Dress Styles - The Hundred Dresses by Erin McKean Excerpt 1 Of 8 THE MOST ICONIC STYLES OF OUR TIME That’s the subtitle of The Hundred Dresses , by writer and fashion blogger Erin McKean ( dressaday.com ) and fashion illustrator Donna Mehalko, just out from Bloomsbury. Chock-full of fashion lore and visual inspiration, this alphabetized collection of 100 unforgettable silhouettes—from "The Mary Quant" to "The Chanel Jersey Dress" to, yes, "The Jersey Shore"—is catnip for fashion-history buffs. The visionary influences of artistic luminaries such as John Singer Sargent, Mondrian, and Vladimir Nabokov are traced here—and who knew way back when that enduring styles would be spawned by MTV videos such as Guns 'n' Roses' "November Rain" and Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" (pictured here). Cultural touchstones both high and low, hallowed and novel, are explored in these pithy pairings of imagery and text. Here’s a slide show of seven inspired entries: Reprinted from 'The Hundred Dresses' by Erin McKean. Copyright © 2013 by Erin McKean.

Used by permission of Bloomsbury USA Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko 2 Of 8 The Sack The Sack dress was a late-1950s innovation that came in reaction to the "New Look" of tight waists and full skirts. The Sack, or chemise, had no waistline at all, and was roundly despised by men, who saw in the hiding of the female form a Communist plot. Adlai Stevenson said that it came from Moscow, and Bob Hope joked that Russian women, dowdy by American standards, had "been wearing sack dresses for years." Popular culture (including a song – "In The Sack," by Jerry Herman) made much of the fact that, inside the Sack dress, a woman's essential figure was indiscernible. (Anita Loos wrote that no man was going to "puzzle his brain" over the shape of a girl in a bikini.) Designed by Balenciaga and Givenchy (who were likely inspired by Paul Poiret), and championed by Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper's Bazaar, the dress proved very popular and was widely copied at every price point.

The message of the Sack dress is one of fashion over allure: it's a dress notable for repelling male attention, to which the wearer says, "so what?" Wearers of the Sack dress would rather be chic than sexy, rather be free than fancied. Accessories: Kitten heels, a kicky hat, large earrings, gloves, and a healthy disregard for men's opinions. Related: The Caftan. 3 Of 8 The Fortuny Mariano Fortuny (1871-1949, in full Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo) had artistic beginnings. He was the son of the Spanish painter Mariano Fortuny y Marsal, and was informally tutored in Paris by the sculptor Auguste Rodin. Fortuny began his career as a set designer for opera—he was fascinated by Wagner—and started experimenting with textiles in the late 1890s. Inspired by the rich Renaissance colors and Byzantine mosaics of Venice, where he had made his home, as well as by classical models, he began creating vegetable-dyed gowns and cloaks.

The Fortuny dress is a classically inspired column of pleated silk, sleeveless or with dolman sleeves; early versions tied at the waist with a silk cord. The pleats are given weight with tiny Murano glass beads. Fortuny patented the method for pleating the fabric in 1909, one of more than twenty textile-related patents he filed in his lifetime. The Fortuny is one of the notable dresses of literature, mentioned more than a dozen times in Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past: "Of all the outdoor and indoor gowns that Mme. de Guermantes wore, those which seemed most to respond to a definite intention, to be endowed with a special significance, were the garments made by Fortuny from old Venetian models.

Is it their historical character, is it rather the fact that each one of them is unique that gives them so special a significance that the pose of the woman who is wearing one while she waits for you to appear or while she talks to you assumes an exceptional importance, as though the costume had been the fruit of a long deliberation and your conversation was detached from the current of everyday life like a scene in a novel?" The original Fortuny dresses were considered too informal and unstructured to be worn on the street—they were for home wear only, as “tea gowns.” And to wear a Fortuny dress today is still to be a secret gem, a hidden palazzo in Venice, a muse. Like the pleating process itself, which has never been fully duplicated, any woman in a Fortuny dress is unique. Accessories: Simple sandals, a Fortuny "Knossos" scarf (a large piece of silk printed with geometric designs) in a contrasting color, and the air of being a timeless work of art. Worn by: Isadora Duncan, Peggy Guggenheim, Martha Graham, Queen Marie of Romania.

Designers inspired by Fortuny include: Mary McFadden, Madame Gres, Issey Miyake, Stella McCartney, and (by their own admission) Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko 4 Of 8 The Vionnet The Vionnet dress is a puzzle in three-dimensional space: a three-body problem, with the three bodies being your body, the bias-cut fabric of the dress, and the space through which both of you move. Madame Vionnet began working as an apprentice to a dressmaker when she was very young, and moved to Paris at the turn of the last century to work for Callot Soeurs, a renowned couture house. It was there that she began to practice draping, building garments on a miniature dress form instead of as flat pattern pieces.

Inspired by such avant-garde figures as Isadora Duncan, Vionnet started working on her own daring designs in 1907 at the house of Doucet, although they were not worn in public, but in the privacy of the tea-hour at home (perhaps for the "four-to-five," the understood time for infidelity in France, during which loose and informal "déshabillé" dress was accepted, and tight corsets would have been a serious inconvenience). Vionnet opened her own design house in 1912, but it was not until after World War I that she began making the bias-cut dresses that are her legacy. Vionnet continued experimenting with fabric, including new dyeing methods and precisely engineered pintucks, until she showed her last collection in 1939. Accessories: Your own graceful motion (if you aren’t naturally graceful, a Vionnet dress will make you so) and the play of light over the fabric. The worst thing you can do is hold still, caging the potential of the dress. Worn by: Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford.

Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko 5 Of 8 The Breakfast at Tiffany's When we first see Holly Golightly in Truman Capote's 1958 novella, "it was a warm evening, nearly summer, and she wore a slim cool black dress, black sandals, and a pearl choker." Three dresses were made by Hubert de Givenchy for the 1961 film: one is in the Givenchy Paris archives, one is in Madrid at the Museum of Costume, and the third was sold by Christie's in December 2006 to an anonymous bidder for £410,000. Givenchy originally donated the third dress to French author Dominique Lapierre, to benefit his City of Joy Aid charity, inspired by his 1985 novel of the same name. The Breakfast at Tiffany's dress is the eight-hundred-pound gorilla of little black dresses. It does whatever it wants, whenever it wants; it parties all night with disreputable characters (and visits them in prison) without a stain on its own, then heads downtown for breakfast.

Wearing the Breakfast at Tiffany's dress telegraphs high spirits and elegance simultaneously; you are game for almost anything but somehow distanced from any hint of sordidness. An exact replica of any of the dresses made for the film veers too close to an Audrey Hepburn Halloween costume. A Breakfast at Tiffany's dress is one that makes just a nod to the movie versions: a long narrow silhouette and a highish neckline should be enough to evoke the dress without slavishly imitating it. Accessories: A big fake-pearl choker, a long ebony cigarette holder, a jeweled updo (with tiara), sunglasses, and a little something for the powder room. Cat optional. Related: The Chanel Jersey dress. Worn by: Audrey Hepburn (of course), Natalie Portman (who wore the dress for the November 2006 cover of Harper’s Bazaar). Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko 6 Of 8 The Chanel Jersey Dress Coco Chanel, who was not exactly the shy and retiring type, claimed to have invented the little black dress.

Whether she did or not is disputed (and it is slightly like claiming to have invented vanilla ice cream), but what is not disputed is that her 1926 little black jersey dress was a turning point in women's wardrobes. Chanel changed the black dress into something for everyday, everywhere wear, not just for the more solemn occasions of life. No fussy ornamentation, no ruffles, no buttons or bows. Just a simple black jersey dress, sleek and to-the-knee—simple enough to be made at home without looking "homemade," broadening its appeal even more. At its best, the Chanel Jersey Dress (and its many, many knockoffs) is chic and elegant, streamlined and modern: a dress for action. It’s no accident that women who mean business—at every level from salesclerk to CEO—often favor Chanel-style jersey dresses. The dress is so effective, in fact, that the main danger is in relying too heavily upon it, turning it from a tool to a crutch.

If you wear a different exemplar of the Chanel-style black dress every day for two weeks and have trouble remembering the last time you wore another color found in the eight-Crayola box, you probably need to take a little break from it. The prevalence and preeminence of this dress is the primary motivator behind the perennial "Yes, you can wear color!" articles in women's magazines. Accessories: Pearls, heels, a knowing air, the feeling of looking ten pounds thinner. Worn by: Even if you can’t afford the Chanel versions, you have probably worn a little black dress (in jersey or some other fabric with a little give to it). Designers: Coco Chanel, and then everyone else, at every price point. Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko 7 Of 8 The Madame X The dress worn by Madame X—the mysterious, alluring woman of John Singer Sargent's 1884 Portrait de Mme ***—is a column of lush black velvet, contrasting strongly with the expanse of pale shoulder and décolletage that it leaves bare. Madame X (as Sargent later titled the picture) was not unknown.

She was Madame Gautreau (née Virginie Amélie Avegno, known as Amélie), an American expatriate from New Orleans who, at nineteen, married the wealthy (and unusually short) forty-year-old bat-guano magnate Pierre-Louis Gautreau. She was famous in Paris for her beauty—newspapers reported on her gowns, including a salmon-colored velvet—and supposedly King Ludwig II of Bavaria made a special trip to the Paris Opéra just to see Amélie walk up the staircase there. Sargent wanted his portrait of Madame Gautreau to win him public acclaim and lucrative commissions for other portraits; Amélie wanted—we think—to be immortalized as a great beauty and to be the object of other women's envy. Neither got exactly what they wanted.

The critics hated the portrait—they thought Sargent's treatment of Amélie's artificially whitened, almost lavender skin "nauseating" and the picture "vulgar." The original portrait showed one strap slipping from her shoulder (Sargent later retouched it), and that detail led to Amélie herself being made the subject of satirical and insulting cartoons, showing her with a bare bosom, and for some time afterward in Paris dresses with slipping straps were said to have necklines "à la Gautreau." Of course, modern viewers of Sargent's painting usually know nothing of this—they see the transcendently, almost eerily beautiful woman in a long dark velvet evening gown. The essential beauty of the dress has outlived its creator, its wearer, its immortalizer, and all of its (and their) critics, which is what we hope true things of beauty will always do: persist, whatever the odds. The Madame X dress is worn with an eye to the long game rather than short-term results. Worn by: Angelina Jolie is the modern incarnation of Madame X. Designer: The original dress was designed by Félix, a former hairdresser and one of the foremost couturiers of his time.

His full name was Félix Poussineau. Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko 8 Of 8 The Wrap Dress "Feel like a woman, wear a dress" was the tagline Diane von Furstenberg used for her classic 1970s knit jersey Wrap dress. The first Wrap dress (in a wood-grain print) appeared in 1972 and was an instant success. At its peak in 1975, fifteen thousand Wrap dresses were sold each week, and the dress was featured on the cover of Newsweek and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Revived in 1997, the dress again sold in the millions. A fashionable, flattering, comfortable, washable, adjustable dress (you never have a "fat day" in a Wrap dress) will always have a place in women's closets—there's even one in the Smithsonian Institution. But the reason the Wrap dress is so popular with working women is because Diane von Furstenberg (despite being a real-life princess from her first marriage) is a working woman herself.

