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Tatiana, and a year later introduced
pitfalls that tested her strength. She
her wrap dress.
and Egon divorced after a 14-year
The appealing and versatile V-neck
marriage, and tragedy hit home — her
design, with a wide wrap that tied flat- mother had a breakdown while -visit-
teringly around the waist, catapulted
ing Germany with Hans. "We never
Von Furstenberg into fashion fame.
learned what precipitated the incident,
The wrap dress, (an early version of
but it was a very emotional time," Von
which Von Furstenberg
Furstenberg says.
March 22, 1976
wears on our JNE cover),
A bout with cancer
became a cultural phenom- Diane Von Furstenberg also left its toll. After a
on the cover of
enon with more than 5
suspicious swollen gland
"Newsweek." This is one and a biopsy, doctors dis-
million sold. One hangs in
o several photos close
the Smithsonian
covered tiny cancerous
fend Barry Diller
Institution.
cells at the base of her
"I think it was so popu- commissioned of various tongue and in her soft
lar because it made women newsstands all over New palate. Von Furstenberg
York City the week she
look good and changed
underwent eight weeks
was on the cover.
their body language," Von
of radiation treatment.
Furstenberg says. "So many
Now, she says, the brush
women told me stories about the
with death gave her a new apprecia-
dress, and they were all linked to their
tion for life.
sex life."
"The cancer is something that I
Soon other designers copied her
hesitated to put in the book," confess-
creation. She landed on the covers of
es Von Furstenberg, whose father
Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal,
passed away in Belgium while she was
and was labeled "the entrepreneurial
undergoing treatment. "But I thought
aristocrat."
my beating cancer might also be an
By the end of the 1970s, while rais- inspiration."
ing her two children, she had licensed
Through the hard times, her now-
her name for a full range of DVF
grown children have remained the joys
products, including home furnishings,
of her life. When they were very
eyewear, luggage and fragrances. The
young, she bought a 150-year-old
-
wide range of products bearing her
farm in Connecticut. Over the years it
name generated over $1 billion in
has been her place for solitude and
sales.
stability.
During the 1980s, the market
Three years ago, her son
became saturated with Von
Alexander married Alexandra Miller,
Furstenberg's signature dresses, and
who works with Von Furstenberg on
her career suffered ups and downs.
her designs. Tatiana is temporarily liv-
After retreating to Paris and Bali for a
ing in New York while earning a
few years, Von Furstenberg returned
Ph.D. While neither of her children
to the United States to regain control
practice any religion, Von Furstenberg
of her businesses. Looking for a new
says they consider_themselves Jewish.
way to reach consumers in the early
"Even though my son got married
1990s, she found the answer at QVC,
in a church, he is still Jewish," she
the home shopping network.
says. "When Alexander was at Brown
Her personal life, too, had some
University writing a paper on Hitler,
40'

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he saw a picture of one of his [father's]
string of high-powered men, including
ancestors sitting with Hitler. Yet, on
her longtime companion, media
. the other side of his family, his grand-
mogul Barry Diller. She said she
mother is a Holocaust survivor. So my
remains good friends with all of her
children are a combination of both,
ex-loves.
and in a strange way, [that they con-
In 1997, after a fortuitous chance
sider themselves Jewish] is my
meeting with Saks Fifth Avenue
vengeance."
President Rosemarie Bravo in Paris,
But it wasn't until
Von Furstenberg's wrap
Von Furstenberg
dress was reborn under
was in her 30s that
the new "Diane" label.
she spoke publicly
5 Just like 25 years earli-
about the horrors of
er, women of all shapes
her mother's life in a
'!" and sizes have been
concentration camp.
1,
1 grabbing it off the
"I was speaking at
racks.
an Anti-Defamation
"This dress was
League meeting and
redesigned for the
blurted out that my
'905," she says. "The
mother had been in
fabric is silk knit;
Auschwitz," she
before it was cotton
remembers. "It had
and rayon knit. The
such an effect on
cut, proportion and
me, hearing my
prints are different as
voice saying that.
well. I love the idea
Diane Halfin weds Prince Egon
Everyone 411- the
that a new generation of
von and zu Furstenberg in
audience .c;its
women is wearing the
Montfort L'Amatay outside Paris. dress. I feel like I have
shocked a:44 had
tears in ttiOr eyes,
gone full circle." El
and I hacttears in
Diane Von
mine."
Furstenberg
will
With this realiza-
speak
8
p.m.
tion, she helped raise
cc)
Saturday, Nov. 7, to
money for the U.S.
open the 47th
Holocaust Museum.
Annual Jewish Book
"I took my mother
0
Fair at the Kahn
and children to the
Jewish
Community
opening. It was very
Center
in West
difficult and we all
Bloomfield,
preced-
held hands as we
ed
by
an
invitation-
walked through."
only patron event at
Von Furstenberg
6:30 p.m. If you
seems to be at a very
would like to
content place in her
become a patron of
life. Since the end of
her marriage, she has Diane Von Furstenberg as a little the book fair, call
(248) 661-7723.
Belgian girl on the streets of
been linked with a
Brussels with her parents.

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10/30
1998

Detroit Jewish News

91