Diane von Furstenberg on Style and Confidence
So excited to share with you what Diane von Furstenberg thinks about style and confidence, I think you're going to be surprised.
This is an interview with Julia Louis Dreyfus and Diane von Furstenberg. Her first question, “Diane, tell us what are some staples that every woman should have in her wardrobe?”
And the first thing that Diane said was, I believe that you need to be true to who you are. You need to add pieces to your wardrobe that represent you.
Don’t think that is what Julia wanted to hear. So, if you've been following me for a while, you know that my personal philosophy is that style begins with the woman. And not the clothes. And that is exactly what Diane, iconic Diane von Furstenberg was sharing.
Julia asked, “does every woman need a great white blouse?".
Diane said, no, I don't even have one. Does every woman need a black turtleneck? She said, not really, but I love a great black turtleneck. It's all about honoring you.
It's about the relationship that you have with yourself and understanding that.
What is it you love? What are your strengths? What are your attributes?
What is it you love about you that you want other people to know?
An excerpt from her book, the Woman I Wanted to Be. I want to transition now into the iconic wrap dress.
The famous wrap dress made her the woman who she is today.
She did not go out to design the most amazing dress and the idea of selling millions. Her thought was, I'm going to design a dress. That has ease and confidence.
It doesn't have any zippers. It doesn't have any buttons. It's a jersey fabric. It moves with the body. It fits different body types, and that's what her thought was, as she was thinking about the woman.
Her brand is all about the relationship she has with women.
“It's about understanding women and understanding their likes and what is it women want in clothes, says Diane von Furstenberg".”
I absolutely resonate with her philosophy 100%.
How do women want to feel in their clothes? What is it women want to express?
And that's exactly how I work with you. My first style lesson when I work with clients, is called The Power of You, and it's helping you to articulate who is that woman you want to project? What is it you want others to know about you?
Is it an edginess? Is it classic and traditional? Is it creative and fun and sparkly? It begins with you.
It's not me telling you what you should wear. And that's exactly what Diane does as she is designing styles.
“The style may speak through the style or color. Patterns or prints, whether it's the fabrication, whether it's the silhouette, that is how you can express you, says Diane.”
Is, is it very quiet? Is it sophisticated? Is it loud? Is it bright? And then the fabrication, the fabric, how the fabric moves and flows on your body and the silhouette makes the sentence.
Through her clothing and it all started for her with the wrap dress. She says the wrap dress made her. The wrap dress debuted in 1974. She was 27 years old. She was just beginning her business. In fact, I want to share this excerpt from her book, and she says, “As I was watching women become more confident and beautiful, thanks to the new dress, the wrap dress, I was personally becoming more, more and more confident and their feeling more beautiful myself.”
Diane was projecting what she was selling. Ease and confidence. She was becoming one with the dress and what they stood for. She didn’t know it then, but I had become a brand.
She said that every woman had a story about the wrap dress.
Five-six years ago, I walked into one of my favorite consignment stores, and what I loved about this consignment store is that she had two racks right in front of the register, and they were designer pieces and that were brand new consignments.
I walked in and I saw this dress. It was my size. It was the perfect color. The price, oh my gosh. I knew it was a $600 dress and it was sitting on the rack for a hundred dollars. It was like brand new, no one had worn it. I knew I had to have it. And so, you know, it's so interesting how a dress can make you feel.
As Julia says, “It's how you feel inside of an outfit, I don't care if I am walking on the red carpet at the Oscars or if I am taking a hike, when everything is working, you know it.”
I agree 100%.
What does she have to say about confidence? They're one and the same. When you have that confidence and ease in your clothes, when you are honoring you and representing you and understanding who you are. That's when personal style is at its best.
That is when you know that you are rocking your look and there is confidence oozing all over when you walk into a room.
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