WEBVTT - Wonder Woman: Diane von Furstenberg 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:08.760 Hi Brian, Hi Katie. Well that was quite a morning, 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:11.520 wasn't it. We just wrapped up our conversation with the one, 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.840 the only, the icon, Miss Dion von Furstemburg, or has 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.440 her children call her DVF and as her grandchildren call 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.680 her Madam. No, I'm just kidding. Anyway, we should add 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:25.600 that she was kind enough to let us interview her 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:31.280 at her amazing office kumb store, coom, home, coom everything, 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.400 or should we say here a tellier. It was really 0:00:34.440 --> 0:00:39.159 a very cool space, lots of colors and patterns and 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.600 animal prints and everything you would imagine. Dion von Furstemburg 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:47.040 statue from the King of Bhutan. I think she mentioned, yes, yes, 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.400 so yes, this little thing from the King of Bhutan. 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:51.279 I have one of those actually in my powder room. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.080 I'm just kidding, But anyway, she really is quite an 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.640 amazing woman. Her life is like something out of a 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.800 fairy tale. Before she turned thirty and I remember this, 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.960 ladies and gentlemen, I'm old enough to she had married 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.600 a prince, started a fashion line and was on the 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:11.720 cover of Newsweek with that really famous style that put 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:13.800 her on the map. That would be the wrap dress. 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.120 That's right, and a fun fact, it was inspired by 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.760 the rap tops that ballerinas were in rehearsal. And another 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:24.759 fun fact I learned preparing for this interview was that 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:28.560 it was designed for women to make a quick getaway 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.440 if they were with a guy they didn't really want 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.640 to wake up, if you know what I'm saying an 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.640 alternative to the walk of It was designed so that 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.280 women could get the dress off quickly. But that that 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:43.600 may be wrong. It's sort of the the clothing alternative 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:47.520 to coyote love, which means biting off your arms so 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.320 you don't have to wake up the person with whom 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:54.760 you slept. Interesting anyway, I read the Dion sold five 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.240 million of these dresses by the mid nineteen seventies. And 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:00.680 like most people who have had a long and public careers, 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:06.480 Diannest faced her share of challenges to cancer, divorce, business challenges. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.120 So somebody needs to make a biopick of her life. 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.480 Absolutely well. She did have her own reality show on 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:16.079 e a few years back called House of DVF. But 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.640 she's an incredible woman. She's also very outspoken and she's 0:02:20.720 --> 0:02:24.680 all about at age seventy one, inspiring other women, which 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.840 reminds me, Brian, this is the last episode Sniff Sniff 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.399 of our wonder Women's series. I couldn't think of anyone 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:38.519 more fitting to wrap it up. Anyway. We spoke to 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:42.240 Dion about the events she's throwing an honor of International 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:44.800 Women's Day. We talked to her about her marriage to 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:49.280 Barry Diller, her mother, who was a Holocaust survivor, and 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:53.679 how she really infused her with this desire to succeed 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:56.360 in many ways and to be independent. She had lots 0:02:56.360 --> 0:02:59.440 of advice for young women and young men. She's really 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.440 an extra nary person, remarkable, and the fact that she 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:08.200 is aging naturally and beautifully. I might add, we're saying Dion, 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:10.520 by the way, because that was one of the first 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:14.799 questions I asked, is that Diane Dione. She answers to both, 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.799 so she told me that Dion was her given name, 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:22.000 so we decided to dutifully call her Dion. I should 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:30.760 tell you, Katie, I'm actually Brian duly noted Brian. Anyway, 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:38.440 here's our conversation with Dion, Bond Person and Burke. My 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.960 name is really Dianne. I was born Dienne, so my 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:46.960 mother husband they called Medienne, but my children call me, 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.200 so it's whatever you want. Well, I think we'll call 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.040 you Dion because that was your given name, and and 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.240 I like when people get my name right too. So yes, 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.800 So here, Brian and I are here at the epicenter 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:06.000 of DVF land. This is your office, this is your store, 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.520 and this is your home. Well it's it's my My 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.000 real home is in Connecticut, but this is where I 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.320 camp out when I'm here, when you're in New York. 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.040 So tell me what it's like to be in this 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.400 space right now, at this point in your life with 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:29.000 the world. Oh, it is the how it is it? Well, 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:32.400 it's it's so many things at the same time, because 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:36.640 you know, there's such a disruption in the world, such 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.560 a disruption in the world, and therefore there's such a 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:46.400 disruption in every industry. And so as the chairman of 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.520 the cfd A, which is the Council of Fashion Design 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:55.800 of America, I have to advise all my fellow designers 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:00.320 and help them to navigate the tsunami of all these 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.920 changes and and it's very difficult. So my advice. Usually 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:09.320 before fashion Week I email everybody to wish them good luck. