The life that Diane von Furstenberg has lived is one of jet-setting romance, European aristocracy, Studio 54 conquests, gay lovers and tycoon successes.
The Tribeca Film Fest premiered her new, revelatory biopic, Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge to a red carpet of European socialites, fashion luminaries, and other celebs.
Candice Bergen was there, alongside with execs from fashion brands like Neiman Marcus, David Yurman, Estée Lauder, Kering.
The Greek Royal family also made an appearance, including Marie Chantal, the Crown Princess of Greece, and Prince Achielieas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark.
The new Hulu documentary tells the glamorized story of von Furstenberg’s life. A poor Jewish girl turned feminist icon and business tycoon who changed the face of fashion.
“It took a lot to get her to say yes,” Beckman said. “But she met Sharmeen [Obaid-Chinoy]”-the two-time Oscar-winning director who helms the film with co-director Trish Dalton-“and we created all-female team that a woman like her deserves.”
“She’s had absolutely no creative control over the project,” Beckman noted. “She’s only seen the film once. She doesn’t have anything to hide. She’ll tell this whole room what she’d tell her most intimate friends.”
In the documentary, von Furstenberg recounts turning down a threesome with Mick Jagger and David Bowie, a solicitation that was cocked up by Jagger himself.
The film delves into Furstenberg’s relationship with her late mother, Liliane Nahmias, who gave birth only months after surviving Auschwitz. “I am her revenge,” the designer says of her choice to marry into the German-Austrian House of Fürstenberg in 1969.
The film talks about her first marriage’s demise–due to the prince’s reputation as a closeted gay man–and discusses his eventual death from AIDS. It also embraces her marriage with businessman Barry Diller.
It tells of her relationships with her children–including her daughter’s late diagnosis of rare autoimmune disease, overlooked by von Furstenberg’s absence.
“Diane draws you in,” she said of her subject. “When you film her, she sits on the floor and makes you sit next to her. She opens up the inner sanctum of her life. Few people who’ve lived that kind of life allow you to peel the onion to the core, and she allows you do that.”
DVF says: “I wanted to do a documentary about these badass women that I am. No network wanted to buy it. They didn’t want a movie about the other women. They wanted a movie about me, what they thought about me.”
But I was interested in doing a documentary about the women that I am. I have lived a long life, and I don’t want to apologize for any of it.”
No regrets: “I am entering the winter of my life, and I’m hoping that I can inspire as many women as possible.”
