DVF’s Auschwitz Survivor Mom Used To Trap Her In A Closet — Now She Fears Nothing

The 71 year-old designer at New York Fashion week in 2016 Image by Getty Images
In an extraordinary interview with the Times of London, legendary Jewish fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg spoke about growing up with a mother who survived Auschwitz, marrying a prince, and why Viagra is “the worst thing that has happened to women in the last 15 years.”
“I have never worn something that’s uncomfortable,” the iconic wrap-dress creator announced to writer Anna Murphy. von Furstenberg, the 71 year-old fashion mogul, has two Jewish parents — her father was a Belgian immigrant from Kishinev and her mother was a Greek immigrant who came to Belgium only after surviving deportation to Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Murphy’s profile opens with this harrowing anecdote from the former princess:

From The Times of London Image by Screenshot
Throughout her long and history-shaping career, von Furstenberg has often credited her mother’s influence. Later in the interview, she reflects on deciding whether or not to accept a marriage proposal from Egon von Furstenberg, the German prince with whom she had become pregnant. “At first I said to my mother, ‘I don’t want to do this,’” von Furstenberg recalls. “She said, ‘He asked you to marry him, so the least you can do is let him be a part of the decision.’ So I sent him a telegram. He sent me one back. We arranged a wedding in Paris for mid-July.”
Now von Furstenberg, who is worth approximately $300 million and has enjoyed a second wind in the success of her brand since its revamp in the late 90s, has been married to Jewish movie mogul Barry Diller for seventeen years. Another thing the fashion leader doesn’t fear? Aging. The way society looks at aging today, von Furstenberg says, is “humiliating…You should embrace it.” Not just women with their looks and the anti-aging beauty industry, she cautions.
Men should, too. “There was a certain fairness. A woman couldn’t have a child after 40, right? Though even that doesn’t exist any more. But the man could have a child until 65, but sexually after a while…Now, with Viagra…they just feel…I think Viagra is the worst thing.”
Viagra isn’t the only cultural pillar von Furstenberg finds fault with. She also has a bone to pick with Jane Austen. The problem with Jane Austen,” she says, “is that it’s all about getting married.” von Furstenberg is happily married, but likes to maintain separate apartments from Diller in certain cities.
Sometimes, she says, she just wants to get away from his dogs.
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
- 4
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.