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:12.720 And this year when I emailed them, I said, you know, 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:16.839 at this moment of disruption. It's my biggest advice to 0:05:16.920 --> 0:05:21.280 you is to be yourself and to stand for who 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.920 you are and who your brand stands for, and don't 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:27.719 look so much left and right and do what is 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.320 right for you because at the end is that authenticity 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.599 that will last. What do you see is the biggest 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:38.239 challenges that the fashion industry and really all businesses are facing. 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.360 You mentioned the word disruption, But when you use that word, Yon, 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.960 what do you mean exactly? Well, everything is changing. I mean, 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:49.159 you know, you just have to make sure that you 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:53.120 are true to who your yourself live. So us I 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:58.200 mean DVF as a brand that is now forty five 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.560 years old. I mean that's a long time. It is 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:06.919 a global brand, so it's time to take a major 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.479 X ray of who you are and what you stand for. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.760 So I've gone through this exercise so that I can 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.880 change the business model or alter the business model in 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.480 order to be ready for this new world. You know, 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.600 so you have to analyze yourself. So DVFS worked well. 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:32.360 We have an iconic product, the rap dress, that has 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:34.840 lived for years and years and years and years and 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:39.360 decades and so on. Now, I mean, and that is 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.760 like a big deal that it has existed and survived 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.480 for so many generations. We have a vocabulary of colors 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.200 and prints. But then at the end we also have 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.600 which is probably the most distinguishable thing, is that we 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:58.120 have a um marketing people called it a love brand 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:02.400 because we have a connection. Women have a connection and 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:06.600 emotional connection with the brand and with the story and 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:09.760 in some cases with me personally, or at least for 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.680 what I symbolize. I was gonna say, I think so 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:16.200 many people associate you beyond with the brand, and also 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.760 the brand standing for something beyond a rap dress or 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:24.240 beyond colorful friends. But but but I am seventy one 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:27.880 years old, you know, So I am aging. So how 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.400 do you deal with the present? You know? And that's 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.880 why now I had the creative director, Nathan Genderen, who 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.160 was with me for the best ten years of the 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:42.080 second generation. He's back, and so something came from the past, 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.480 and I'm very excited about it, and so I wanted 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.520 something for the future. So the ar Muse is now 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:51.920 my granddaughter who is almost nineteen and who is in college, 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.600 and that that is the continuity of it all. Can 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:57.920 I ask you about that? People hear about this term 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:01.280 muse in the fashion industry. What does that actually means? Well, 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.880 it's it's the face. It's the face of the brand. 0:08:04.920 --> 0:08:07.200 You know, I I was the face of the brand 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.720 for so long at some point, you know, it's so 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:13.680 thank god. I have a lot of old pictures and 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.920 the muses. You know, is is the woman? Who is 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.680 the DVF woman? Right, if you have to say so? 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.680 I kept on saying who is the dv The truth 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.600 is DVF woman is the woman in charge. She's in 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.200 charge of her life, or at least she feels in charge. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.880 She wants to be in charge. She wants to be 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:37.280 responsible for herself. And DVF the brand is supposed to 0:08:37.360 --> 0:08:40.040 give her the tools in order for her to be 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.040 the woman she wants to be. I want to talk 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.680 more about the business, but we also you have such 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.440 a fascinating life story, Dion that some people know some 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:51.760 people don't know that. Well, let's start at the beginning 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:55.280 with your mom, who was a Holocaust survivor and who 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:58.360 was told I guess she weighed very little when she 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.120 was released. Yes, my mother was. My mother was twenty 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:07.800 two when she was living in occupied Belgium and she 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:11.240 was arrested. She was arrested. She was twenty two. She 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.360 was arrested because she was doing resistance and she was 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:18.320 found in a resistance house, and she was very scared 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:20.320 that she was going to be tortured in order to 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:22.880 reveal the name of her bosses and things like that. 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.400 So she said, no, no, no, I'm just hiding here 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.920 because I'm Jewish. Now she was Jewish, but she wasn't 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:31.880 really hiding. She was working. But that's and the woman 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.120 who interrogated her say, you shouldn't say that, because you're 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:37.719 going to be shipped away, but she did. And so 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.840 she was shipped away, and she was shipped away in 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:46.000 those terrible cattle convoys where for four days until they 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:51.880 got to Auschwitz. And and she was there. I mean, 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.840 she was lucky that she was young and strong and 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.440 therefore she was not killed. And she was put in 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:01.360 a working camp. She was wor king in a bullet factory. 