Diane von Furstenberg, born Diane Simone Michelle Halfin, was born in 1945 in Brussels, Belgium. She left Belgium to go to university in Switzerland where she studied economics, and it was there that she met Prince Egon von Furstenberg. How regal, no? They fell in love, got married when Diane was 23, and moved to New York in 1969. Well, to be honest, there is a little debate as to when Diane and Prince Egon actually arrived in New York - some say 1969, some say 1972, and some skirt over the issue entirely because it's so nebulous. No matter when she arrived, it was in New York that her life really started to take off. Diane gave birth to her two children, Alexandre and Tatiana, and divorce arrived shortly after the birth of her second child (Tatiana). It was then that she embarked on her fashion career that would not only make her a fashion icon but a celebrity in her own right.

After Diane's divorce, she started her own company - a clothing company, of course, and from that came the famous "wrap dress." Diane's invention of the wrap dress is so famous that the original design is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York. Apparently the invention of the wrap dressed stemmed from Diane noticing the dearth of stylishly dressed mothers at her children's day care facility and her wondering why no one made stylish clothes for moms on the go. Diane launched the dress with the motto: "Feel like a woman, wear a dress."

More Diane Von Furstenberg⇒

Once she was a single lady in New York in the 70s, she joined the hip scene at Studio 54, hanging out with Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol (who happened to paint her not once, but twice). After several years of being in business, Diane lost control of her label due to licensing issues and shut her doors. Years passed, and while she continued to make her mark on the New York social scene, she didn't have a desire to return to the fashion world. That is, until her now ex-daughter-in-law convinced her to relaunch her namesake line in 1997 when she discovered that a lot of her girlfriends were purchasing the now vintage Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses.

In 2001 she got remarried to Barry Diller and supposedly splits her time between New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London.

Home: Celebrity Style Designer Clothing Online :: Celebrity Gossip