Diane von Furstenberg

Diane von Furstenberg, whose birth name is Diane Simone Michelle Halfin, was a Belgian-born designer and businesswoman who made a lasting contribution to fashion design with the wrap dress (born December 31, 1946, Brussels, Belgium). Von Furstenberg studied economics at the University of Geneva, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She met Austro-Italian Prince Egon zu Fürstenberg in Geneva, and they married in 1969. The pair relocated to New York City, where they became well-known as international jet setters. Von Furstenberg began her career as a model in the fashion industry. She developed an interest in the fashion industry's design sector and began by producing basic items such as T-shirts, shirt dresses, and the two parts that later evolved into the wrap dress—a wrap top with a matching skirt.

In 1974, Diane von Furstenberg presented her wrap dress. A long-sleeved silk jersey dress with a fitted top and a skirt that wrapped around the body and tied at the waist was the original design. Its feminine yet efficient style reflected the liberal mood of American society in the 1970s, when more women entered the workforce and began to wear pants, which had been adopted and recognized as part of the female wardrobe since the 1960s. Millions of wrap dresses had been sold by 1976, and von Furstenberg was featured on the covers of Newsweek magazine (March 1976) and The Wall Street Journal as a result of this shopping phenomenon. She established herself as a role model—a modern, dynamic female designer—to whom other women, both inside and outside the fashion industry, looked for inspiration.

Nationality: American, Belgian
Born: December 31, 1946
Career: chairwoman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, fashion designer of Diane von Furstenberg