The Iconic Wrap Dress : Diane von Furstenberg April 19 2022

Well, it’s official—the iconic DVF wrap dress has entered its 40th year!   It was in 1974 that Diane von Furstenberg first created her famous design, and just two years later, she had sold over a million of those signature frocks. Newsweek even dubbed DVF “the most marketable woman since Coco Chanel” after featuring her on the magazine’s cover—quite the compliment, right? Born on New Years Eve of 1946 in Brussels to wealthy family, Diane von Furstenberg credited gaining her sense of self-worth and confidence from her mother, a Holocaust survivor who came out of the concentration camps weighing just 49 pounds. She studied economics at the University of Geneva and then moved to Paris to work as an assistant to the fashion photographer Albert Koski. She soon left Paris for Italy to work as an apprentice textile manufacturer to Angelo Ferretti. In 1967 von Furstenberg married Price Egon von Furstenberg, himself a fashion designer—Diane has said that the minute she knew she would marry Egon, she decided to have a career, something of her own. She first arrived in New York in 1970 with a suitcase full of twelve jersey dresses she had designed and made at Ferretti’s factory. Two years later  she and Egon divorced.

Diane von Furstenberg and her Iconic Wrap Dress

Diane Von Furstenberg’s 1974 wrap dress design (inspired after seeing her wrap top paired with her wrap skirt) was an instant hit, and has proven to have a lasting influence on women’s fashion design—so much so that there is even an example in the collection of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The wrap dress was a modern dress for the time period, and proved to be versatile enough that it could be worn in a variety of settings. Here are some reasons why we love the wrap dress: It really is an outfit that can be worn to work and then out for an evening on the town Prints and colors and designs.  DVFs prints are iconic and bright and interesting. Love, love, love. No fuss, no muss. What’s easier than throwing on a wrap dress and a killer pair of heels? It’s flattering on many different body types. Really. It cinches where it should, flows where cinching makes you nervous. So go crazy—celebrate! It’s a big birthday for the wrap dress, and you’ll love it even more when you’ve got one hanging in your closet.  Browse our selection of Vintage & Current Diane von Furstenberg Dresses at Rice and Beans Vintage.

Vintage Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress at Rice and Beans Vintage