It’s a Wrap
Hanging with wrap dress designer Diane von Furstenberg
Earlier this spring, I was in Target and my eyes zeroed in on a vivid blue and green print bag. My first thought was that it looked like a Diane von Furstenberg.
Somehow I missed the news that the designer had collaborated with the big chain store to create a line of modestly priced dresses and accessories. I was lucky to snap up one of the last pieces “my” Target had available. It’s a big slouchy, lightweight, silky polyester shoulder bag that makes the utilitarian look cool.
It’s rare for any apparel designer to create such a distinctive aesthetic that it is instantly recognizably.
It’s rarer still when such recognition continues for decades.
Fifty years ago, Diane von Furstenberg created a simple wrap dress in a vibrant print that was such a smash hit it landed the business woman on the cover of Time magazine. The dress looks as stylish today as it did when President Nixon resigned.
It is iconic, just like the designer herself.
I met Diane von Furstenber in the late 1990s. She was beautiful in a fierce sort of way. Physically arresting, for sure, aristocratic, elegant, toned, and fit, but most beautiful was the powerful aura of confidence she exuded.
