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00:00This is my kitchen table and also my filing system over much of the past three decades. I've been an investor in the highest quality of mankind. I've often thought as private equity. And then I started interviewing Oh I watch your interviews because I know how to do it. I've learned in doing my interviews how leaders make it to the top. I asked him how much he wanted. He said 250. I said fine I didn't negotiate with him. I did no due diligence. I have something I'd like you to sell and how they stay there. You don't feel inadequate now because the only the second wealthiest man the rules out right. Diane von Furstenberg may be best known to women around the world as the creator of the iconic wrap dress. But in addition to running her fashion company she's been deeply involved in philanthropy with her husband Barry Diller. She helped to create the High Line and also Little Island on the west side of New York. She's also now leading the effort to raise money for the Ellis Island Foundation. I had a chance to sit down with her recently to talk about her extraordinary life and her dedication to philanthropy and to her family. So let me ask you about something I can't say I'm not an expert on which is fashion. Nobody's ever consider me a fashion plate. You invented something called the wrap dress. About 40 plus years ago. Oh yeah. Month almost 50 years. And it's one of the most famous designs in the last 50 years. And women are still wearing it. So tell me were you surprised that after almost 50 years women are still wearing the same design obviously different dress but same design as something that was popular almost 50 years ago. Yeah. I mean it's you know people say I created the wrap dress which is true. But really the wrap dress created me because because of that dress I became the woman I wanted to be. I became independent. I by being an independent it paid for my children's education. It paid for my house in the country paid for my apartment. So it made me free and it made me liberated. And it was the time of the women's liberation. So and because it was a dress the more confident I became and the moth the more confidence I was. I was passing on this confidence to other women to this little dress that I would go around and wrap around women's bodies. And so in a sense now that I look back none of them know that woman and so on I look back. It's almost like I was a conduit you know I was a conduit for confidence for many generation of women. So how long did it take to develop the wrap dress. Was it something that came to you like that or was it many years. How did it develop. When I was 20 I went out of college and I didn't know what I wanted to do. But I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be. I wanted to be a woman in charge. So how. Which though is going to be my doing. So I thought maybe fashion. So at first I worked in Paris for a fashion photographers agent. And that got me. Wow. I discovered the world of fashion. And then I met the father of a friend of the bride of my boyfriend whatever in Italy. And he said you know you should come and discover the other side of fashion where we make fashion. So then I discovered how you know all about printing you know how you buy artwork and how you put it in with beads and how you printed and you work with the colorist and and learn how to do a color palette. So it was really a craft. And so I didn't think that any of this was going to be useful to me at all. But it was very interesting. I then went to America for the first time to visit my boyfriend. My mother gave me a ticket to go to New York and visit him. And I discovered Neil and I couldn't believe. I was 90. I mean I couldn't believe I said I have to come back here. And also while I was in New York because my my boyfriend then it was a young very attractive prince. So he was very much you know in demand in New York. He was very good looking. And because he was in the man and I came as his girlfriend older design and wanted to lend me clothes and blah blah blah. And. And so while I was here here I mean I I stayed about a month. I think I discovered so much. I discovered New York. I discovered all these young designers. And when I went back all I could think about is how do I get back to you. How do I get back to you. And when I went back to work in the factory all of a sudden I looked at everything and I said oh there is my door. There's an opportunity. Let me try to make some easy easy little dresses that I can then go and sell in America. And that's how I started. So I would stay late at night with a pattern maker and make some samples and so on. But for those who are watching who may not be fashion experts what exactly is a wrap dress and what was so unique about your wrap your body. So it started from these little sweaters that ballerinas wear. You know when they get when they get cold and it wrapped me. Is that good kimono. Right. Again Japanese kimono. But it's very tight. And because it was Jose you wrap it very tight. That was the difference. And it was just the wrap dress. And it was printed because I was in this print factory. So it was a wrap. First it was a wrapped up with a rap with a skirt. And it did really well. And then I said oh I've got to turn it into a dress. And then it became a dress. And before I knew at the age of 26 I was making twenty five thousand rub dresses a week. And you became very famous and I became famous. Now there's a story that Newsweek was going to put Gerald Ford president United States on the cover and they call him for you for winning his primary. Yes. But then I discovered that it was the month of March and the months of March. It's usually when they won subscription renewals. And so they would think that maybe I would be a better more active active woman or not. It might be better. OK so let's go back a moment. You grew up in my country Belgium and your mother was a survivor of the elsewhere. Is that right. Yes. And how did she survive elsewhere. She weighed only 59 pounds when she came in in 49. How do you survive. I don't know. I don't know. I mean very very few people survive. She survived. She was 22. I mean she got arrested. She was 21. She stayed though. She stayed 14 months. And she she got that. She really got arrested very late. It was May 44. And the. But she worked while she was there. She worked at the crib factory. So while you know