self-confidence and drive that helped her become one of the world’s most successful fashion designers.

Von Furstenberg attended finishing schools in Switzerland, Spain, and England, and in 1965 entered the University of Madrid. Transferring a year later to the University of Geneva, she selected economics as a major.

She then worked briefly at Investors Overseas Ltd., a mutual fund company in Geneva.

The Princess Designer While attending the University of Geneva, Diane Halfin met Prince Eduard Egon von Furstenberg, heir to the Fiat automobile fortune. The two were married in Paris on July 16, 1969. At her wedding von Furstenberg, now Princess von Furstenberg wore a white piqué dress of her own design made by the fashion house of Dior.

That same year she apprenticed with Italian textile manufacturer Angelo Ferretti and was soon designing simple dresses using his silk jersey prints. The von Furstenbergs moved to New York City in late 1969, where her husband went to work on Wall Street. In New York Diane attempted to interest garment manufacturers in her sample designs.

In her early months of designing and promoting, she worked out of the dining room of her Park Avenue apartment.
Encouraged by designers Bill Blass and Kenny Lane and by Diana Vreeland, editor of the influential Vogue magazine, Diane von Furstenberg put together a collection of her dress designs. In April 1970 von Furstenberg revealed her first collection at the Gotham Hotel in New York City. The price range was moderate, from $25 to $100.

The Wrap Dress
Although her designs were a commercial hit, her marriage failed. Von Furstenberg aimed even more at making herself financially independent and stable. Because she had little experience in producing clothes on a large scale, von Furstenberg at first worked with major women’s clothing manufacturers, but in April 1972 she established her own manufacturing business.

With the help of friend and entrepreneur Richard Conrad, and with a $30,000 loan from her father, Diane von Furstenberg opened a Seventh Avenue showroom. Although her designs were variations on items in her initial collection, she produced a new, very popular sweater dress named "Angela," after the black activist Angela Davis.

Next came von Furstenberg’s enormously popular wrap dress. "Fed up with the bell-bottom jeans and sexless pantsuits of the day, she devised a slinky, moderately priced wrap dress that turned millions of mall mothers and working women into saucy sirens virtually overnight," noted J.D.

Polo sky in People. After only a few months of business, her wholesale sales topped $1 million.
In 1973 von Furstenberg bought an old farmhouse in Connecticut, where she retreated from her frenetic business life. In 1975 she separated from the prince, and in 1983 divorced him, retaining custody of their two children, Alexandre and Tatiana.

Expanding Business
With a good grasp of both design and economics, von Furstenberg augmented her fashion line several years after opening her showroom. She added jewellery, furs, shoes, scarves, and sunglasses to the articles bearing her signature. Later she conceived of a cosmetic line, including a fragrance named for her daughter, Tatiana. She branched into house wares: sheets, bath towels, and home accessories. Soon her trademark began appearing on fashions for children.

Her dynamic career and elegant looks kept her in the public eye. Diane von Furstenberg, the princess-turned-designer, was featured often in magazine articles and interviews. In 1977 she published Diane von Furstenberg’s Book of Beauty. She appealed to working women because her practical designs acknowledged the growing number of career women. In 1984 von Furstenberg opened a Fifth Avenue boutique catering to women who desired a more luxurious type of women’s apparel.