DIVINE DIANE

This year marks forty years since Diane von Furstenberg designed a dress that is invariably accompanied by the adjective ‘iconic’. The iconic wrap dress. Quite a grand term, but when over four million (and counting) of a dress have been sold, a little fanfare is in order.

A very down to earth product is how Diane herself describes it, suitable for every woman. “Young, old, slim, curvy, rich, a little less rich. This dress was like a uniform for all women. I could see 20 or 30 wrap dresses pass by during a stroll down a New York block, and that felt fan-tas-tic.”

It suits DvF to write history with this design. If anyone wants to be a friend to women with her designs, it is her. The fabrics (preferably that jersey from which the wrap dress is made) are soft, and the patterns ensure that you become slimmer, taller, prettier, younger, better, more desirable. “I want that when you wake up after a short night, my clothes feel like a friend. I always tell my design team; DvF is primarily a friend.” A friend with a lot of besties, because who doesn’t have a DvF hanging in their closet?

Do you know what might be the best USP of the wrap dress? That Diane designed it without a zipper so you can quietly slip out of the hotel room at dawn without waking the man who lies there contentedly snoring. And so my Divine Diane also becomes a little bit Dirty Diane.