Diane von Fürstenberg: Woman in Charge

The “reinventor of the dress”, Diane von Fürstenberg is a renowned force of nature, whose tenacity, personality and creative genius have made her a legendary celebrity. Featuring endorsements from Oprah, Hilary Clinton and Edward Enninful, Diane von Fürstenberg: Woman in Charge is a documentary that acts as a reflection on life itself, but before all else that von Fürstenberg achieved in the fashion industry, it is a reminder that she is a completely fascinating woman with a unique and original story to tell.

Her mother, Lily Halfin, was her primary concern throughout her entire childhood. A survivor of Auschwitz, Lily says she was granted new life with the birth of her daughter, a notion von Fürstenberg still carries to this day. Her parents had a divorce “like a war” and she found herself immersed in the dating world of a high society bubble. All these life moments moulded her into the woman she is today; a rockstar.

When she wasn’t at Studio 54, she was rejecting offers of threesomes with Mick Jagger and David Bowie. She is a woman who has never been afraid of wanting everything and says she was never made to feel uncomfortable by any man or gave them the gratification of doing so. She says she has “a vocation to be a woman in charge”, something she fully embraced and utilised when she revolutionised style in the 1970s with the wrap dress.

But through the cloud of partying and gloating about success, Woman in Charge is a documentary with heart and tenderness, touching on the great pains the von Fürstenberg family have dealt with over the years, from antisemitism targeting at Diane and her mother, to cancer and the AIDS crisis. Created with talking head interviews, photographs and professional and home videos, the directors Trish Dalton and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinov pay attention to the different eras of their subject’s life, from secretary to fashion designer to literary publisher. Von Fürstenberg seems to have done whatever she set her heart to in her life, albeit it is probably nice when you have an enormous fortune to fall back on should a new venture not work out. It is also true that while the sexually liberating life she had led is empowering, you feel little surprise and lack empathy when one of her partners has an affair.

However, with all that said, what Dalton and Sharmeen have produced here is a documentary that is as witty, joyous, affectionate and wild as its star. Von Fürstenberg has truly “lived”, making for entrancing viewing, and in this documentary format, that is something we too can appreciate in its full, unredacted glory.

Guy Lambert

Diane von Fürstenberg: Woman in Charge is released on Disney+ on 25^th June 2024.

Watch the trailer for Diane von Fürstenberg: Woman in Charge here: