This evening I attended a networking event at the Penn Club and the featured speaker was the legend herself Diane Von Furstenberg. She talked about her life starting with how she started her line to what she sees in her future. Ms. Furstenberg loved books as a child thought of being a librarian but was not comfortable with the thick glasses her school librarian wore. Then she said she went to a birthday party and saw her friends mom arrive to the party with a brief case and professionally dressed. And DVF said that woman inspired her. DVF wanted to be independent as a child, travel all over the world and have a rewarding career. Her calling came to her while she was working at a manufacturer in Italy, after being engaged to Mr. Furstenberg, and realizing that she was pregnant. She asked her manufacturer if she could make a few samples in one of his factories with material that was not being used. So she would sit down with the pattern maker every evening and make dresses with cloth that was not being used. This is how she got her first samples. She then says "I moved to New York with a big suitcase full of samples and a big belly". She gets a meeting with Vogue's editor and thought the meeting was not going well. But later was told by the editors assistant that the meeting went well. She says in her early days as a business woman she worked from her dining table. Used to run to the warehouse because the customs wouldn't let her product move because it was marked wrong. Meet with fashion editors all of it. But what was amazing was that her clothes were selling no matter what she shipped. She said "they would ask for blue dress and I would send them red dress". The wrap dress became a big thanks to the sales man she hired for $300 per week and gave him 25% equity in the business. Again she says "I thought to my self 25% of 0 is zero".
The business grew and she thought it would be wise for her to be part of a large organization. She then decided to create a licensing deal with a large manufacturer. The trade off of the new decision was to give up some of the control she had on the direction of the brand. By this time her children were teenagers and she said "When your kids are teenagers you love them but you do not like them and they do not like you". So off she went to Paris putting both her kids in boarding school. She started beauty line, but came back to the U.S. and saw that young women were wearing her wrap dresses by buying them from vintage stores. Hence in 1997 she decided to relaunch the wrap dress. Guess what! women loved them. Including moi.
She says she wants to leave a legacy behind. She says that she is happy now, loves the way DVF label inspires women.
It was amazing watching her speak, she was so comfortable in her own skin, had a great sense of humor and answered every question very earnestly. It was a riveting speech, she talked about how important it was to be a mother, and to be a career woman. She said I was trying to live a man's life in a woman's body and she says guess what "I am glad I am a woman". I was very inspired. I will definitely try to keep all your ideas in mind in the course of growing Our fashion brand!
