Diane: A Signature Life - by Diane Von Furstenberg (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The frank and compelling story of an extraordinary woman and her adventures in fashion, business, and life.

"Most fairy tales end with the girl marrying the prince. That's where mine began," says Diane Von Furstenberg. Von Furstenberg lived the American Dream before she was thirty, building a multimillion-dollar fashion empire while raising two children and living life in the fast lane. Her wrap dress, a cultural phenomenon in the seventies, hangs in the Smithsonian Institution; her entry into the beauty business in 1979 was as serendipitous and as successful.

Von Furstenberg learned her trade in the trenches, crisscrossing the country to make personal appearances at department stores, selling her dresses and cosmetics. That business had its ups and downs, as the fashionista entrepreneur's unparalleled success became the source of its own undoing and she contended with bankruptcy, the loss of her business, and finally a complete self-reinvention that took her back to the top of the industry. This revealing and contemplative memoir works to make sense of the contradictions of the author's life: glamour vs. hard work, European vs. American, daughter of a Holocaust survivor vs. wife of an Austro-Italian prince, mother vs. entrepreneur, lover vs. tycoon. She emerges wiser, stronger, and ever more determined never to sacrifice her passion for life.

Review Quotes

Calvin Klein Diane Von Furstenberg is the quintessential modern woman. You must read this book.

Deepak Chopra Diane Von Furstenberg's "Diane: A Signature Life" is a riveting memoir by an extra-ordinary woman. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, she built a fashion empire on her own, raised two beautiful children, and triumphed in her struggle with business setbacks and personal illness. She is an inspiration.

Dominick Dunne Diane Von Furstenberg's extraordinary success in the fashion and cosmetics worlds has never surprised me. From the time she hit New York as a young bride in 1969, it was apparent that she had bigger plans for her life than being just a jet-set princess. In "Diane: A Signature Life, " she takes us on her path to attaining that vision, while at the same time documenting the social history of her time that she helped to create. It's a wonderful read.

Fran Lebowitz Print it. It's a wrap.

Gloria Steinem Diane Von Furstenberg's autobiography is an irresistible account of a diverse, fascinating, erratic, and hardworking life. Women readers especially will take heart from her professional struggles as well as her private ones to raise children and stay a whole person.

Katherine Betts Vogue I read it straight through and could not put it down. It is honest, poignant, well-written, and, most of all, an "inspiration" to all women trying to make a name for themselves.

About the Author

Diane von Furstenberg entered the fashion world in 1970 and four years later introduced her famous wrap dress. Her luxury fashion brand, DVF, is now available in more than fifty-five countries all over the world. Director of the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, she is an active philanthropist and supporter of emerging female leaders and social entrepreneurs. In 2015, she was named one of the Time 100 Most Influential People. She is the author of The Woman I Wanted to Be and Diane: A Signature Life