Diane Von Furstenberg has traditionally held the 5p.m. Sunday timeslot during New York Fashion Week. For the last few years she has held her show at Spring Studios, and then hosted an apres show celebration at her Meatpacking headquarters. This year, in an effort to change things up, she decided to forego the formal runway show in favor of something a bit more fun and celebratory at the West 14th Street space. But it was hardly the intimate scene one would have imagined based on reports that the presentation would enable a “select group of guests” to “filter in and out for over one hour”, and have a chance to chat with Diane and the models, and ask them questions.
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| Photo: Marilyn Kirschner |
To the contrary, it was fashion gridlock both inside and out with black town cars and Ubers lined in the street, it was rather chaotic at first with guests waiting to get in the store (many didn’t think they would make it inside). Wisely, the waiting was done indoors, rather than outside in the record breaking frigid air. To be sure, it was a highly spirited and jam packed happening; the clothes, (signature DVF all the way: 70’s inspired, colorful, printed, patterned and covering the gamut from day to evening) were almost beside the point.
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| Photo: Marilyn Kirschner |
And while there were plenty of trousers and shorts, there were a variety of dresses, including the famous wrap. Lest you forget that THE DRESS put Diane on the map, there was a hard to miss enormous neon sign with the words, “Feel like a woman; wear a dress” which was part of the decoration.
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| Photo: Marilyn Kirschner |
There were 5 different vignettes set up on two floors of her sprawling space. On the first floor, models walked in and out of closets at fast pace, wearing a variety of looks, and clustered around on desks in an ‘office’ wearing work geared ensembles (with the pulsating soundtrack, “She Works Hard for the Money” in the background). Up the steep staircase to the second floor is where the party really began. Diane and her favorite super models (Karlie Kloss, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Haddad, Jourdan Dunn, Irina Shayk), bedecked in slithery disco perfect gowns, danced exuberantly to the strains of Sister Sledge’s “We are Family” (the CFDA Chairman always likes to refer to fashion as her “family”) and they playfully lounged around on a lip shaped red sofa before an audience that had gathered to take photos. Upon spotting Carine Roitfeld, Diane immediately plucked her from the crowd, and had her join them in the fun.
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| Photo: Vogue.com |
The eclectic group in attendance included Anna Wintour, Hamish Bowles, Linda Fargo, Fran Lebowitz, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Cameron Silver, Robbi Myers, Cindi Leive, Stefano Tonchi, Derek Blasberg, Carlos Souza, Anh Duong. Actually, it seems the only person not there last night was American Media Mogul Barry Diller to whom Diane has been married since 2001. Barry and Diane famously live in separate residences (she lives in an apartment above her headquarters and Barry keeps an apartment in the Carlyle Hotel). Since yesterday was Valentine’s Day, it’s worth noting perhaps that is the secret to a happy marriage.
– Marilyn Kirschner
