Diane von Fürstenberg has never been one to conform to mainstream expectations. Nearly 40 years ago, she took the fashion world by storm and created the wrap dress—a garment that has become iconic today. “At 25, I had no idea I would be creating something that would be so meaningful,” the 66-year-old designer tells The New York Times. “When I first started, my motivation was to be independent, so I created this dress.”
Von Fürstenberg has also applied this independent mindset to another aspect of her life: her marriage to media mogul Barry Diller. Though the two have been married since 2001, they don’t live in the same home in New York. “I don’t understand what is there to understand,” she says incredulously. “This man has been my lover, my friend and he’s now my husband. I have been with him for 35 years. At times we were separated, at times we were only friends, at times we were lovers, at times we’re husband and wife, that’s our life.”
Photo credit: Annie Leibovitz