She apprenticed at the factories that made her dresses and learned the business there; she dragged her own sample cases around to department stores; she appeared in her own ads. And when she made her comeback in the early 1990s, she went on QVC and sold more than a million dollars' worth of merchandise in less than two hours. The Wrap dress is what working women wanted, and Diane von Furstenberg wanted it, too. Accessories: Loafers, low heels, or knee-high boots; big sunglasses; great jewelry; a slouchy bag; and occasionally (depending on the windiness of the day) a few strategically placed safety pins. Related: The Chanel Jersey dress, the Mouret. Worn by: Diane von Furstenberg's memoir lists Candice Bergen, Cybill Shepherd, Mary Tyler Moore, Betty Ford, Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem, and Cheryl Tiegs as all having worn the Wrap in its early heyday. Courtesy of © Donna Mehalko Diane Von Furstenberg Biography & History | DVF Careers Diane Diane von Furstenberg entered the world of American fashion when she arrived from Europe with a suitcase full of her dress designs.

In 1974, she created the wrap dress , which came to symbolize power and independence for an entire generation of women. By 1976, she had sold over a million of the dresses and was featured on the cover of Newsweek. After re-launching in 1997 with the dress that started it all, DVF is now a global luxury lifestyle brand offering a full collection of ready-to-wear and accessories including shoes , handbags , small leather goods, scarves , and jewelry . DVF is sold in over 55 countries, including 148 DVF owned and partnered stores throughout North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. In 2005, Diane received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for her impact on fashion, and one year later was elected the CFDA’s President. In this significant role, she has dedicated herself to fostering emerging talent and helping to establish the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, which protects designers from counterfeit reproductions of their work. In 2015, Diane was named Chairman of the organization.

Diane's commitment to empowering women is expressed not only through fashion but also philanthropy and mentorship. She sits on the board of Vital Voices, a non-governmental organization that supports female leaders and entrepreneurs around the world. In 2010, with the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation, Diane established the DVF Awards to honor and provide grants to women who have displayed leadership, strength and courage in their commitment to their causes. In 2014, Diane published a memoir, The Woman I Wanted to Be , which has been translated into five languages. In 2015, she was named one of the TIME 100 Most Influential People. With her corporate headquarters in New York's Meatpacking District, Diane has long been a vocal member of the local community and was actively involved in the campaign to save the historic High Line railway and to develop The High Line into what it is today. She also serves on the boards of the Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation and The Shed, the new center for artistic and cultural innovation in New York City. Diane is married to Barry Diller. She has two children, Alexander and Tatiana, and four grandchildren.

With all of her successes, Diane happily maintains, "Children are my greatest creation." The History of the Wrap Dress | eHow The History of the Wrap Dress The History of the Wrap Dress By Contributing Writer  Email Save The wrap dress, created by designer Diane von Furstenberg in the 1970s, has reached iconic status in the fashion world. Characteristics The wrap dress comes in all sleeve lengths and has a self-belt which ties around the waist, securing the dress closed. It is usually produced in a knit fabric. Origins Designer Diane von Furstenberg first introduced the wrap dress in 1972, appealing to professional women that needed easy to wear, stylish clothes for work. The silhouette flattered a variety of figures. Sales By 1976, Diane von Furstenberg had sold more than 5 million wrap dresses. She officially relaunched the wrap dress in 1997 after seeing women wearing wrap dresses again. Faux Wrap Dresses The success of the wrap dress encouraged lookalikes, including faux wrap dresses. These feature a faux waist tie to appear as a wrap dress, but simply pull over the head.

Vintage Wrap Dresses Diane von Furstenburg wrap dresses from the 1970s sell for hundreds of dollars in vintage boutiques. The wrap dress has become a timeless fashion. DVF Designer Wrap Dress & Wrap Around Dress Collection | DVF Shopping From Outside the US? For the best experience please head to our World site: Continue to world.dvf.com Close Dislaimer: Enjoy Free Ground Shipping on all orders for a limited time online only at Offer will automatically apply at check out. Promotion valid on shipments within the United States only. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Cannot be applied to previous purchases. See shipping policy . Free returns on all online orders. Offer excludes gift cards. Only valid when shipping within the United States. See return policy . Back to top Wrap superstar: Designer Diane von Furstenberg tells her story | The Independent Features Wrap superstar: Designer Diane von Furstenberg tells her story How many designers have a biography that reads like a blockbuster novel? How many create a garment so revolutionary that it actually changes lives? How many dare to speak out against racism in fashion?

Carola Long meets the incomparable Diane von Furstenberg Thursday 27 March 2008 00:00 BST Click to follow Wrap superstar: Designer Diane von Furstenberg tells her story 1/13 Diane von Furstenberg at the High Line in New York © Getty Images 2/13 DVF, as she is often known, on the cover of Interview magazine. In her autobiography, 'Diane: A signature Life' she says that, 'my friend Ara Gallant shot this photo of me with wet hair one night.

I liked it so much that I decided to wear my hair curly from then on.' 3/13 Diane von Furstenberg's current collection features tribal prints and bright colours 4/13 Von Furstenberg poses at her New York home 5/13 The in-crowd: (from left) Andy Warhol, Von Furstenberg and Monique vanVooren, star of Warhol's Flesh for Frankenstein in 1974 © Getty Images 6/13 Von Furstenberg with Sex And The City star Kim Cattrall 7/13 Von Furstenberg attends a Vanity Fair Oscar party with Barry Diller 8/13 Celebrity fans of von Furstenberg's wrap dress include Madonna © Getty Images 9/13 Carmen Electra models another of von Furstenberg's designs © Getty Images 10/13 Diane Von Furstenberg sitting on a bed of Frangipani in Bali. Bali was a great source of inspiration to the designer and in the early 1980s she spent much of her time there- often dressed in traditional batik dyed cotton sarongs and sandals.