when you were working they wouldn't kill you. So that that's the first thing. And then after that there was a famous death march. And they went and they walked and to another camp province broke. A lot of people died in the march. She said she was going to die in the march but she didn't. And then after that as they were losing the war they pushed back more. And. And then she ended up in another camp. And then one day the Germans had gone. Then the Russians came and raped every girl. And and then after that the Americans arrived. Your mother had a tattoo that Auschwitz 2 2. So did you ever ask her when you were little. What. Oh yeah. She everybody ISE. And then she had it removed. She had one number and then cross and another number. I mean for me it was you know it wasn't hard because I had always seen it like that. I knew she had been to the camp. I mean you know there was a little talk about it. But she shielded me from the doll without making it a big mystery. You're in your 20s made a lot of money by any normal standards and you're the queen of the fashion world. How do you top that then. No such thing as going to the top top top and continuing to go to the top. So you come to New York you're the queen of New York because you're the princess of New Yorkers you're very young you're in your 20s you're made a lot of money by any normal standards and you're the queen of the fashion world right. That's right. So how do you top that then. No such thing as going to the top top top and continuing to go to the top. Also I think it's really important. I always make a point to tell people that sometimes when you are at the very top that that that diamond was on the cover of Newsweek and then on the front pages of The Wall Street Journal. And everybody was buying my dresses and I was acclaimed as the big success. I myself already knew. That things were so easy because in the way I had saturated the market you know. So he had a wrap dress and nobody needs to buy another raptor. Everybody had many red dress. OK so did your business go down. Yes. Then I licensed it. I have you know and. And then I like you know I mean life is like it's you know you go as you go. So I license my dress business to a company that I thought had more experience than I did. Then they continued to develop it and I decided now I'm going to be set on it. And I started a cosmetic company. But while you were doing that you led the very interesting life of a socialite in the 70s in New York. You're meeting with a handy Warhol and other people. What was that life like. Everybody famous who was young was a found front of yours. Well New York City in the 70s was many things. For one thing it was very dirty. It was very dangerous. And it was very cheap. And therefore a lot of artists were here. It was a very exciting time. It was a time that people wanted freedom. We said we saw our generation thought we invented freedom which of course we didn't. And there was it was fun. And there were a lot of creative people. And Andy Warhol was everywhere. And there was a lot of other people. And it was fun. But I mean it's always fun when you're young. So Andy Warhol said hey I'll paint a picture of you as on happening a lot. Andy Warhol did my first portrait one night very late in the. Anybody was looking for a wide wall because he would take a Polaroid and then he would use the Polaroid and then fade from there. And then. And he was it needed a wide world. And in my office in my home they had no white walls. So we went to the kitchen. And because a wide wall in my kitchen was so tiny I lifted my arm. And that was the first time he painted me. And then he painted me later for a show that he was planning to do in the 80s called Beauties. And did you. Did he give you the paintings or if he gave me OK. The first one ISE. He gave me one. I bought two. The second time he gave me one I bought none. And and when he died I bought them all. So let me ask you your business is moving forward. You're in the cosmetics business. You're getting in other businesses fragrance and other things. Life sounds like it's great. Everything is going well. That at some point all the businesses go down and it for Washington wasn't so good. There were always ups and downs and ups and down. I had the first phase of my life is very much American dream. OK. I lived a true American dream. Really. I was young I was inexperienced and I became very successful after that. You know I had difficulties. I had that. And then finally I ended up selling the cars many. And then of course my by then my children are teenagers. So they went to boarding school at that time and decided I went back to Europe. I lived in Paris for a few years and then I came back here. And then I decide. And then by then my brand was really. Wow. It was like bad. It was in this gun stores and everybody had done everything. And that was difficult. That was a difficult time for me to see because everything until then was great and wonderful. Even when it wasn't great and wonderful it was still exciting. But then I coming back I mean and seeing the brand and the people who were in charge of the brand. And they didn't care. I mean there was no spirit. There was no there was no messaging. There was no nothing. It was that was really difficult. And as I don't know if it says the results of that but at the same time I also had cancer. I had a CAC said at the bottom at the base of my thumb. And I think it has something to do with the fact that I couldn't express myself. Anyway so I guess with that and I own so then that with taking back my name and starting again you started all over company now I guess known as DV F your initials. Right. And so that company then began to recreate some of the things you'd done before including the wrap dress. And it turned out the wrap dress was more popular than even had been before practically. So was that a surprise to you that the wrap dress was still so popular. You know when is your life. I mean you know it's just one day after another day after another day. It's only when you look back that you are surprised when you look back that you have time to say well I was great when you're living it you just you know survive. I mean you know a young woman two children I separated so quickly from my husband. And then you know use love to do running a company you know. So I didn't have the time to think. And my surprise and my what. What does DCF now do. Well