Family is a word Diane von Furstenberg uses quite frequently when she talks about the Council of Fashion Designers of America, where she’s had an eight-year run as president that was just extended by another two-year term.
For her, family as a theme applies personally as well as professionally. Remembering her journey to the apex of the American fashion community, she recalled, “I had sold my company, had gone to Paris and come back. I realized that my business, my fashion, my brand was so much a part of my identity and losing it was really painful.”
Residing once more in New York, where she had made a name for herself in the Seventies, she received a phone call from Stan Herman.
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“He asked me to join the board,” she said. “I felt like such a loser and an outsider that when they asked me to join the board, it made me feel good. It made me feel like I belonged.”
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The fashion family warmly welcomed her back, and not only honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award after her successful comeback, but also put her on the committee to find the next president to succeed Herman.
“I think the fact that I became president and I said I wanted to make it like a family, is because I had that feeling of belonging to it,” von Furstenberg said.
She spearheaded much change in the American industry since taking up the role — the list of accomplishments is extensive.
During her tenure, the designer significantly grew the CFDA membership — which, at the start of 2006 was 271 and is now at 478 — with not just designers but also creative directors of brands, including contemporary ones.
She focused on important industry issues such as the need to protect original design and fight counterfeits, and supporting young talent in tandem with Vogue’s Anna Wintour via the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund.
Von Furstenberg also upped the organization’s networking potential by launching the Strategic Partnership Group in 2007. Elsewhere, she worked with the Mayor’s office on the Fashion Incubator program, as well as the Culture Shed that is part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project and could one day be a home for New York Fashion Week.
“The truth is we cannot just have one place [to host fashion shows],” she said.
The CFDA is also looking to strengthen the overall New York Fashion Week brand as an umbrella for the various facets from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to Made, a collection of shows at and around Milk Studios.
Most recently, the CFDA acquired the Fashion Calendar, a move that aims to streamline the scheduling of fashion shows and events in New York, which, with more than 350 shows a season, has become quite challenging for those involved.
Initially, she said, her goals included making the CFDA “a family, and I wanted the membership to be a little younger,” von Furstenberg said. “I also wanted the world out there to be able to associate with it, which is why we created the Strategic Partnership Group.
“It’s changed so much for young designers,” she added. “It was 9/11, and out of 9/11, Anna [Wintour] decided to do something and created the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. That was a revolution for the fashion industry. Everybody has been so generous. Although we compete with one another, there is a camaraderie and a loving spirit, and we are all about helping each other.”
The sentiment was also key to Fashion’s Night Out, the shopping event that, in the U.S., was a collaboration between the CFDA, Vogue, NYC & Co. and the City of New York.
Promoting education is another key part of von Furstenberg’s tenure, working with domestic and international schools, as is the push to stimulate domestic manufacturing via the Fashion Manufacturing Initiative.
For models, the emphasis on more diversity on the runway and the Health Initiative have been at the core of von Furstenberg’s philosophy at the CFDA.
Before each collections season, for example, she sends out a letter to the industry that serves to reinforce guidelines, which range from a minimum model age of 16, to not allowing models under 18 to work past midnight, to supplying healthy meals, snacks and water backstage and at shoots, as well as fitness and nutrition education.
As for diversity, the CFDA Founders Award given to Bethann Hardison, a champion of diversity in fashion, underscored the organization’s commitment to the issue.
“When Tracy Reese suggested we do something for Bethann [at the board meeting], we all looked at each other like we were idiots. ‘Yeah, of course.’”
As Reese put it, “No door is closed to Diane. If she has an idea or we have a dream that might seem too high for most mortals, she has no fear. People sense that about her in the loveliest, friendliest way.”
She added, chuckling, “They are happy to ride along — in her beautiful green Bentley. She is our role model. She greets you with a hug and a kiss and is very personable. She brings you in. That takes a lot, especially in our industry because a lot of us have walls up, but she doesn’t. She says whatever is on her mind — and she has earned that right.”
