Photo courtesy of St. Louis Fashion Fund.
Fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg talks with YouTube’s former head of fashion and beauty Derek Blasberg about her career and life lessons, the fashion industry today and the challenges it faces, and her work to empower women, Oct. 12.
Both spoke at length about Furstenberg’s masterpiece and her influence on the fashion world. In addition to designing and producing the wrap dress, Furstenberg has designed clothes for celebrities from Madonna to Catherine, Princess of Wales.
They also spoke about Furstenberg’s philanthropy and public service, including her company Diane Von Furstenberg’s (DVF) annual grant for women working to change the lives of other women.
At the event, Mayor Tishaura Jones died on October 12 Diane von Fürstenberg in St. Petersburg. Louis
The audience was dressed in flamboyant clothes to honor the visiting titan of the fashion industry, and Furstenberg herself, dressed in a black and white check pant suit, took the audience to their stories. Furstenberg’s fiery sense of humor resonated with the audience, and laughter was frequent as she navigated her life and career.
“When I was young, I didn’t know what I wanted to do; But I know I want to be the woman in charge,” she said.
The way she went to become a woman in a big company was inspired by her mother, as she said in her speech.
She said her mother’s resilience and strength inspired her like a “skeleton on a field of ashes.” A mother who spent 14 months in various Nazi concentration camps has been told by a doctor not to have children for at least three years after leaving the concentration camps to regain her health and allow her son to die. all right. Furstenberg’s mother gave birth nine months later.
“I was born, and I’m not a normal person,” Furstenberg joked, to laughter from the audience.
During the Q&A portion of the event, she answered questions including how she would run her business differently if she could go back, what advice she would give to women in business, and how she views fast fashion.
“You learn a lot from your mistakes,” Furstenberg said. “This is what I tell my friends when you’ve had your worst embarrassment in business. And I say, ‘Remember, this is going to be a great narrative when you’re giving a speech or preparing a TED talk.'”
Among the attendees from all over the St. Louis fashion scene, local resident Ellie Rudnick came to the event because she wanted to hear Furstenberg’s advice on the fashion industry. Furstenberg said she was surprised by her response to a question about educating women in business.
“I’m on the design side of the business side of the industry,” she said. “So when asked what kind of advice she has for women [who are] Now I’m trying to be in the business side of the industry, and she was like, ‘I don’t know,’ and I thought that was interesting.
“[It] It makes you think … how business is evolving and the fashion industry is evolving, that stuck with me,” said Rudnick.
There were also themes of empowerment during the discussion; Furstenberg spoke of her and her family’s resilience.
“It was late winter and early spring. I was walking in the woods at my house in Connecticut,” Furstenberg said. “There were brown leaves, [and] Just a small green stick – barely visible. And I thought to myself, ‘That’s me.’ I was a little stick that challenged the ash.