11/13 Diane Von Furstenberg showing off what Kim Cattrall describes as one of her best assets - her legs 12/13 Diane Von Fustenberg in the early 1970s. Furstenberg says in her autobiography that, 'one newspaper at the time described me as an "exotic beauty", which I found rather exciting'. 13/13 Inside DVF's New York boutique. Note the zebra print carpet - animal prints are one of the designer's trademarks Diane von Furstenberg at the High Line in New York © Getty Images Diane von Furstenberg's brand logo is a pair of lips. But when we meet, I am struck by a sartorial touch that could stand for the woman herself. The tortoiseshell reading glasses tucked neatly into her cleavage seem to symbolise the way she has fused intelligence and sex appeal, business sense and glamour to create a fashion business whose wholesale sales will near $200m this year alone. We meet in her pink-walled private office, halfway up the company's vast headquarters in New York's Meatpacking district.

The slightly space-age, minimalist boutique is on the ground floor, press offices – where Von Furstenberg will be hosting a charity play to mark International Women's Day – on the first, the designer's studio and offices on the second, and her apartment, with crystal-shaped skylight, at the top. True to fashion cliché, the employees patrolling the building are a team of no-nonsense, immaculately presented glamazons, who manage to make supposedly convivial questions – "How are you?", "Have you had a nice day?" – sound tinged with sarcasm thanks to brittle manners and New York uptalk. And, of course, when Von Furstenberg slinks into the office where I have been positioned on a sofa scattered with zebra-print cushions to await her arrival, she is fashionably late. Von Furstenberg rose to fame as a fashion designer and society figure in 1970s New York, when her figure-hugging, jersey "wrap" dress became a cult item, both for the Studio 54 crowd and the Park Avenue set.

Over the next 30 years, she saw her business soar, decline and, in the last decade, resurge in popularity, to become the multimillion-dollar fashion empire it is today. This evening, she is dressed in an above-the-knee wrap dress – "I don't really wear other designers any more," she explains – chunky gold jewellery, red-soled Louboutin stilettos and flesh-coloured fishnets. At 62, Von Furstenberg still has what Town & Country magazine attributed to her in 1972: "the sultriness of a biblical temptress". Her allure is due, in part at least, to her natural confidence, and a relaxed acceptance of the ageing process. "I obviously don't feel under pressure to look young, because I have had no Botox or surgery. I don't judge people who choose to have it, but I don't want to erase who I am," she says.

As she talks, she crosses and uncrosses her legs, curls and tucks her calves up against her body, and lowers her eyelids in a way that, combined with her direct manner and husky Belgian-with-a-hint-of-American accent, is a disconcerting mix of kitten and tiger. Accordingly, Von Furstenberg is capable of showing her professional claws. She has sued the cut-price fashion chains Target and Forever 21 for copying her designs, and, as president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America – a role she has held since July 2006 – Von Furstenberg has spoken out on the two most controversial issues facing the fashion industry: the prevalence of underweight models, and the under-representation of those from different racial backgrounds, albeit in the most moderate of terms. She sent a memo to CFDA members encouraging them to create fashion shows "that are truly multicultural", and she includes more black models in her shows than most designers. But she favours voluntary change rather than legislation, saying: "I think all races are represented in America much more than in many other places, but it's also nice to remind people about that ethnic mix.

I would like to see more black models and women from different ethnic backgrounds, but I also think that when you are casting, you just choose the most beautiful girl you can find." On the vexed subject of size-zero models, she is less equivocal: "The fashion industry has a responsibility to represent a healthy image of women, but to start weighing them and putting them against a wall and making them feel like animals? No." Von Furstenberg's take on feminism is more pragmatic than intellectual. Asked if she subscribes to a particular school of feminist thought, she says: "Women inspire me... so I enjoy women's stories and biographies. I am interested in all women. "Our strength has nothing to do with the fact that we can't look good or have good legs, strength is something entirely independent. Sometimes, when people hear the word 'feminist', they think that means looking down on the idea of being feminine, but you can be feminine and feminist. But I do believe in the strength of women and I do believe that women can save the world." Indeed, female strength – both her own and other people's – is a defining quality for Von Furstenberg.

Not only did she build up her business from scratch, but after it crumbled around her in the 1980s when the market became saturated, she staged one of fashion's most impressive comebacks by reintroducing the wrap dress as a core line in the late 1990s. Von Furstenberg had noticed that her daughter and her friends were wearing vintage versions of the dress, and it was reintroduced to Saks department store on Fifth Avenue in 1997. "People say, 'Oh, the wrap dress is over, it's this, it's that', but then, all of a sudden, Demi Moore and Madonna are hosting the hot Oscar party and what are they wearing? A DVF gold wrap dress! "It is actually more fun the second time around," adds Von Furstenberg, triumphantly. The source of Von Furstenberg's resilience was her Greek-born, Jewish mother, Lily Nahmias, who died seven years ago. In the spring of 1944, Nahmias was arrested in Brussels and spent 14 months being transported between several Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz.

