Diane Von Furstenberg

Diane Von Furstenberg was born Diane Michelle Halfin in Brussels, Belgium in 1946. Diane majored in Economics at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1969. She then 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 the city of New York. She showed some dresses she had made there to Diana Vreeland, then editor of Vogue, who published one of her dresses in the magazine, which became a big success in no time. In 1972, she had enough orders to open her own business in New York.

In the 1970's, she created a wraparound dress, which became a best seller. It was created with 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.

Diane Von Furstenberg was called New York's fashion queen by Newsweek magazine in 1975.

Diane Von Furstenberg favours jersey and often uses geometric prints in the dresses she likes to design. She also built up an empire of cosmetics, jewellery, handbags, scarves, stockings along with other products. In 1984, she sold her Cosmetic business to Beechams for $ 24 million and moved to Paris.

In 1990, she decided to move back to New York . There she started a new range focused on lifestyle entitled "Surroundings", which included candles, sheets, and dresses. She has also founded a publishing house.

Nine years later, 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 the year 2001, she opened a new shop in New York. In April 2003, Diane went into partnership with Reebok Sports Shoes, and introduced her new line RBK by DVF. Venus Williams is known to have worn tennis clothes by the new firm, at Wimbledon in June 2003.

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