# Diane von Furstenberg on her last act

> At 79, the woman who sold a million wrap dresses talks Venice, Watergate, open marriages, and the winter of her life.
- Title: Diane von Furstenberg on her last act · CBS News | Shortify
- Summary: At 79, the woman who sold a million wrap dresses talks Venice, Watergate, open marriages, and the winter of her life. A life built on one good idea still…
- Keywords: fashion, diane von furstenberg, wrap dress, aging, design, news, Diane, von, Furstenberg, last, act, CBS News
- Source: CBS News — https://cbsnews.com/news/diane-von-furstenberg-on-life-love-and-a-wrap-dress
- Published: 2026-09-13T14:48:02+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: fashion, diane von furstenberg, wrap dress, aging, design, news
## Venice is her stage
She spends about five months a year among the palazzos and the canals. It is where she thinks, and where she now does her real work.

> It's my stage. It's where I think.
## One dress made her
DVF broke out in the 1970s on a single garment inspired by ballerina wrap tops: comfortable, practical, cheap enough to actually buy.
## Tired of the wrap dress
For years the question annoyed her because she had done so much else. Enough already, she would say, and then keep answering it anyway.

> I've done so many more.
## Watergate gave her the idea
Watching coverage in 1974, she saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower give a speech in her wrap top and a snake-print skirt. Make it one piece, she thought.

> And that's when I thought, Oh, you know what? We should turn it into a dress.
## A million sold by 1976
At 29 she landed the cover of Newsweek, billed as the most marketable woman in fashion since Coco Chanel. Her own word for it: insane.

> the most marketable female in fashion since Coco Chanel
## Born from survival
Her mother left a death camp weighing about 49 pounds, was fed back to health in six months, and had Diane 13 months later in Brussels.

> God saved me so I could give you life. By giving you life, you gave me mine back.
## A love life on record
A prince, an open marriage, a fling with Richard Gere, Warren Beatty and Ryan O'Neal in one weekend, and a girl she loved at boarding school.

> Well, I once boasted about that, and then it stuck with me forever.
## Barry, and no conflict
She encouraged Diller to write the memoir revealing his attraction to men. He had told her long ago, and it changed nothing between them.

> He's my soulmate. He's my companion of life. I mean, he's everything.
## The winter of her life
She turns 80 on New Year's Eve, still runs the DVF Awards in Venice, and thinks hard about mortality and what she leaves behind.

> As somebody who loved life and tried to honor it in every way.
## Key takeaway

A life built on one good idea still needs reinvention, and DVF measures hers by how openly she loved it.