While introducing the play to guests at the Women's Day event, Von Furstenberg recounts how, when her mother had been arrested, she'd tossed a note to her parents in the street that read: "Do not worry about me, I will come back... I don't know where I am going but I want you to know I'm going with a smile." Nahmias, according to Von Furstenberg, "was extraordinary. She survived the camps at the age of 22, she taught me only to look at positive things no matter what happens. When she talked about the camps she talked about the camaraderie. I think she was trying to protect me. She only weighed 49lb when she came out, but I was born 18 months later. I was her victory". Von Furstenberg was born in 1947, and grew up in Brussels with her mother and Russian-born father, who trained in electronics and became a successful distributor of electronic tubing. She was sent to boarding school in Switzerland aged 12, then to another in Oxfordshire at 15.

She went to study Spanish at Madrid University in 1965, and her life changed significantly when she spent a university holiday in Gstaad in the Swiss Alps. It was there that she met Prince Eduard Egon von und zu Fürstenberg, whom she married in July 1969 – she was three months pregnant with their son Alexandre. The couple settled in America and had another child, Tatiana. Von Furstenberg had no financial need to work, but started her clothing business because she yearned for independence. "I think that is the most important thing for me – and part of that was earning my own money." Her big break came when she showed a selection of garments – precursors to the wrap dress – to the legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, after which a member of Vreeland's staff suggested she set up her business in time for New York Fashion Week. Von Furstenberg and her husband epitomised the breezy glamour of the 1970s, and their exotic lifestyle, flitting between parties with everyone from Salvador Dali to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, soon caught the attention of the media.

They were immortalised on the cover of New York magazine with the headline: "The Couple That Has Everything. Is Everything Enough?" It wasn't, and the couple split up amicably in 1973. Von Furstenberg is realistic about the role her jet-set lifestyle and aristocratic name played in her early success. "Oh yes, of course it helped," she says. "I was young, I was a princess, all of it helped, but there were other people at that time who were privileged, and nothing like that happened for them. Come on," she urges, "it's like making a cake, you need the icing, you need the filling – when you miss out one ingredient it's not the same." Those ingredients rose to delicious perfection when Von Furstenberg "invented" the wrap dress by fusing two of her designs. She saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower on television wearing one of her wrap tops with one of her skirts and decided to combine the two garments in one. The dress quickly became a bestseller; in 1975 she was making 15,000 dresses a week, and was worn by everyone from suburban housewives to Betty Ford and Gloria Steinem.

It could be worn to work or on a date, and as Von Furstenberg says: "The wrap dress made women feel what they wanted to feel like... free and sexy... It also fitted in with the sexual revolution: a woman who chose to could be out of it in less than a minute!" Consequently, the wrap dress came to be seen as a symbol of women's liberation in the 1970s. "It's more than just a dress; it's a spirit," says Von Furstenberg. "The wrap dress was an interesting cultural phenomenon, and one that has lasted 30 years. What is so special about it is that it's actually a very traditional form of clothing. Its like a toga, it's like a kimono, without buttons, without a zipper. What made my wrap dresses different is that they were made out of jersey and they sculpted the body." Does she think that female designers have a better understanding of what other women want to wear than men? "Yes – we drape more, we use more jersey, male designers don't like jersey. Why do we like jersey? Because we know how it moves with the body.

Having said that, my creative director is a man and he understands how women want to dress. It's just that the woman's point of view tends to be a more practical one." And has she ever felt that, because her success was built on one user-friendly dress (although now her collections include a variety of shapes, styles and garments), that she isn't viewed as a "proper" designer? "Some men might look down on the idea of 'wearable' clothes, but that is what I love," she says. Despite her affinity with women and their fashion needs, Von Furstenberg has described herself as living a man's life in a woman's body, and one expression of this was making the most of women's new sexual freedom in the 1970s. After she and her first husband split up in 1973, she spent much of the decade having lots of affairs – "I am so happy I did." Through the late Seventies, she was a regular at Studio 54, partying with her friends Andy Warhol and Bianca Jagger, and she describes herself then as "Diane the Huntress", with Richard Gere featuring among her conquests.

But it was in the mid-Seventies that she embarked on a relationship with the media mogul Barry Diller. After a while, the couple separated, but they remained friends and married in 2001, becoming one of New York's premier power couples. She explains their out-of-the blue wedding as matter-of-factly as if she were describing a recent holiday, or a trip to her hairdresser: "We met 32 years ago, lived together and fell in love, and then I left him, very abruptly. But he was always there somehow, even though I was having other relationships, and we always thought, maybe, one day, we would get married. It was something we said we would do when we got old. And then one day it was his birthday and I didn't know what to give him – so I said, 'If you want, I will marry you for your birthday.' So we went to City Hall with my children and my brother and we got married." At this point, Von Furstenberg announces that she must greet her guests.

We walk downstairs to the first floor, which has been turned into a boutique-sized theatre-cum-restaurant, with lights overlooking a stage, and chairs around long tables adorned with Morroccan tea lights, flowers and a buffet of the kind of ultra-light finger food that wouldn't prevent anyone fitting into a size-2 wrap dress. This chic Manhattan scene couldn't be further from the lives depicted in the play Von Furstenberg is hosting. Called Seven, it is a series of monologues based on the stories of real women in the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network, part of an NGO that helps to identify, train and support emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the world. The women behind the stories have all come to the dinner, apart from Mukhtar Mai, who brought to justice the men who gang-raped her in rural Pakistan. Von Furstenberg explains afterwards why Vital Voices is one of her favourite causes: "It's everything I believe in, not patronising, not condescending, not judging.

