Diane von Fürstenberg

Her father, Bessarabian-born Leon (Lipa) Halfin, migrated to Belgium in 1929 from Chişinău, Kingdom of Romania (now Moldova) and later sought refuge from the Nazis in Switzerland.

Her mother was Greek-born Liliane Nahmias, from Thessaloniki, a Holocaust survivor, who was initially captured by the Nazis while she was a member of the Resistance during World War II.

Eighteen months before Fürstenberg was born, her mother was a prisoner at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Escaping from a concentration camp and weighing only 49 pounds, her mother was told by doctors that she should not have children, that she could die in childbirth and that her baby would not be normal.

Fürstenberg has spoken broadly about her mother's influence in her life, crediting her with teaching her that "fear is not an option."

Fürstenberg attended a boarding school in Oxfordshire.

She studied at Madrid University before transferring to the University of Geneva to study economics.

She then moved to Paris and worked as an assistant to fashion photographer's agent Albert Koski.

She left Paris for Italy to apprentice with the textile manufacturer Angelo Ferretti in his factory, where she learned about cut, color and fabric.

It was here that she designed and produced her first silk jersey dresses.

A year after marrying, Fürstenberg began designing women's clothes: "The minute I knew I was about to be Egon's wife, I decided to have a career. I wanted to be someone of my own, and not just a plain little girl who got married beyond her deserts."

Diane von Fürstenberg (born Diane Simone Michele Halfin, 31 December 1946) is a Belgian fashion designer best known for her wrap dress.

She initially rose to prominence in 1969 when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon von Fürstenberg.

Following their separation in 1972 and divorce in 1983, she has continued to use his family name.

Her fashion company, Diane von Furstenberg (DvF), is available in over 70 countries and 45 free-standing shops worldwide, with the company's headquarters and flagship boutique located in Manhattan's Meatpacking District.

After the Fürstenbergs separated in 1973, Egon also became a fashion designer.

After moving to New York, she met high-profile Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, who declared her designs "absolutely smashing".

She had her name listed on the fashion calendar for New York Fashion Week, and so her business was created.

She moved into an estate in Connecticut she named,and has lived there ever since.

In 1974, she introduced the knitted jersey "wrap dress", which became an iconic piece in women's fashion; it is included in the collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Soon after the launch, 25,000 dresses were selling each week; one million dresses had been sold by 1976, according to Forbes..

After the success of the wrap dress, von Fürstenberg was featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine in 1976.

The accompanying article declared her "the most marketable woman since Coco Chanel."

She launched a cosmetic line and her first fragrance, "Tatiana", named after her daughter.

The New York Times reported that by 1979 the annual retail sales for the company were $150 million (equivalent to $ million in ).

In 1985, von Fürstenberg moved to Paris, where she founded Salvy, a French-language publishing house.

She started a number of other businesses, including a line of cosmetics and a home-shopping business, which she launched in 1991.

In 1992, von Fürstenberg sold $1.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ) of her Silk Assets collection in two hours on QVC.

She credits the success with giving her the confidence to relaunch her company.

Fürstenberg relaunched her company in 1997, and reintroduced the wrap dress, which gained popularity with a new generation of women.

Initially, the relaunch was a failure but, with the appointment of Paula Sutter as president of the brand, it was seemingly restored to its heyday of the mid-seventies.

In 1998, she published her business memoir, Diane: A Signature Life.

In 2004, she introduced the DVF by H. Stern fine jewelry collection, and launched scarves and beachwear.

She is the past chairwoman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a position she held from 2006 to 2019; in 2014 was listed as the 68th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes; and in 2015 was included in the Time 100, as an icon, by Time magazine.

In 2006, she was elected president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a position she still holds.

In 2008, she received a star on Seventh Avenue's Fashion Walk of Fame.

In 2009, Michelle Obama wore the DVF signature "Chain Link" print wrap dress on the official White House Christmas card.

In 2016, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the New School.

In 2019, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Fürstenberg was born Diane Simone Michele Halfin in Brussels, Belgium, to Jewish parents.