October 18, 2011 |
FROM THE VOLT (SUMMER 2011)
We tracked down Miss Diane von Furstenberg in deepest China, where she had just arrived to assist at the opening of a major exhibition about her life and work. Journey of a Dress at the Pace Gallery in Beijing is a comprehensive overview of Diane’s life as designer, muse, collector and icon. The show includes artworks, personal effects and a timeline of her dresses, and several leading Chinese artists have created new works depicting her familiar and arresting image.
DVF was gracious enough to answer our emailed list of probing questions before flying off to Shanghai for a grand ball in her honour. Here is the transcript of our disembodied tête à tête.
TEN: “WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE BEEN FAMOUS FOR THREE DECADES?”
DVF: “It’s actually been four decades and very full ones! I love life and life has been good to me. The journey has been intense. I love being a woman and women have inspired me. I am fortunate to have wonderful children and grandchildren, a wonderful husband and a business that I love.”
TEN: “WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON NEW YORK CITY IN 2011 COMPARED TO THE SAME TOWN IN 1976?”
DVF: “I love New York. I decided to live there as a young bride and have loved it ever since. When I first moved there I lived on the Upper East Side for decades… I moved to the West Village in 2001 and it was a revelation, but I am always discovering new things about New York and I continue to fall in love all over again… ”
TEN: “I’VE NEVER BEEN TO THE UPPER EAST SIDE, BUT NEW YORK IS CERTAINLY A MAGIC PLACE, EVEN WHEN THE OLD SCHOOL IS COVERED BY THE NEW, WHICH IS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CURRENT NEIGHBOURHOOD, THE FORMER MEAT MARKET, ON THE LOWER WEST SIDE.”
DVF: “Yes, I can certainly remember the old meat market, especially what it smelled like!”
TEN: “YOU OCCUPY AN ENTIRE SIX-STOREY BUILDING ON 14TH AND WASHINGTON – YOUR RETAIL STORE TAKES UP THE GROUND FLOOR, WHAT GOES ON UPSTAIRS?”
DVF: “Art lines the walls on every floor… because the artists are my friends and contemporaries… The 14th Street building is where my team is, where I work and live and get inspired, day after day. I always say that ‘my surroundings reflect who I am’ and nowhere is this more true than in this space.”
TEN: “YOU CAN PEEL BACK NEW YORK IN LAYERS. ITS HISTORY IS ALWAYS RIGHT AROUND US. DID YOU EVER GO TO THE CLUB JACKIE 60 THAT WAS RUN BY CHI CHI VALENTI AND JOHNNY DYNELL? IT WAS JUST ACROSS THE STREET FROM YOUR BUILDING.”
DVF: “Yes, I remember Jackie 60 on Tuesdays but my club days were more at Studio 54, which was a great nightclub and a real pick-up place! It did not last long but it was a special time, a fun time and a good time to be young!”
TEN: “YES, I THINK YOU STEPPED OVER ME IN THERE ONCE, WHILE I WAS RESTING ON THE FLOOR. THE 1970S WERE FABULOUS, IT WOULD BE SO GREAT TO REMEMBER THEM… MORE CLEARLY. YOU HAVE DEVELOPED A TERRIFIC ART COLLECTION OVER THE YEARS – WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVOURITES?”
DVF: “I love them all – the Warhols, the Clementes, Anh Duong… and I am very proud of the original pieces that were recently created for my Journey of a Dress exhibition. There are four different ‘portraits’, by conceptual artist Zhang Huan, photographer Hai Bo, painter Li Songsong and multimedia artist Yi Zhou. Right now, Zhang Huan and Li Songsong are my favourites, but there is lots of amazing art in China… ”
TEN: “DO YOU READ POETRY? FYI, WE LIKE FREDERICK SEIDEL AND SAPPHO THIS WEEK.”
DFV: “I love Fred Seidel! I love literature in all its forms – I am a voracious reader.”
TEN: “THAT IS SO ENCOURAGING. I HONESTLY HAD NO IDEA YOU KNEW SEIDEL PERSONALLY WHEN I ASKED THAT QUESTION. ‘NECTAR AND OXYGEN’, INDEED. WE WILL INCLUDE A VERSE OF HIS FOR 10’S READERS – HE IS INDEED A TERRIFIC POET WITH A DELIGHTFUL STREAK OF UNPLEASANT TRUTH IN HIS WORK. THIS IS FROM HOMAGE TO PESSOA –
I PICKED UP THIS PEN…
AND THOUGHT HOW MANY OTHER MEN
HAD SMELLED THE ROSE IN THE BUD VASE
AND LIFTED A FOUNTAIN PEN
AND LIFTED A MOUNTAIN
AND PUT THE SHOTGUN IN THEIR MOUTH
AND NOTICED THAT THEIR HUNTING DOG WAS POINTING.”
TEN: “WHICH DO YOU PREFER, THE DESERT OR THE OCEAN?”
