVF to the author, October 3, 2014.
71“being kind of” and following: Bob Colacello to the author, December 6, 2011.
71“I got the feeling”: Jann Wenner to the author, March 16, 2011.
71“They invited whoever”: Howard Rosenman to the author, November 30, 2012.
72“We were smoking” and following: Bob Colacello to the author, December 6, 2011.
72“It was an amazing”: Helen Harvey Mills to the author, September 2008.
72“Egon was never”: DVF to the author, July 31, 2014.
72“Only maids are in love” and following: Susanna Agnelli, We Always Wore Sailor Suits (New York: Bantam, 1976), p. 108.
73“looked at each other”: Rosenman, “True Blue: Triumph or Turmoil, Diane Von Furstenberg is a Friend to the End,” Los Angeles Times Magazine, September 2009.
73“This is the guy”: H. Rosenman to the author, November 30, 2012.
73“Egon had an aristocratic” and following: John Richardson to the author, February 21, 2014.
76“an important part”: Allan Tannenbaum, New York in the 70s (New York: Overlook, 2009), p. 5.
77“I didn’t have to”: Mimmo Ferretti to the author, September 12, 2011.
77“All right to be stylish”: Bob Colacello, Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up (New York: HarperPerennial, 1992), p. 6.
78“brilliant invention”: John Richardson to the author, February 21, 2014.
78“style, charm, charisma,” Stephanie Rosenbloom, “Tightening Belts? She’s the Expert,” New York Times, July 18, 2009.
78“I did make it all up”: DVF to the author, July 31, 2014.
78“I remember when”: Fran Boyar to the author, June 10, 2011.
78“It’s all about”: Stefani Greenfield to the author, January 21, 2014.
79“perhaps disappointed”: “Crop Top,” WWD, February 10, 1972.
79“I think she was going to”: “Today’s Young Couple,” Newsweek, January 1973.
79“Nothing makes a woman”: Von Furstenberg, Book of Beauty, p. 14.
80“They thought I was”: Judy Klemesrud, “Those Simple Little Dresses Seen Up and Down the Avenue,” New York Times, November 7, 1974.
80“I liked Diane’s clothes”: John Pomerantz to the author, August 25, 2010.