Just like her signature wrap , is an icon who transcends time and trends. The Belgian-born designer is one of those rare public figures with multi-generational appeal: indeed, when I announce on my various WhatsApp groups that I am due to interview her in person, everyone from my fashion-ignorant mother to banker best friend is equally as fascinated to hear what she has to say. And rightfully so: this is a woman who has lived a full, varied and inspiring life – one which is now the subject of a new documentary aptly entitled Directed by -winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton, the film somehow manages to condense every one of Diane von Furstenberg's 77 years into an enrapturing 97 minutes, filled with all the twists, turns, tragedies and glamorous tales that befit such an extraordinary existence.
'I didn't want to watch it until it came out, but Sharmeen really insisted,' explains Diane, aka DVF, when I meet her in a suitably grand suite of London's Corinthia Hotel, looking as fabulous as ever in one of her own designs, fishnet and leopard-print heels. 'I saw it in March and laughed through the entire thing – only because laughter is my defence mechanism. It felt like being at the gynaecologist for an hour and a half.
Afterwards, I went a bit crazy with paranoia, thinking "why did I do that to myself and my entire family?" Then it was selected to open , which is a really big deal, and on that night, I watched it as a spectator, and found it to be actuall.