actually IVF has been many many many products over the years. I've Tacloban. And after all of the change you know Covid was also a moment of respecting. Right. So I. I don't want to take it. I can't say take advantage of something as negative as scolding. But if we were forced to look at the business model and we said the business model because under Covid people weren't going out in fashions. Right. They weren't wearing fancy but loads of stores were close. We had to close. So I mean it's a lot of different things at the same time. And of course the business online. And so it was it was a moment to reset. So how is the business today. Well it's being resettled and it's actually very interesting. You know I'm a very positive person. My mother my mother was a survivor. Right. So as a survivor. Life is what matters right. As it as a daughter of a survivor. The minute I was born I mean she wasn't supposed to survive. I wasn't supposed to be born. And yet I was born. So I realized that the moment of my birth was already a victory. So anything that happened after that was a plus. So the company you run today is a privately owned company. Have you ever thought of taking your company public. No. But what you know right now it was important for me now is the legacy moment of my life. Right now is the time that you look back at your life and you I'm happy to see that somehow it's coherent. I was born on New Year's Eve. So every year I make resolutions. So I divide my life in three columns. One is my family. One is my business. And my my my my brand and one is me. So looking back on my life I look at my family you know my two children my five grandchildren and I'm very proud of them. I'm very proud of who they are. I'm proud of the people they are. I'm proud that they are not by now. They have fun. They're interesting. They're generous and they care. Then there's my brand. So there also I had to reset the brand and make sure it was close. Because sometimes when you grow you lose your initial spirit your initial reason to be. And then the third of me is about the impact is about today using all the things I have my voice my experiences my knowledge my memories my experiences my resources and using that in order to make other women be the woman they want to do. So you and your husband separated ultimate divorced. That's a long time a long time ago. And you married Barry Diller. After I separated from my wife the father of my children I met Barry and we fell in love and we were together for five years. But. I guess that again it was the 70s and it was important for me. To experience and so we separated and I you know I lived my life. But Barry and I we kept very close. I was OK. Close to my first husband. And somehow Barry and I think we both knew somehow we at some point we would end up together. And then about 20 years ago. Yeah. 20 years ago we got married. OK. And both of you together have been extra extremely successful in the business world and also in the philanthropy world. Let me ask you about your philanthropy for a moment. You and your husband helped to create the Highline. Well when I started the company again in NYC I came here in 97 and I said why my renting those expensive offices uptown. Then we buy a little building downtown. And I came in this neighborhood meet back and full of butchers. They were only butchers. And I bought a little carriage house and I decided to make that my showroom and my office. And everybody said what are you doing there. Who wants to go in words that smell so bad. Blah blah blah. But I did it anyway. And then when you moved to a new neighborhood you meet your neighbors. And I met these two young guys who had a dream. And the dream was to transform this elevated railroad railway that went from guns all the way to Javits Center. It was abandoned and to turn it into a park. And it was going to be knocked down anyway. Those two guys had this dream and they saw my studio and they said you mind using you could do if we can. We could do a fund raising in your studio. And that's how my relationship with the neighborhood and with the Highline started. For one thing we made that we turn this neighborhood into a historical preservation. Then somehow we convinced we turn around the high line. And it was very difficult because all the developers wanted the real estate those same developers by. By the way. Now was so proud to be on the high line. The high line became the number one destination for tourists. You are now involved in helping to repair the Ellis Island buildings. Is that right. Well yes. First I was the I'm on the board of end of the foundation of the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island. And the first thing I did was raise money for it to create a museum for the Statue of Liberty. So I got very close to her Lady Liberty. I didn't want to do it. I really didn't want to. I said if I'd gone another born my husband would be so upset. And then he read my book The Men Who Wanted to Get Me. And in my book he read that my mother had written me a note saying God saved me so that I can give your life by giving you life. You gave me my life back. You are therefore my torch of freedom. So he underlined that and he said you see you've got to come and have the Statue of Liberty. So the hardest thing in life I've often said is to be happy. But you seem like a very happy person. It's like nature. Nothing ever stop. So you could be super happy one minute and then something happens. So it's just it's just living. Is the joy of life for any young woman that's watching. This wants to be the next Diane von Furstenberg. What would you recommend. I think the most important thing in life is the relationship you have with yourself. Once you have a good relationship with yourself any other relationship is a plus. And not the most. And the second advice is to be as true to yourself as you possibly can. And it's not easy. And you have to accept an on things you may not like. But the more you could be you the happier you.

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The David Rubenstein Show: Diane von Furstenberg

Diane von Furstenberg, DVF founder and chairman, talks about resetting her business and brand, speaking her mind and having Andy Warhol paint her portrait. She's on "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations." This interview was recorded November 4.

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