It's helping women to be stronger, with equipment, with legislation, from every angle." She is clearly moved by the play, but unfazed by moving between such starkly different worlds – chatting to the Guatemalan anti-corruption campaigner Anabella de Leon, then making gentle conversation with the super-groomed, many of whom are wearing, what else? The wrap. "It would be blasphemous to wear anything else," jokes the Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall, wearing a yellow-patterned take on the dress. "I bought a wrap as one of my first independent purchases when I came to New York, so it's synonymous with freedom," she enthuses. "It's also very comfortable and flattering, and you can dress it up and dress it down." Why does she think that Diane is such an icon? "Look at her – she has the most amazing legs, and she's just so, so... Diane!" Being "so Diane" has provided the emotional heart of Von Furstenberg's business ever since she appeared in an advert for one of her shirtdresses, seated on a white cube inscribed with the words: "Feel like a woman, wear a dress! Diane von Furstenberg".

And it's a role she is now reprising, in the new American Express campaign. It isn't easy to tell where the brand ends and the women begins. True, she welcomes visitors into Furstenworld with stories of her past love life and familiar, tactile gestures (as we walk through the room full of people, she places her hand at the nape of my neck), but is coy, almost to the point of absurdity, on some professional matters. As president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, she is reluctant to say which other designers she likes, only that: "I love Galliano, but I don't want to say too much because I am the face of the CFDA." Anyone would think that I had asked which designer's creations she would most closely liken to bin-liners. Von Furstenberg is more outspoken when it comes to her current heroine, Hillary Clinton, to whose campaign she has donated $4,600, the maximum permitted under Federal election laws. "I have a lot of admiration for Hillary," she says. "I think she is really bright, really equipped. I do like Obama, but unless he is the candidate, I will support Hillary. I like her strength, her femininity.

When you know her, she is an extraordinary mother, a good wife, she's very compassionate, she really gets things done for people and goes out of her way to help." But what about her famously abrasive manner, albeit punctuated with timely tears? "She has an air of the girl who is top of the class, and she can come across a bit arrogant, but she really isn't. The nation is ready for a woman president. I think we need one." And what of her dress sense – especially in the light of Anna Wintour's recent comments that she found it "amazing" that "our only female presidential hopeful had decided to steer clear of [Vogue's] pages for fear of looking too feminine". Von Furstenberg is diplomatic about Clinton's wardrobe. 'Well... she chooses her clothes according to what is the best thing for her body, for her to move and for her to be comfortable. The most important thing is to pick clothes that best express who you are." It is this attitude that has made Diane von Furstenberg – designer, spokesperson, fundraiser and purveyor of off-the-peg-feminism – a very rich and very well-dressed Renaissance woman indeed.

And being so fluent in the vocabulary of branding, it's not surprising that she concludes our meeting with a soundbite that seeks to define the secret of her appeal: "I have yet to meet a woman who is not strong," she says, right on cue. "And if I have any role in fashion, it is to help women express that strength." The wrap dress: a user's guide What is it? It's a dress with two front panels that cross over each other and then tie at the back with two fabric cords or ribbons. The classic version is made of silk jersey, knee-length, and has long sleeves. Why are they so popular? They look sexy, but are very comfortable to wear. In fact, wearing one is the closest you can get to going out in a dressing gown. When should we wear one? At the office, for work drinks, or for family events that might feature judgemental relatives, and any event to which the dress code is frustratingly vague. And when not wear one? A minority might disagree, but it's not really smart enough to wear to a wedding (unless the wrap dress in question has a very vibrant print), or on the red carpet, or during a state visit to the UK.

Whom do they suit? Women of most ages. However, as Kate Middleton has shown, the classic wrap can look staid on someone in their mid-twenties – though her kitten heels and pearls certainly didn't help. Generally, wrap dresses flatter curvy, athletically built and even pregnant women; the key to success is having a reasonably toned figure. Which styles are most fashionable right now? Floral and tribal prints and bright colours are on trend, as are shirtdresses and safari-inspired styles. Look for seasonal details such as the ruffle neck on the navy, short-sleeved dress available on and Are there any potential wardrobe malfunctions? Choose seam-free underwear and avoid dresses made from cheap fabrics – they will reveal lumps you didn't know you had. Tie the cords tightly and don't wear on windy days, or you risk spontaneously unwrapping.

More about: Fashion Historians and Fashionistas Take Note | The Huffington Post Fashion Historians and Fashionistas Take Note 07/26/2013 02:45 pm ET | Updated Sep 25, 2013 Vicky Tiel Designer/Author Fashion Historians & Fashionistas take note: The mystery of who "invented" or who "created" the wrap dress is forever solved. You might ask "Does it matter in the scheme of things?" Well, Irving Penn once said "You know you're good when they take your ideas," and Louis Feraud added, "Ideas are in the air for plucking." Yes, it matters to me and it should matter to other fashionistas. The truth can be fact checked. So what follows are the facts: Mia -- Vicky, 21 Rue Bonaparte, a French couture company as Fonssagrives Tiel first did the printed jersey wrap dress in 1968 for Joan Arkin, a U.S. dress license. Mia Fonssagrives, supermodel Lisa Fonssagrives, her mother, and Irving Penn's stepdaughter was my partner.

In 1968, (many years before DVF created the wrap dress), my original wrap knit jersey dress was shown many times. In a movie called Candy, with Marlon and Ringo, worn by Eva Aulin in mint green satin crepe with a cream collarand the draped front, the set in sleeve and bias wrap belt tied at the side. Candy was released 1969, but shot in '68. In Redbook Magazine, 1968, in soft jersey print in pinks and greens produced by Joan Arkin and sold at Bloomingdales (also in the window) in the identical pattern, as in Candy with no collar or sleeve cuff, but a flared straight sleeve. In our fashion show in Jan 1968 at Maxims Paris, with Elizabeth Taylor watching, on the model in navy and gold panne velvet, same pattern. She was our backer and partner. I wore the wrap dress in blue crepe for our contract press photo by our personal photographer, Gianni Bozzacchi in 1968, that he released to the world.

