When talking to
Diane von Furstenberg over the phone, as incredibly cliche as it might sound, you can almost feel her warm personality radiating over the speaker. Calling from her home in Connecticut, where she has just woken up, she explains that she hasn’t seen the list of 50 questions that I’m about to ask her. “I prefer not to know what I’m going to be asked before an interview,” she says.
Such confidence, without arrogance or pretence, is one of the defining characteristics of the septuagenarian fashion designer – a trait that she attributes to her mother, a survivor of the Holocaust. And, from the life that Von Furstenberg has lived – which includes marrying a German prince, being painted by Andy Warhol, frequenting Studio 54 during its heyday, and becoming synonymous with one the most recognisable garments in fashion history, the wrap dress – it’s one that has been enjoyed to its fullest, thanks to her unwavering sense of self.