DIANE VON FURSTENBERG has a second career even more successful than her first. She's a grandmother three times over. And at 58, she still looks fabulous in the wrap dress that put her on the fashion map in 1976, when Newsweek called her the most marketable woman in fashion since Coco Chanel.
So it's no wonder that the designer says she is getting better with age.
A new boutique in the Melrose Heights shopping district, her first on the West Coast, is the latest showcase for her ever-expanding empire of clothing, accessories and fine jewelry. With leopard print rugs, a twinkling Art Deco chandelier and a replica of her famous Andy Warhol portrait on the wall, the place is every inch "DVF," as she is known to her employees.
And yes, Von Furstenberg does spend time here -- she calls Los Angeles her second home. She shares a Coldwater Canyon house with her husband, Hollywood mogul Barry Diller (the two were introduced 30 years ago by power agent Sue Mengers and married in 2001), and her children from her first marriage live here. (Tatiana is a screenwriter and Alexandre works in finance.)
But for much of the year, the designer with the velvety voice, warm gaze and forever legs lives in New York's West Village above her design studio.
Walk up the staircase at that studio and you'll see photographs that inspired Von Furstenberg's 1970s prints. And she still takes a camera everywhere she goes, snapping pictures of bark, twigs, leaves -- anything that might translate into the wrinkle-proof jersey that is used in \o7the\f7 dress, the famous wrap creation that continues to reflect Von Furstenberg's lifestyle. Indeed, she remains\o7 \f7that charter member of the jet set who would just pick up and go to Bali.
"I really didn't realize it would have the resonance it did," she says of the iconic dress. "But it's become like a pair of jeans or a miniskirt. It's a social phenomenon."
Since she relaunched her label seven years ago, she has expanded it to include skirts, tops and swimwear. Although she sells to high-end department stores and boutiques such as Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus, the average price of a dress is about $385, far less than most designer labels.
To celebrate the recent opening of her L.A. store, she hosted a ladies' lunch with Taryn Manning, Regina King, Teri Polo and other young celebrities. "I don't remember who they are, but they were very nice," she says.