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:05.320 And then then they were shipped to another camp because 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.760 they were losing the war, and then another camp. And 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:13.640 when she finally was found by the Americans, she was 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:18.480 forty nine pounds and which is less than her bones 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.640 should be. And but it's very funny because now I 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.559 have all the documents, you know, the Holocaust Museum sent 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.080 me all these documents. And in the documents that when 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:30.040 she was found, she wrote, you know, she had to 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:34.160 feel name, last name, where she came from a state 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.920 of health, and even though she couldn't move, she wrote 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:41.160 excellent health, which you know is why she was survived. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:45.960 And so, and my mother used to say to me always, 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.360 God saved me so that I can give you life 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.120 because I was born after she was told she would not. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.200 She couldn't get pregnant for quite a while, and she 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:56.760 got pregnant, she goes right away and she said the 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.880 child wouldn't be normal, and indeed I was non normal. 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.840 And uh and uh, and she said, so God saved 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:05.760 me so that I can give you life. And by 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:08.560 giving you life, you gave me my life back. You 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.200 are my torture freedom. So it's wonderful to have a 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.960 mother too that tells you that you are a torture freedom. 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:20.280 But it's a very heavy burden. But I'm glad I 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.920 had that burden and I was gonna and I honored 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:28.120 that burden. How how did that infuse you both through nature? 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:33.600 Because of her incredible spirit and resilience, but also through 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:38.920 nurture because these experiences obviously shaped her for the rest 0:11:38.960 --> 0:11:41.839 of her life. But she wasn't She was a tiger mum. 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.400 You know, she was tough. If I was afraid of 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:46.839 the dark, she would close me in the closet and 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.479 she'd probably get the rest of today. And but but 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:53.040 after ten minutes, when you're in the dark closet, first 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.480 of all, it doesn't stay dark. You always have a 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.439 little bit of light that shows up. And second of all, 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.640 you know, when why am I afraid the dark of 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.319 the dark? So you know, it was tough to be 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.040 her daughter because she was tough, and she wanted me 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:10.800 to be independent, and she didn't want me to be needy, 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:13.120 and she didn't want me to be afraid, and she 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:17.640 wanted to equip me for everything that I could possibly 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:22.520 happen to me. But I'm thankful for it. And that's why, 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:25.720 very early in life I decided, you know, the only 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.960 way I can deal with everything is to be in 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:30.960 charge of my life. And so what lessons do you 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:36.000 think privileged kids today ought to take from your upbringing 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.560 that you know often you hear about helicopter parents and 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:42.720 parents who call all their kids and prevent them from 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:46.040 taking unnecessary risks. That was not your childhood at all, 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.240 And it told you. I think that those are not 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.760 good parents. I mean is people who say constantly be 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:55.560 careful and don't do I mean the the what you 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:59.600 want most for your children is to be independent, because 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:03.240 there's no way you can predict what can happen. You 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:05.760 can lose everything. You can lose your wealth, you can 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.800 lose your vialance, you can use your health, but you 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:13.920 never lose your character. And character building and making your 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:18.920 children isn't independent is the best and the only thing 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.040 a parent should do. And your mother taught you independence 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:25.160 in more than one way. She left your father, which 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.920 was a rare thing to do in that time. She 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:32.920 left my father after sixteen years. Yes, and and you 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:38.120 supported her, and that stories in the book. And my father, 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.400 I mean, I love my father, but I supported her, Yes, 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.280 I did. And she always supported me too. I mean, 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.760 you know, she never told me, oh don't do this, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.400 or it be it's dangerous. She was she was something 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.839 my mother I mean, I mean, but of course it's 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.560 very heavy. And while she was a layer alive, you know, 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.760 she would always give advice to everybody. All my friends 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.440 would come for her advice, and I would so annoy me, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.800 and now I do the same hundred times work. I 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:10.920 was going to say that story and much more is 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:13.520 in your book The Woman I Wanted to Be, which 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.840 was fantastic, but she wrote in two thousand fourteen. Yeah, 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:20.720 and but but talk about sort of this privileged upbringing 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:25.200 you had to dion because uh, you know, obviously you 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.840 were pally means