Who

Fashion industry survivor Diane von Furstenberg presides over an empire that includes clothing, fragrances, and accessories. She's married to media mogul Barry Diller.

Backstory

Born into a Jewish family in Belgium—her mom was a concentration camp survivor—Diane Halfin spent a year at the University of Madrid before moving to Switzerland to attend the University of Geneva. That's where she met German Prince Egon von Furstenberg, and she was already pregnant with her first child when they married in Paris in 1969. Settling in New York a year later, Diane soon set about marketing her fashion designs; when legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland took a liking to her work, von Furstenberg became a fashion sensation in short order with her now-iconic wrap dress.

A fixture on the swirling '70s social scene, by the middle part of the decade von Furstenberg had established herself as one of the hottest designers in town, selling rack upon rack of evening wear as well as a line of makeup and perfume. (She remains the only fashion designer who's appeared on the cover of Newsweek.) But her career took a nose dive in the early 1980s when her fashions petered out and sales dried up. With the business in jeopardy and facing the possibility of bankruptcy, von Furstenberg sold off her licenses, and beat a hasty retreat to Paris.

She didn't stay down and out for long. In 1992, she returned to the biz with Silk Assets, a downmarket clothing line on QVC which sold out in two hours. (Her success on the tacky network helped convince Barry Diller to buy the company.) In 1997, she relaunched the house that she continues to run to this day, staging a comeback that's rarely seen in the world of high fashion.

Of note

One of the few enduring female name brands in fashion—thanks in no small part to her own exotically chic image—von Furstenberg pulls off the trick of appealing to women of all ages and types, from sophisticated professionals who wear her wrap dresses to the office to twenty-something Jersey girls for whom DVF means instant Euro-glamour.

Diane's empire—which grosses more than $100 million a year—now encompasses jewelry, accessories, and a cosmetics and fragrance line, and she has a retail footprint in 12 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London, Paris, and Hong Kong. Here in New York, the company's HQ is in the meatpacking district: She purchased two buildings on West 14th Street for $10.5 million in 2004. Following extensive renovations, the space opened in May 2007 and now houses her store, a theater, and an event space (plus a pied a terre for Diane). One of the most beloved members of the fashion community, von Furstenberg is also currently serving as president of the CFDA.

Personal

Diane and Prince Egon divorced in 1973, and though there were many affairs in the intervening years (with Richard Gere and Warren Beatty to name just two), she didn't remarry until 2001, when she tied the knot with Barry Diller. She has been very close to the media mogul for more than three decades—he famously gave her 29 loose diamonds in a Band-Aid box for her 29th birthday—but the union still raised eyebrows considering Diller has been in gay relationships most his adult life. Diane has two kids from her first marriage: Tatiana, who lives in New York and is married to actor Russell Steinberg; and Alexandre ("Alex"), who was once married to Alexandra Miller, the daughter of duty-free mogul Robert Miller.

Habitat

Until a few years ago, von Furstenberg owned two townhouses on West 12th Street; she sold them in 2004 for $23 million to Anna Anismova. These days, the designer spends most of her time in New Milford, Conn. at the 18th century country home called Cloudwalk Farm that she purchased as a present to herself on her 27th birthday. The sprawling 100-acre estate features a white pebble driveway leading to an old tobacco barn that she converted into her living room/bedroom/studio area. She also has a Left Bank apartment in Paris (purchased in the early '80s) as well as the apartment above her store in the meatpacking district. Lazy summer weekends are often spent aboard Diller's $200 million, 300-foot sailing ship, EOS.