Skirball Cultural Center presents the U.S. Debut of
"Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion” until Aug.31 2025
The exhibition chronicles the fashion icon’s career from the 1970s to today, interweaving her personal history as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor while showcasing special artifacts now until Aug.31 2025.
Photos by Karen Ostlund
WestHollywoodToday.blogspot LOS ANGELES, CA (October 18, 2024)
The Skirball Cultural Center presents the U.S. debut of "Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion", an exhibition exploring the remarkable life and work of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. This multidisciplinary exhibition invites visitors to discover the extraordinary milestones of von Furstenberg's career, from the 1970s to the present day. Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion, which opened to the public on October 17, 2024, and will be on view through August 31, 2025.
"We are thrilled to bring this powerful exhibition to Los Angeles, showcasing not only von Furstenberg's iconic designs but also her enduring message of female empowerment,” says Skirball Cultural Center President and CEO Jessie Kornberg. “Jewish connection to garment industries and needlepoint trades spans continents and generations. Past exhibitions like the retrospective on Rudi Gernreich or the textile art of Aram Han Sifuentes celebrated these connections. Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion builds on that work with new vigor and a new dimension - the creative energy and conquering spirit of one extraordinary woman."
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| Curator Nicolas Lor at Diane Von Furstenberg exhibit at Skirball. |
“When my hometown, the City of Brussels, came to me and said they wanted to present an exhibition of my work at the Brussels Fashion and Lace Museum curated by Nicolas Lor, I was honored,” said von Furstenberg. “It was very emotional to have this just down the street from where I went to school as a young girl. Now, I am touched that the Skirball Cultural Center is bringing the show to another city very close to my heart in Los Angeles.”
"Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion" includes a selection of items drawn from the DVF archives along with ephemera, fabric swatches, media pieces, and information on her philanthropic work.
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| Michelle Obama's DVF silk-jersey wrap-dress in 2014. |
The U.S. debut of Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion exclusively includes:
New artifacts that shed light on von Furstenberg’s biography as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and a war refugee, offering additional perspective on the factors that shaped her life and work.
75 items, 29 of which are exclusive to the Skirball’s presentation.
A spotlight on Diane's mother Lily Nahmias featuring audio, images and text that explore her experience as a member of the resistance and a Holocaust survivor, including a reproduction of the letter she sent her parents after the Nazis imprisoned her.
Garments from Greco-Roman drapery to kimonos, dance uniforms, and fellow designers that explore the connections between these historical pieces and the designs of Diane von Furstenberg.
The exhibition "Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion" is organized into four sections, the first section of which explores the origins of her iconic wrap dress through a selection of items and sculptures that showcase the inventiveness of the dress and its historical context.
Section two examines von Furstenberg’s bold designs and sources of inspiration through three lenses: nature, art, and freedom. Nature is an important motif in her work and playful animal prints and floral patterns have been featured in her designs throughout her career. Art holds a similar prominence for her, with many prints inspired by or made in collaboration with artists such as Jackson Pollock, Konstantin Kakanias, and Andy Warhol.
Also explored in this section is von Furstenberg’s deep personal connection to the theme of freedom. Having given birth to von Furstenberg just 18 months after she was liberated from a Nazi concentration camp, her mother referred to her as her “torch of freedom.”
The theme of freedom is a unique part of von Furstenberg’s design ethos, epitomized in her wrap dress which became a symbol of liberation.
Section three entitled “The American Dream”, follows a twenty-six-year-old Diane von Furstenberg in 1972 with the launch of her brand and shows the remarkable success she achieved.
A pivotal factor in her commercial success lies in her vision for women: resilient, confident, and fiercely feminine. Often serving as her own muse, she featured herself prominently in ad campaigns and marketing. In the early stages of her career, she traversed the United States to meet and help women try on her designs. This approach enabled her to develop a lasting connection with the public, listening to their aspirations and concerns and translating them into clothing that continues to resonate with women more than half a century later.
The final section four, “WeAr(e)Able Stories,” is a play on words merging two expressions, Wearable Stories and We Are Able. It encapsulates the power von Furstenberg gives to women through her brand and her advocacy.
For more information about Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion, please visit:. Skirball.org
https://www.skirball.org/museum/diane-von-furstenberg-woman-fashion
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