W Magazine (July 1997)

WRAP STARS

Diane and Alexandra Von Furstenberg are teaming up to bring back the wrap dress

Sonny Bono went from Cher to the U.S. Congress. Studio 54's Ian Schrager re-created himself as a hotel mogul. Now the latest Seventies icon to reinvent herself is Diane Von Furstenberg, who is coming back as...Diane Von Furstenberg.

After wandering in such exotic ports as Bali, Paris and QVC, the woman who sold some five million wrap dresses a couple of decades ago is returning to retail. By the look of the Diane collection of bold- printed dresses and suits, which bears a striking resemblance to her original designs, little seems to have changed. But this time around, she has her daughter-in-law, Alexandra Von Furstenberg, by her side as co-designer. Her legs as thin and shapely as ever, her wrists loaded down with chunky gold bracelets, the Belgian-born Diane curls up in a chair in her pink office 24 stories above Fifth Avenue. She is preparing to vacate the design studio she has occupied since 1979 for new digs in a rehabbed West Village carriage house, which she says will provide a fresh start for the company she has spent the last seven years reclaiming.

In the early Eighties, Diane licensed away most of her business and took off for Paris to try her hand at publishing. By the time she returned to New York on the eve of the Nineties, her children, Alexandre and Tatiana, were grown and doing well, thanks in no small part to her parenting. "My other child-my business, my name, my brand-was all but reflecting who I was," she says. "That made me really depressed."

So the former party girl determined to regain control of her name and rebuild her business. She found her way into QVC, where she hawked a line called Silk Assets to the tune of millions. She even brought QVC to the attention of her old friend Barry Diller, who briefly became its chairman before cashing out for a bundle. Later, she followed Diller to the Home Shopping Network and struck a deal with Avon. In her spare time, she churned out a few decorating books.

"All of a sudden I came from being a has-been to 'Oh, she knows what she's doing again.'" Diane says. A year or so ago, she decided the time was right to return to stores. About the same time, Alex came to her mother-in-law asking for advice about a fashion career and ended up joining the company.

"She slid in like a mouse," Diane says. "I'm enjoying her perspective. Tatiana has always been very influential to me. Being my daughter, she's something of a rebel. She is more avant-garde. What I like about Alexandra is that she is young and beautiful, but a little bit conservative. I was like that. I'm basically a conservative dresser. I'm not a fashion victim."

As Diane pauses to take a phone call, speaking warmly in French, Alex walks into the office. Calling Diane and herself "two peas in a pod," Alex says she has gotten along famously with her mother-in-law since she began dating her husband as a teenager- the couple even live two floors above Diane at the Carlyle.

But she bristles at Diane's characterization of her as conservative. The 24-year-old points out that she was voted "trendiest" at the Dwight School and that she designed drag-queen costumes during her short stint at Brown. "Everyone has a personal style," she says," her voice throaty. "I wouldn't consider myself conservative. I like things that hold a woman's femininity-I would never dress like a man."

Finished with her call, Diane modifies her initial assessment. "She has a certain taste I like," she explains," classique un peu."

Although Alex considers the right mix the most important element of style-she declares dressing all in one designer straight off the hanger boring-she says she has taken the easy formula the Diane line offers.

"This line is one-step dressing," she says. "Yesterday, I wore a wrap dress to the office. I was out the door in two seconds." At a cocktail party her sister Marie-Chantal of Greece gave for the New York City Ballet, she says, "Even men were like, 'Wow, that's such a groovy dress.'"

Diane, who turned 50 on the last day of 1996, is taking pleasure watching women half her age snatch up the originals at vintage stores. "Of course I realize I was only 25 when I wore these dresses," she says. "Since then, they've looked older to me, but now they look young again. All these young girls who are between 20 and 30, they think they're the hippest, sexiest, most glamorous thing."

Come August, mother and daughter-in-law will embark on a personal appearance tour at Saks Fifth Avenue, which is launching the line of $200 dresses and $500 suits exclusively. Alex is especially excited because, raised in Hong Kong and Paris, she has never visited America's fly-over middle, Diane, too, is eager to do whatever it takes to make hers a global household name.

"Looking back, I could have been Liz Clairborne and Estee Lauder combined, but I wasn't because I didn't have the proper business people around, but also because I wanted to be free," she says. "My motivation is not about greed or to become the biggest. I understand women very well. I can translate fashion in a way that a lot of women can relate to.

"Why should I not resurrect my own brand?" Diane adds. "If not, when I die, someone else will."