Printed
October 16, 2024
After a gap in Belgium, on the Trend and Lace Museum in Brussels, Diane von Furstenberg’s birthplace, and a stopover in New York final June on the DVF flagship, the ‘Diane von Furstenberg: Girl Earlier than Trend’ exhibition opened in Los Angeles on Tuesday night on the Skirball Cultural Heart, a Hollywood-based museum that explores various aspects of Jewish and American life.
Diane von Furstenberg surrounded by Jessica Alba, Cindy Crawford, Rachel Zoe – Alexis Chenu
“When my hometown, the city of Brussels, came to me and said they wanted to present an exhibition of my work at the Brussels Fashion and Lace Museum curated by Nicolas Lor, I was honored,” stated von Furstenberg. “It was very emotional to have this just down the street from where I went to school as a young girl. Now, I am touched that the Skirball Cultural Center is bringing the show to another city very close to my heart, Los Angeles”.
The star of the occasion, von Furstenberg was surrounded by a number of feminine celebrities, all of whom got here to congratulate her, together with Cindy Crawford, Jessica Alba, Rachel Zoe and Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos’ spouse, all wearing Diane von Furstenberg’s legendary wrap gown. The designer, who has by no means lived in Los Angeles, is aware of town effectively, because of her second husband, billionaire Barry Diller, who owns a home right here. Her two kids additionally dwell in LA. She additionally lengthy organized her Oscar Brunch and in 2015 opened a store on Melrose Avenue. It was additionally in Los Angeles, ten years in the past, that her final main exhibition ‘Journey of a Gown’ occurred, with 200 fashions carrying her iconic clothes.
Not meant as a retrospective of von Furstenberg’s work, this new exhibition features a collection of objects drawn from the DVF archives together with ephemera, material swatches, media items, and knowledge on her philanthropic work. For this third exhibition, 29 of the 75 style items are offered completely at Skirball Cultural Heart.
The enduring wrap gown created in 1972 – Skirball Cultural Heart by Halban Pictures
Organized into 4 sections, the exhibition first explores the origins of her iconic wrap gown and its evolution all through her profession. A comparability with the nice iconic gown archetypes by Sonia Rykiel, Donna Karan, Gabrielle Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet and French designer Estelle Manas can be proposed.
“Properly, the wrap gown was my American dream,” explains von Furstenberg. “I became the woman I wanted to be because of that little dress and that gave me confidence that was contagious. I became a sort of conduit for the independence and freedom that American women wanted at that time, and so the dress was a huge success. My inspiration has always been women. For the wrap dress, technically it started as a wrap top and skirt that I saw worn together and had the idea for the dress, but women were always at the core.”
Section two examines von Furstenberg’s bold designs and sources of inspiration through three lenses: nature, art, and freedom. Nature is an important motif in her work and playful animal prints and floral patterns have been featured in her designs throughout her career. Art holds a similar prominence for her, with many prints inspired by or made in collaboration with artists such as Jackson Pollock, Konstantin Kakanias, and Andy Warhol.
Nature, art and animal are Diane von Furstenberg’s sources of inspiration – Skirball Cultural Center by Halban Photography
Also explored in this section is von Furstenberg’s deep personal connection to the theme of freedom. Having given birth to von Furstenberg just 18 months after she was liberated from a Nazi concentration camp, her mother Lily Nahmias referred to her as her “torch of freedom.” Exclusive to the Skirball Cultural Center, the exhibition features exclusive images, letters and audios on Diane’s mother.
Another cherished symbol of freedom is the dress worn by von Furstenberg at the Met Gala 2019 in New York City. A dress designed to resemble the statue’s robes, printed with a portrait of von Furstenberg taken by the photographer Ara Gallant for the cover of Interview Magazine, March 1977.
Section three entitled ‘The American Dream’, follows a twenty-six-year-old von Furstenberg in 1972 with the launch of her brand and shows the remarkable success she achieved.
“A pivotal factor in her commercial success lies in her vision for women: resilient, confident, and fiercely feminine,” stated Nicolas Lor, curator of the exhibition. “Usually serving as her personal muse, she featured herself prominently in advert campaigns and advertising. Within the early levels of her profession, she traversed the USA to fulfill and assist girls strive on her designs. This method enabled her to develop an enduring reference to the general public, listening to their aspirations and issues and translating them into clothes that continues to resonate with girls greater than half a century later.”
Diane von Furstenberg and the medias – Skirball Cultural Heart by Halban Pictures
Remaining image at Diane’s von Furstenberg’s exhibition – Alexis Chenu
The exhibition ends with a sequence of clothes by von Furstenberg in homage to the ladies she admires, together with clothes worn by Paris Hilton and Michelle Obama. Lastly, a novel gown named ‘Crosswords print’ was offered. A mannequin created to have fun the fiftieth anniversary of the wrap gown, the place every field incorporates phrases pricey to the designer equivalent to ‘freedom’, ‘love is life’, and ‘angle’.
Initially from Belgium and born right into a rich household, von Furstenberg started her profession in New York, the place she settled along with her first husband, Prince Egon von Furstenberg, in 1969. Observed for her creations by Diana Vreeland, she actually exploded within the seventies when she developed her first wrap gown mannequin. After worldwide success, a ‘Misplaced Interval’ wherein the designer’s empire collapsed, and a rebirth in New York’s Meatpacking District, von Furstenberg’s expertise, character and tumultuous life are fascinating.
Inducted into the Nationwide Girls’s Corridor of Fame in 2019, she obtained the Chevalier de la Légion D’Honneur from France in 2020, the Commandeur de l’Ordre de la Couronne from her native Belgium in 2021, and the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Girl of Management Award in 2022. In 2023, she was the topic of ‘Girl Earlier than Trend’, a guide printed by Rizzoli which adopted her exhibition at Brussel’s Trend and Lace Museum. In 2024, she was additionally the topic of the documentary ‘Diane von Furstenberg: Girl in Cost’, which premiered because the opening choice at TriBeCa pageant.
Diane at the moment serves on the boards of Important Voices and the CFDA.
