There are a select some designers who have created styles and designs that are now regarded as synonymous with the buildings themselves, despite the fact that there is no disputing the effect that some manufacturers have had on clothing. For example, Louis Vuitton stems and belongings. Finally, Burberry’s and Chanel’s personal tweed blazers. And of course, there’s the pack clothing that made so popular.
A new film, which highlights the French writer’s meteoric rise to fame in the 1970s, premiered on Hulu earlier this month and appropriately opens with an archive picture of former Late Night number David Letterman introducing her as “the person who reinvented the gown” and “one of America’s most successful businesswoman.”
According to the legend, DVF was at the right time and place. In 1968, she landed a gig at Angelo Ferretti’s printing plant ( Ferretti was creating scarves for Gucci, Ferragamo, and Valentino at the time ) in Como, Italy, where she discovered a jersey stretch fabric. She made samples of patterned wrap tops with matching skirts during the internship in response to the little sweaters ballerina dancers wore.
When she moved to New York with her fresh- father, Prince Egon von Furstenberg, soon after, DVF was lucky to land an interview with style editor Diana Vreeland. By 1972, DVF had established her namesake logo, and she showcased her first selection of models.
It wasn’t until 1974 that she made her first wrap dress, which was inspired by one of her printed matching sets Julie Nixon Eisenhower wore to a TV show during the Watergate scandal. The artist actually introduced the wrap design in Women’s Wear Daily with the tagline, “Think like a woman, wearing a dress”!
The cover dress, which formerly retailed for $80, became an instant success for its flattering picture, stretching construction, and romantic elegance. In her first year, DVF sold one million of them, making 25 000 of them per week. The iconic garment also appeared on the big screen several times ( most notably on Cybill Shepherd’s character in Taxi Driver ), and to this day finds fans in Kate Middleton, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey.
In the midst of the feminist movement of the 1970s, DVF had no desire to design clothing, but the wrap dress just so happened to be a representation of a contemporary, independent woman. According to DVF in the documentary, “It would have been incredibly pretentious that I entered the fashion industry because I wanted to make a uniform for freedom. That would have been ridiculous. I don’t think I had a vocation for fashion. I wanted to be a woman in charge. Fashion evolved into a method of doing it.”
Sophie Dweck is the associate shopping editor for Town & Country, where she covers beauty, fashion, home and décor, and more.