DVF: “I’m inspired by nature in general. A few years ago I went to Egypt and fell in love with the desert. Last year my family and I went to the Galapagos Islands, which were amazing. And I love sailing in the Mediterranean in the summer. Nature is always inspiring.”
TEN: “LITCHFIELD COUNTY [CONNECTICUT] VERSUS THE HAMPTONS [LONG ISLAND]?”
DVF: “No contest! Cloudwalk[*] always! My home in Connecticut is coziness, warmth, books, movies, conversations and the space I need to breathe and think. It’s home.”
{*Note to reader: Cloudwalk is DVF’s country pile of 40-odd years, which sits on 100 acres in New Milford, Connecticut. Last year she received permission to create a private cemetery on the grounds, where she plans, many years hence, to be laid to rest.}
TEN: “AFTER YOUR SKIING ACCIDENT LAST YEAR, FROM WHICH YOU ARE, HAPPILY, FULLY RECOVERED, YOU SAID YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN COSMETIC SURGERY. WE ARE WITH YOU ON THAT, BUT CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY SO MANY WOMEN DO?”
DVF: “Plastic surgery is fine, but it is not something I feel I need to do. There is something that appeals to me about living in my own face and body… The bad thing about ageing is that you have less time ahead of you… I don’t mind wrinkles, but defying gravity is the issue… That is why I go to Tracie Martyn once a week for electric facials. They make me feel better.”
TEN: “YOU WERE BLESSED WITH PHYSICAL BEAUTY. DO YOU THINK VERY ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE HAVE AN EASIER PATH THROUGH LIFE?”
DVF: “Beauty is always an advantage, but as you get older… your inner self begins to come out… generosity and character is what makes you beautiful. I’ve had a very fulfilling life. I have worked hard to create beauty and hopefully that shows from within… It’s not always about how a person looks, but what they put out into the universe that counts.”
TEN: “NAME A FEW SPECIFIC OBJECTS THAT YOU FIND BEAUTIFUL.”
DVF: “Nature, nature, nature. Art. Architecture.”
TEN: “THAT WAS EASY. NATURE HAS BEEN QUITE STINGY WITH NEW YORK THIS YEAR, KEEPING US COLD FOR FAR TOO LONG. BUT SPRING IS FINALLY HERE. DO YOU HAVE ANY RITUALS YOU PERFORM TO GREET THE SEASON?”
DVF: “I hike constantly.”
TEN: “OH, I HAD SUCH A CLEAR PICTURE OF YOU AND HALF A DOZEN NYMPHS AND DRYADS DANCING BAREFOOT THROUGH THE WOODS IN WHITE WRAP DRESSES ON THE SOLSTICE… BUT HIKING IS GOOD, ALSO. NEXT QUESTION: OUR FIRST FASHIONABLE FIRST LADY, MICHELLE OBAMA, WORE DVF ON HER RECENT SOUTH AMERICAN TRIP. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN GRATIFYING.”
DVF: “Yes, she looked beautiful in our Mateo top! She always looks terrific. She is a very elegant woman in everything that she does.”
TEN: “WHEN YOU FIRST CONCEIVED OF THE WRAP DRESS, DID IT SEEM LIKE THE GENIUS IDEA IT HAS TURNED OUT TO BE? WAS IT A ‘LIGHT BULB’ MOMENT? OR PERHAPS YOU WERE SITTING IN A SUMMER GARDEN AND A FIREFLY ALIGHTED IN YOUR HAIR?”
DVF: “It was a time of women’s liberation, and not much has really changed! Wrap dresses have existed for a long time. It is a very traditional piece of clothing, like a kimono… What made my dress innovative is that it was made of jersey fabric and moulded the body.”
TEN: “SO YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO BE RICH AND THIN TO WEAR IT?”
DVF: “Absolutely not! It was a very democratic dress. You could ‘wear it with serious shoes and still show your bottom’, as I remarked elsewhere, long ago.”
TEN: “RIGHT NOW YOU ARE ZOOMING AROUND CHINA AND I’M SURE YOU ARE BOOKED SOLID FOR THE NEXT YEAR. WHERE DO YOU FIND THE ENERGY TO KEEP SO MANY PROJECTS RUNNING SIMULTANEOUSLY?”
DVF: “I believe in living a balanced life. I eat lots of vegetables, drink lots of water, practice yoga and hike. I always find time for myself no matter how busy I am… ”
TEN: “THAT SOUNDS SO MELLOW, SO YIN TO THE YANG AND CLANG OF YOUR CAREER. ONE LAST QUESTION: DOES BARRY LET YOU DRIVE THE MASERATI?”
DVF: “Barry lets me do EVERYTHING.”
TEN: “THANK YOU, DIANE. WE WILL PONDER THE HIDDEN MEANING OF EVERYTHING UNTIL THE NEXT TIME WE MEET!”
by Max Blagg
