Diane Von Furstenberg: back doing what she does best

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 12, 2018

Réchauffé, meaning reheated in French, can have a negative connotation when it comes to romance and rags, but in the case of the house of Diane Von Furstenberg it turns out to be a very good idea.
 

Her collection marked the return of her former design director Nathan Jenden to the lady designer’s maison and the results were really rather sparkling. A blend of downtown insouciance and Continental self-confidence that is at the heart of the DVF DNA.
 
From silk Photoshop floral pants suits with flared pants and marvelous pleated skirts in a leaf print to Scottish plaid boleros trimmed in faux leopard and Harlequin-pattern tops and matching pants, everything looked fresh.

“C’est joli, no? It’s in jersey and you can get with a skirt. Please take off your jacket,” said von Furstenberg to one model, as she shared an egg chair with this editor during a presentation. A half dozen models marching before giant videos the house’s latest ad campaign. 
 
“As a designer I want to make fun and elegant clothes for real women. That’s what these clothes are all about,” the Belgian-born designer added.
 
Include preppy Argyle polo necks; elegant rusty-hued mohair sweaters and some smart new backpacks in matching leaf print and this was a clever statement from DVF. And quite a few leagues away from the darker and artier ideas of Jonathan Saunders, the Scottish designer who resigned from the house in December. 
 
“I have the greatest respect for Jonathan and what he does. But when I came here I found he had not expressed the true Diane von Furstenberg woman. She is romantic and sensual. Someone who manages to make sometimes quite simple clothes effortlessly chic. Which is what Diane does everyday,” said Jenden, who worked at DVF for a decade until 2011, when he left to create his own label.
 
It’s a sense of style that’s being transmitted to the next generations. Her granddaughter Talita, star of the ad campaign, shown behind the models in the presentation.
 
“Don’t you love my granddaughter? She’s very smart, and is studying politics in Georgetown. Not bad, eh?” Von Furstenberg confided, as she turned to greet Helen David, fashion director of Harrods, and Europe’s single most important fashion buyer. 
 
Who, please note, left the presentation beaming.