(I still own this dress ) I wore jersey Fonssagrives-Tiel for Joan Arkin wrap creation in Rome and St Trop in 1968. I had written about our wrap dress in my memoir It's all About the Dress , published by St. Martin's Press in 2011 and all my claims were was fact checked by their lawyers. I was hoping DVF and the fashion writers and historians would read it and politely accept the mistake. I never took legal action. It's not my style. I accept others plucking ideas in the air. What makes the wrap so special is it comes off easily when untied. In the Candy promo she is naked holding it up! It is also body hugging draped front dress that is as figure flattering to a size two as well as a 20. The pattern is easy to copy, once the idea was there. Only, I did not publish or promote that I invented it, as I was busy making other original designs in Paris that are also still worn today. I also assumed it was known that I made it first. I could not imagine it was going to become another Designer's claim to fame in America.

Last week, I was more than surprised when I opened up the New York Times to see an interview by Andrew Goldman of Diane Von Fürstenberg, and read she had "No idea I would be creating something that would be so meaningful... I created this dress and in no time at all I lived the American dream." I laud the marketing and financial success Diane Von Fürstenberg made of the wrap. Ms. Von Furstenberg studied economics at the University of Geneva. There are few as successful in branding and promoting as Ms. Von Furstenberg. She popularized the wrap dress, and in turn made millions of dollars. To that, kudos. She should be seriously respected. Perhaps this is how the scenario went... Today, there are still designers who can do it all, but many are the image alone of an ideal, the "celebrity designer." The celebrity designer is a socialite, a promoter, not the artist, not the real designer dressmaker. They hire people like myself who work for them, often a team of people like myself. How do they know when the team copies others? They don't.

Today, fashion design is more about a statement, a brand, a vision and not at all like myself where designing to simply make flattering dresses for women to wear for personal empowerment, or just going to a wedding and/or finding a man. Dress designers in the past were glorified seamstresses. They cut, sewed, beaded, draped, and of course, drew their clients in their creations. I am of this world, having my own custom store in Paris and in Bergdorf's. I chose to be a couturier, to make many designs that last and which I did and 45 years for the wrap is pas mal! Actually, as a fashion student at Parsons I studied Claire McCardell's popover, apron dress, with a two large front button closings. It is a cross over front but looks like a full raglan sleeve '50s bathrobe -- apron -- dress, not a draped figure hugging sexy '60s dress. It is not worn today accept as a robe. Claire McCardell's design did not inspire me; Mia's wrap skirt that she wore, while in school at Parson's, was the inspiration.

I continue to be surprised that I still have not gotten historical credit for a dress I designed in 1968 and in 2013 sold 12,000 units of the dress in a single day on HSN TV. The article in Redbook Magazine that accompanied the photo, (Feb 1968) stated "the bias cut wrap may well be the most comfortable dress of the decade." Six years later, 1974, Ms. Von Furstenberg "introduced" the wrap dress. So entrenched is the successful marketing of Ms. Von Fürstenberg that the New York Times Magazine mis-stated last week that DVF will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its creation next year when I have been selling the wrap since 1968 or 45 years. One wonders who checks the math and fact finding. I contacted the New York Times Senior Editor for a retraction, but they have yet to respond. Oh well, I will hopefully sell another 12,000 on my next HSN show.

As my Russian Jewish grandmother would say, "Vat a Dress!" Vicky Tiel began designing clothes 40 years ago in Paris and still owns a boutique there. See Vicky and her new collection on HSN and online. Her couture is available at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, and her perfumes are carried in Perfumania. Her memoir, It's All About the Dress: What I Learned in 40 Years About Men, Women, Sex and Fashion was published by St. Martin's Press in August 2011. More: Diane von Furstenberg Wrap Dresses - ShopStyle Diane von Furstenberg Wrap Dresses 618 Products Home More Related Searches Pleated and gathered to one side, the strappy surplice bodice of this sassy silken slipdress is designed to showcase luminous skin and enhance the illusion of wrap styling.... $448 $179.98 Surplice neck Short butterfly sleeves Wrap tie at waist Allover print Lined Approx. 36" length Imported Fiber Content Shell: 100% silk Lining: 100% polyester...

$398 $159.97 Details The New Jeanne Two wrap dress is a modern take on the timeless classic. It's as fresh, flattering, and chic as ever. Cross over wrap with straight skirt and a self-tie... $398 $238.80 Blocked color accentuates the paneled construction of an immensely flattering wrap dress sewn from soft stretch jersey for beautifully weighted movement. Color(s): blue multi.... $468 Supple stretch jersey forms an iconic dress visually balanced by a point collar and sash belt. Color(s): black, midnight, navy. Brand: DIANE VON FURSTENBERG. Style Name:Diane... $368 Diane von Furstenberg "Kayley Two" eyelet dress. Approx. length: 27.5"L from shoulder to hem, 37"L down center back. Spread collar; surplice front. Short sleeves. Princess seams... $448 $156 Diane von Furstenberg "Glennie" dress. Approx. length: 36"L from shoulder to hem, 38"L down center back. Jewel neckline; keyhole with hook-and-eye closure at back.