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Ralph Lauren lauded her “legendary and ongoing” contribution to fashion. “But never one to sit back, she has further inspired us with eight years of her energetic leadership of the CFDA,” he said. “This unselfish commitment to preserve and grow the prestige of American fashion is characteristic of Diane’s personal integrity and determined spirit.”
Steven Kolb, the CFDA’s chief executive officer, cited many attributes that make von Furstenberg’s leadership role at the CFDA so unique.
“She is a business person and working designer and understood the global fashion community, all of which added a lot of validity to her experiences and how she could contribute to the organization and its members,” Kolb said. “My favorite story was right in the beginning [of her tenure], when she said that she can scream to the Italians in Italian, and beg to the French in French. She has done that in the eight years she has been president.
“So many companies come to Diane to do something with her and she sees the value, the merit in it, but if it’s not on brand for her, she comes to me,” he added. “When it’s not right for her, it’s often right for the CFDA.”
The two also have their fun. During the interview, von Furstenberg made a point that Kolb learned how to dress once he joined the CFDA.
“I mean, he knew nothing about fashion other than being gay,” is how she put it.
Reed Krakoff described von Furstenberg as a “force of nature, someone with incredible energy. She is able bring together people from every different world that fashion exists in, from politics to the arts, design, architecture and the film industry. Her reach is so broad and holistic that she is able to make incredible things happen.”
Added Michael Kors: “With her legendary Diane-ness, she has brought a whole new spotlight on the CFDA over the last eight years. At her core, Diane is a nurturer — she not only recognizes young talent, she embraces it. She goes out of her way to foster creativity and to help others, and the network she’s created within the CFDA reflects that.”
Tommy Hilfiger cited her fearlessness and “enormous heart. She really cares about the other designers, whether they are competitors, young designers coming up, established designers or designers who are trying to stay afloat. She has a wide network of incredible relationships and friends. Her charisma, personality and motivation are enormous and the board meetings are fun.”
In fact, when asked about von Furstenberg’s management style at CFDA meetings — allegedly wildly entertaining while also getting the job done — the common reaction is “no comment,” followed, when pressed, by some off-the-record tale about an amusing exchange between the president and a designer, or a remark by von Furstenberg that is so over-the-top, it can’t be printed.
“She likes to boss me around somewhat,” Vera Wang said. “She says, ‘Sit down, Vera, sit down here.’”
Recalling lunches at the DVF offices, where the CFDA board would meet before relocating to Bleecker Street, “I would get myself a plate and the food was always so insane that I would get up and sometimes get a second round,” Wang said. “The year I was nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award, Diane said, ‘Sit down, you’re gonna like this meeting.’ I said, ‘OK, ma’am,’ and I sat down. At the end of the meeting, Diane said, ‘And for the Lifetime Achievement Award, it’s you.’ That’s how Diane is. She cuts to the chase. I think she is hysterically funny, yet she is on the ball and very dedicated.”
Rag & Bone’s Marcus Wainwright said her contributions have been “massive,” and she was able to achieve so much because of her stature, her own fashion and her personality. “She is larger than life,” he said. “She also makes it fun. Sometimes, being on something like [the CFDA board] could be a bit of a chore but I actually quite look forward to it because she is priceless. She comes out with phenomenal quotes, there is just an endless stream of amazing comments. I don’t think I could repeat half of them. She is so irreverent.”
But, he stressed, “She has galvanized the industry in an incredible way. Everyone loves her. Everyone wants to be part of the CFDA because she is president. Everyone loves coming to the board meetings and being involved, because we all feel lucky to be a part of the CFDA these days. It’s nearly impossible to think of someone to replace her. That’s how good she is.”
For her part, von Furstenberg has not lost any of the joy in governing the disparate crew that is the American designer community.
“It’s fun also because you can make a difference,” she said. “I get a lot of publicity around the world. Wherever you see the initials DVF, there is the wrap dress, and now there is the CFDA.”
Von Furstenberg has a clear idea of what she wants her CFDA legacy to be: “That I was a great mother.”