How Diane von Furstenberg’s wrap dress made fashion history

IIt’s appropriate that the first scene of Diane von Furstenberg: Responsible Woman, Hulu’s new documentary about the designer opens with an archival clip of David Letterman introducing her as “the woman who reinvented the dress.” For most of her career, von Furstenburg, colloquially known as DVF, was synonymous with the wrap dress, a garment she designed 50 years ago that has become an iconic emblem of women’s empowerment.

While the wrap dress as we know it today is considered a classic (and a reliable staple in any working woman’s wardrobe), when von Furstenberg debuted her design in 1974, it was revolutionary. Although versions of the wrap dress, themselves inspired by early Asian clothes with a wrap closure, existed before von Furstenberg, hers became a phenomenon because it captured the spirit of the times, when Americans culture was being rapidly shaped by movements such as women’s liberation and the sexual revolution. Made from stretchy silk jersey with a V-neck, tied waist, and skirt that reached just below the knee, DVF’s wrap dress was comfortable, lightweight, and universally flattering—a stark contrast to the restrictive clothing and masculine attire often expected of women. in the business market. Offered in a variety of bold, eye-catching prints that ranged from bold leopard to colorful geometric patterns, the jersey dress was a study in contrasts: fun but practical, form-fitting but still sexy — it was a compelling reminder that women are not a monolith.

See more information: Diane von Furstenberg wants you to know that she gets depressed sometimes too

Although von Furstenberg has favored silk jersey and fun prints since starting her eponymous brand in 1970, she was inspired to create the wrap dress after seeing Julie Nixon Eisenhower wearing a DVF wrap blouse and matching printed jersey skirt for an appearance at TV during Watergate. scandal. By making an elegant, easy piece that a woman could wear to both work and play, von Furstenberg simplified the getting ready process without sacrificing any style. Its very reasonable price (it sold for $80 when it debuted in 1974) helped make it a bold, versatile uniform for the busy modern woman, who could throw on a DVF dress for the office and then wear it around town. after she clocked out. In the documentary, Vanessa Friedman, New York’s main fashion critic Timespoints to the dress’s ability to embody the many changes in women’s roles at the time and why it has been so influential in the history of fashion

“This dress empowered a huge number of women who could afford to wear it, which, to be honest, isn’t true of most haute couture,” says Friedman. “Diane’s dress exists amidst the history of women’s rights, women in the workforce, and women finding their own voice.”

For von Furstenberg, the wrap dress as a pioneering emblem of feminist style is deeply personal and reflects her own journey to find empowerment as a feminist and entrepreneur in the fashion industry, which at the time was primarily led by men. Born Diane Halfin in Belgium to a Holocaust survivor mother, von Furstenberg was told from a young age that “fear is not an option” and learned to embrace her otherness as a Jewish girl in the homogeneous, non-Jewish community where she grew up. After marrying Egon von Furstenberg, a German prince and member of the jet set whose family rejected Diane’s Jewish heritage, von Furstenberg was determined to launch her fashion line and have a career and identity of her own, refusing to be reduced. to her husband’s title or seen simply as a socialite wife, even though her social and financial capital certainly didn’t hurt when it came to launching a new business. When the couple separated in 1972, just three years after getting married and having two children (they finally officially divorced in 1983), von Furstenberg saw the breakup as a pivotal moment in shaping her as a designer and as a person; Two years later, she designed the wrap dress to international acclaim.

See more information: 10 questions with Diane von Furstenberg

“I became the woman I wanted to be,” she says of her divorce in the documentary. “I was in control of my destiny, I was in charge of my children, I was in charge of my life, I was in charge of my business, I was a woman in charge.”

When von Furstenberg debuted the wrap dress in a full-page ad showing herself wearing the outfit to Women’s clothing daily in 1974, she included the slogan: “Feel like a woman, wear a dress!” The ad’s message was clear: being an empowered woman wasn’t about shying away from femininity or sexual appeal – it was about defining who you wanted to be as a woman for yourself, on your terms. Indeed, for many, the appeal of the wrap dress, then as now, lies in the spirit of the DVF woman, who could fearlessly exude independent sensibility and glamour, possibly along the lines of von Furstenberg herself, who took such pleasure in partying at Studio 54, just like leading your brand or doing philanthropic work.

See more information: Diane von Furstenberg’s hero has nothing to do with fashion

It’s clear that von Furstenberg’s unapologetic approach to life and style resonated with women; in the dress’s first year of release, von Furstenberg was producing 25,000 of them per week. By 1976, she had sold a million wrap dresses and appeared on the cover of News week, making her one of the first female designers to achieve commercial success on this scale. And the influence of the DVF wrap dress has endured; memorably used by actor Cybill Shepherd in 1976 Cabby Until it was worn by the world’s most famous women – Michelle Obama, Kate Middleton, Oprah Winfrey, Madonna – the wrap dress has remained a timeless and beloved part of the modern woman’s wardrobe for half a century.

“I remember being a young reporter saving up to buy a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress,” Winfrey says in the documentary. “It was a status symbol to have one of those dresses.”

For von Furstenberg, designing the wrap dress was a way of imagining her future. She created the dress for the kind of woman she aspired to be: independent, ambitious and, above all, liberated. As she says in the documentary, her goal was not to create fashion history, but “to be a woman in charge, to be a free woman… fashion became a way of doing that.” With the wrap dress, she did both.