Sleeveless;... $348 $121 Diane von Furstenberg "Taley" maxi dress. Look 36 from the Fall 2016 runway collection. Surplice neckline. Sleeveless; full shoulder coverage. Wrap front with self-tie belt at... $698 $244 Diane von Furstenberg "New Julian Two" wrap dress in matte jersey. Approx. measurements: 30"L from shoulder to hem; 38"L down center back. Surplice neckline. Cuffed... $368 Diane von Furstenberg "Heavyn" maxi dress with metallic pliss skirt. Surplice neckline. Long sleeves. Fitted bodice. Wrap style; satin bow ties at left. Pleated column skirt.... $998 Diane von Furstenberg "Jewel" combo dress with wave-print mikado skirt. Approx. length: 35"L from shoulder to hem, 36"L down center back. Surplice front. Three-quarter sleeves.... $548 $191 Diane von Furstenberg "New Julian Two" wrap dress in Poppy Chain Rose floral-print jersey. Approx.

length: 31"L down center front, 39"L down center back. Surplice neckline. Long... $398 Details The DVF Shaelyn is feminine and understated, with a lace overlay bodice and sheer lace sleeves. Pair with a heel and a fur wrap for evening. 52cm / 20 1/2" from... $498 $249 Diane von Furstenberg "Janeva" knit dress with ribbed sleeves. Mock neckline with cutout surplice V front. Long sleeves. Wrap closure with self-tie belt. Hem falls above the... $368 Diane Von Furstenberg "Ariel Armour" wrap dress in golden sequins and embellished trim. Look 37the final lookof the Fall 2016 runway collection. Plunging V surplice neckline.... $2,200 Diane von Furstenberg "New Jeanne" jersey dress with contrast trim. Approx. length: 39"L from shoulder to hem, 40"L down center back. Spread collar; surplice front. Long... $468 Diane von Furstenberg "Jelsa" dress in star-print jersey.

Spread collar with enlarged print; surplice front. Long sleeves. Faux-wrap style; gathered at left. Slim silhouette.... $398 Diane von Furstenberg "Cybil Two" wrap dress in monochromatic jersey. Spread collar; surplice front. Long sleeves. Wrap style; ties at left. A-line silhouette. Maxi length.... $468 Diane von Furstenberg "New Jewel" knit/mikado combo dress with abstract-print skirt. Approx. 20.5"L from waist to hem. Surplice front. Three-quarter sleeves. Wrap style; ties at... $568 Details The new Jewel dress is a modern wrap style featuring a full skirt with subtle pleats. With 3/4 sleeves and pockets. Falls to above the knee. 52cm / 20 1/2" from... $598 $299 Wrap maxi dress cast in luxuriously soft velvet. Wrap front. Long sleeves. Self-tie belt. About 61" from shoulder to hem. Rayon/silk/spandex. Dry clean. Imported. Model shown is...

$598 Surplice styling creates an elegant V-neckline on a chic wrap dress in a tawny leopard-spotted print with a waist-cinching tie for an iconic DVF silhouette. A spread collar and... $468 $187.20 Details A wardrobe staple, the New Julian Two is a classic wrap dress. Collarless, 3/4 length sleeved true wrap with self-tie belt. In our seasonless silk jersey. Falls to above... $398 $199 Diane von Furstenberg's 'Vienna' dress is cut from fluid silk-jersey that drapes beautifully. Printed with the label's geometric 'ribbon weave' motif, this reversible style has... $470 $235 Wrap maxi dress with feminine floral-print skirt. Surplice neckline. Long sleeves. Self-tie waist. Flared skirt. Lined. About 47" from natural waist. Silk/metallized fibers.... $998 $598.80 Diane von Furstenberg's 'Leora' dress is a timeless work-to-evening staple.

Cut from bright-blue stretch-crepe, this slim-fitting piece is designed in the label's signature... $370 $111 A symbol of power and independence for an entire generation of women, Diane von Furstenberg created her first wrap dress in 1974. This contemporary 'Cybil' version is cut from... $500 $250 Diane von Furstenberg "Rubie" dress in mixed prints. Approx. length: 35"L from shoulder to hem, 36"L down center back. Surplice neckline. Three-quarter sleeves. Wrap style;... $598 Diane von Furstenberg "New Julian Two" wrap dress in multicolor splatter print. Surplice neckline. Three-quarter sleeves. Wraparound closure with self tie. Silk; dry clean.... $398 Diane von Furstenberg "Aviva" dress featuring a metallic abstract-print maxi skirt. Plunging surplice neckline. Long sleeves. Fitted bodice. Wrap-around closure with self-tie... $998 Diane von Furstenberg "Valena" jersey wrap dress with contrast trim. Surplice neckline. Sleeveless; full shoulder coverage.

Wrap style; self-tie belt. Hem hits knees. Self and... $398 Diane von Furstenberg "Valena" jersey wrap dress with contrast trim. Surplice neckline. Sleeveless; full shoulder coverage. Wrap style; self-tie belt. Hem hits knees. Self and... $398 Diane von Furstenberg "Cadenza" wrap dress in metallic stripes. Approx. 51"L down center front. Surplice neckline. Sleeveless. Solid belt ties at side. A-line silhouette. Hem... $428 Diane von Furstenberg "Stevie" jersey midi dress with contrast pleats. Spread collar; surplice front. Long sleeves. Wrap style; ties at left. A-line silhouette. Hem hits calves.... $598 Details A wardrobe staple, the New Julian Two is a classic wrap dress. Collarless, 3/4 sleeved true wrap with self-tie belt. In our seasonless silk jersey. Falls to above the... $398 $238.80 Diane von Furstenberg's flattering wrap dress is a brand signature.

This 'Evelyn' style is spun from merino wool-blend and threaded with silver yarns for a metallic effect. Try... $500 Diane von Furstenberg first arrived in the fashion world in 1972 with her iconic wrap dress, the seed of what is today a full fashion house. By 1976, Diane had sold millions of... $368 $258

Question: Who first designed the jersey wrap dress in 1972?
Answer: Diane von Furstenberg