well once I and probably not as 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.800 a child, but once you got married. I I was 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.800 privileged as a child. I mean, I have loving parents 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.080 and my my father was well off, so I was 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.080 privileged in that sense. I lived in Belgium and it 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:45.400 rained all the time, and I had curly hair, and 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:48.640 and I looked like so different than all my schoolmates 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:52.520 and whatever, and and then I thought nothing would ever 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:56.640 happen to me. My mother sent me to boarding school 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.520 in Switzerland and then in England, and I'm so thankful 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.000 that she did that because for me, it was beginning 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.760 my own life where I started to socialize and to 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.360 meet people, you know, out of my own surroundings. And 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:15.240 eventually I went to school university in Switzerland. I met 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:20.240 this very handsome, good looking, rich prince Agon who was 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:24.880 my boyfriend. He eventually became the my husband and the 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:30.520 father of my children. So I through him, I discovered 0:15:30.520 --> 0:15:33.480 the world that I did not know that the jet said, 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:35.960 so to see, did you feel comfortable in that world? 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:40.160 Because I would feel intimidated. Well, I was intimidated at first, 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.360 but I you know, obviously I would never show it. 0:15:43.880 --> 0:15:45.680 And you know, and at first I said, how do 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.440 everybody know everybody? And how does it happen? And and 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.240 they speak, you know, five languages at the same time, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.080 and this and that and so on, and then all 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.200 of a sudden, you're part of it, and you know, 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:01.360 you don't you you find that normal. But that wasn't 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.920 enough for me, so to speak. I didn't want to 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.320 just be an idle Park Avenue princess. I always wanted 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.560 to work. And I must say that Eggon always pushed 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.720 me and encouraged me to do that. And I started 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.360 to work even before I was married, because I worked 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.280 for this Italian man who had a factory and who 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:26.120 taught me everything about printing and and jersey and and so. 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.120 I mean, by the time I came to New York 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.920 with my as a young bride and pregnant. I already 0:16:31.920 --> 0:16:34.400 had with me a suitcase full of samples, and that 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.520 was the beginning of my career. I loved your advice 0:16:37.600 --> 0:16:40.160 to women because it's the same thing that I tell 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:46.520 young women, and including my two daughters about twenty Yeah, 0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.880 they were, I know, they're grown up women now. And 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.200 I've always felt very strongly that women should not only, 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.400 as you do, Dean, be engaged in the world, but 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:03.360 also be financially independent because you never know what is 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:06.920 coming around, because you can't be independent unless you can 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.239 pay your billiness. Well, that's what I learned. There's no 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.800 way that's that's the first thing. That's why do you 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.240 think it's so important? What it was that your mother? 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:19.920 Who who taught you that? Yeah? My mother. My mother 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.360 never worked because she really didn't have the health to 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:26.400 to work. She really, I mean she was really damaged 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.640 after the war, but she had the brains. She she 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.439 was a force, and she always told me that you 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.800 had to be. She didn't have to tell me, really, 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:41.879 I mean, I wasn't gonna be anybody's whatever. I just 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.760 had to I just had to be. And that's my 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:50.480 big advice, my number one advice to anyone, anyone, child, man, woman, whoever. 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.440 Is the most important relationship in life is the one 0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.480 you have with yourself. And if you have that, any 0:17:57.520 --> 0:18:01.879 other relationship is a plus another. And to be needy 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.720 is a very unattractive condition. I agree. But you know 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.560 the thing is, I know you feel that way, but 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:13.200 you also through the years have been racked with self doubt, insecurity. 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:15.840 I know that you called there's a passage in your 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.240 book where you talk about calling Anna Wint where I 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.200 believe you know she was having lunch breakfast like that. 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.040 She wasn't where you are sitting now. And it was 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.200 the morning, and I said, Anna, do you ever feel 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:29.119 like a loser? And she said all the time. I 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.720 mean most people, only only real losers don't feel like losers. 0:18:33.800 --> 0:18:37.800 You know, IM put that on a pillow. Only real 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:42.280 losers was interviewing you, and you asked the interviewer, don't 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.160 you ever get up sometimes in the morning and feel 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.520 like a loser? And the interviewer said, no, never, and 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:48.399 you were sort of shocked, and you said, oh, I 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:50.280 get up and feel like a loser all the time. 