This doc can change your life
Woman in Charge is a self-help book meets rock ’n roll
Because nowadays I am often one of the older ones on press trips, I can, aside from a few more wrinkles and less filled cheeks, boast a long career, and that sometimes invites a Q&A session. During a recent trip, I was asked who I found to be the most inspiring celebrity I ever met. I mentally went through the list. Meeting George Clooney seems like a sharp dagger with which I can immediately bring any woman into a horizontal position out of jealousy, but in reality, I just found him a nice man with whom I had a pleasant conversation. He, not tall and with a leg in a cast after a little accident on set, talked about his pet pig, and I, 29 and head over heels in love with my current partner, mainly talked about my boyfriend. And about Italy, because that was a love we shared. But to say that this meeting uplifted me, nah. Then there was Kylie Minogue, Rihanna, Cara Delevingne, Pharrell, Karl Lagerfeld, a battalion of top models, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kendall Jenner, and so on. But the ones that stuck with me were Ruby Wax (if you don't know who that is, you should consult Wikipedia) and Diane von Fürstenberg.
After the shows of Diane von Fürstenberg in New York, we were always invited the next day to her headquarters in the Meatpacking District. There sat the grande dame herself, and where many designers keep a bit of appropriate distance from the public, Diane came to sit next to us, offered us apples from her own estate, and casually touched your cheek to compliment your skin texture.
Diane von Fürstenberg married a prince but crowned herself the queen of New York. There she dragged suitcases full of wrap dresses (the story behind the wrap dress is by the way so Diane and so funny and sexy and cool) through Fifth Avenue to showcase her collection to Diana Vreeland, and after dinner, she zoomed off with her children to Studio 54 where she refused a ménage à trois with Mick Jagger and David Bowie. “When they suggested it to me, I thought: yes, this is of course very cool and something to brag about for years, but I saw them sitting there next to each other on the couch and I thought: no.” That is Diane von Fürstenberg in a nutshell.
In the documentary, which is available from today on Disney+, we see her life directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and it had even more layers and color than I suspected. Her promiscuous husband – his nickname was Egon First In Bed – died of AIDS, she moved her life to Bali where she naturally found a lover, and she lived in Paris for a while with another lover. She strung one celebrity after another onto her list of conquests but never gave up her own identity. Woman in Charge is therefore the title of this documentary, and being in charge is your greatest asset.
Your own course, your own will, your own navigation. Her mother, as a war survivor, almost didn't make it. She weighed twenty kilos when the war was over. Having children was advised against, almost forbidden. But on December 31, 1945, she gave birth to a daughter: Diane. What followed was a full life, to put it mildly. “I should be three hundred years old, with everything I have experienced,” Diane herself says. We see her climbing into the sink to apply her makeup properly. “I love wrinkles, they tell who you are. I also think people shouldn't ask how old you are. The question should be: how long have you lived?” I will remember that when I am once again the senior on a press trip.
It rains wisdoms (and delightful, blissful, delicious, give me more New York in the seventies material) like ‘kindness is a currency’ and ‘generosity is an investment’.
Choosing from the most beautiful scene is difficult, but I will go for the closing scene. We see Diane walking over her estate. The autumn red curls dancing on her shoulder, a colorful but spontaneously put together ensemble. She walks to a hill with some stones and sits down, her little dog sniffing behind her ear. “This is where it’s going to happen. This is where I’m going to lie down.” Then, looking at the documentary maker: “Will you come visit me here?” Does she think a lot about death? “Every day. Every day.” She pauses and looks satisfied. “But without an inch of fear. It keeps me grateful.”
Tonight, after the football, I will watch again. And again and again.