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:52.439 I feel like a loser all the time. Do you 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:57.679 feel like a losersant okay, but but you know so 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.360 the word loser is a very un active word actually, 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:06.280 but but but the point is that you have doubts 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.359 and oh, best quote and this is not my quote, 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:12.399 but I use it all the time because when you 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:15.320 do feel like that, this is what you have to 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.760 speak out, allowed to yourself, and you say, when you 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:25.920 doubt your power, you give power to your doubts. That's 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.680 a very good one who said that. I think it's 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:32.960 worth there, but I'm not completely about Zach. We'll say 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:39.160 it's DVF. We'll be back soon with DVF. Right after 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.040 we hear from some of our sponsors. What's your middle name? 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:47.440 Macm okay, Oh, that's good, b MG and k A. C. 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:55.760 Will be back soon with DVF. And now back to 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:59.320 our conversation with the one, the Only, Dion bon Thurstenburg. 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.000 We should say, by the way, that being self reliant 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.080 and independent doesn't mean, in your view, that you don't 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.359 rely on other people. And you talked in the book 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:13.360 and in other interviews about the role of your husband's 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.200 and mentors throughout your life. And one of your really 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.280 critical early mentors was Diana Breland, who was a legendary 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.119 editor at Vogue. Can you talk about the role she 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:24.560 played and getting your business off the ground, you know, 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:26.639 I mean to me, Diana every Land, it was the 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:29.480 most intimidating thing in the world. You know. I walked 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:33.240 in and I was pregnant. Actually, I walked into that office, 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:37.000 the Vogue office with all the you know, the perfume 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:40.560 and the clothes and all of that, and I empty 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.720 in my suitcase and I put the clothes on the rack, 0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:45.840 and then all of a sudden walks this woman, you know, 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:50.080 with a long cigarette holder and black hair and red 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.480 nail polish and red mouth. And first thing she said 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:55.920 is a chin up up up, And I thought, oh 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:00.280 my god, this is not going well anyway. And and 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:04.080 she received me and she said, oh, it's wonderful. And 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.040 before I knew, I was out the door with a 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:08.760 clothes on the floor and what has happened to me? 0:21:09.240 --> 0:21:11.359 And her assistant said, I think she liked it. I 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:13.320 think she'll help you. And I said, well, what do 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:17.720 I do now? And the assistant, Keshia Kibo, actually is 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:20.440 the one who actually told me what to do. She said, 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:22.760 you know, soon it's going to be market week. You 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.160 should take a hotel room. About what hotel, Well maybe 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.440 if you take it in that hotel, that's where the 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.760 California people come, and so they will you will have traffic. 0:21:32.240 --> 0:21:34.119 And then you should try to get a little story 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:36.560 in women's wear daily, and you should do this, and 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:38.560 you should do that. And then I did it all 0:21:38.640 --> 0:21:41.159 and that was and indeed that a brilliant helped me. 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:44.280 She photographed my clothes and bogue and I was off, 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.440 which proves my adage that no one is more important 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:53.800 than the assistant. Now, yes, that's right away to the assistant. 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:57.280 Now it's true. It's well, it's really important just as 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:00.560 a human being, but also they are often the whole 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.840 that you should pay attention to everybody. I agree. I 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:09.239 mean because paying attention is a secret in life, just 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.679 paying attention to who and what and how and and 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:16.359 talk to people as human being. That's my second pillow. 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:19.639 Paying attention is the secret life because I think you 0:22:19.720 --> 0:22:22.040 have to be as kind to the doorman or the 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.159 cab driver as you are to the CEO. That is 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.159 I think critically important. And it's also so important for 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:32.479 your children to model that behavior because children watch and 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:36.240 they absorb, and you have so much power on your children. 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:40.000 I know, when you actually have children, especially when your 0:22:40.080 --> 0:22:43.600 children are teenagers, you think they don't listen to you. 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:47.240 I mean you think you're completely totally powerless. But if 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:49.800 you wait long enough and you see you watch them 0:22:49.840 --> 0:22:52.280 when they have children, all of a sudden you remember. 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:55.360 You realize that every single thing you said, they remember 0:22:55.760 --> 0:22:59.439 because they say themselves. So you have huge power on 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:01.399 your child. I mean, had I known I had so 0:23:01.520 --> 0:23:04.399 much power on my children where they were growing up, 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.320 I could have probably abused them. How how are your 0:23:08.400 --> 0:23:11.159 children and your grand my children? I mean that is 0:23:11.200 --> 0:23:15.199 my pride. I have the most incredible family. I have 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:19.600 a son and a daughter, four grandchildren. No one is banal. 0:23:19.880 --> 0:23:23.440 Everyone is generous. Everyone now is a kiss of death? 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:26.840 Is I know? Then nobody is banal. Nobody is comes 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:31.600 out of one form. But they know about generosity, and 0:23:31.720 --> 0:23:37.600 they are kind and fun and engaged, and each one 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.320 is themselves. Is anyone bourgeois because you said that's the 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:43.320 worst your bohemian? I mean you always be bohemia. I 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:45.600 don't know, but no one is bourgeois. No, no one 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.560 is banal. No one of the things that I find 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:51.960 so impressive among a whole list of things about you 0:23:52.440 --> 0:23:57.120