Skirball Cultural Center

“DVF is an example to women everywhere, from women refugees who must expand language and culture to women artists and business owners forging a path in a patriarchal world. If they know her whole story, I can’t imagine any woman who wouldn’t be inspired by her.”

– Gloria Steinem 

Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion explores the remarkable life and work of fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. This expansive, multidisciplinary exhibition, enriched by a lavishly illustrated catalogue featuring interviews and scholarly essays, invites visitors to discover the extraordinary features of von Furstenberg's career, from the 1970s to the present day. 

Organized in four thematic sections, Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion includes a selection of over sixty pieces drawn from the DVF archives along with ephemera, fabric swatches, media pieces, and information on her philanthropic work. The Skirball’s presentation of this exhibition will also include new images and audio that shed light on von Furstenberg’s personal biography as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and a war refugee, offering additional perspective on the factors that shaped her life and work. 

The exhibition explores many questions, such as:

• What are the specific features of von Furstenberg's fashion design? 
• Her inspirations? 
• How did her signature creation, the wrap dress, come to epitomize freedom and empowerment for women in the United States and well beyond? 
• How has her personal story—as an immigrant to the United States and child of a mother who survived the Holocaust—shaped her creative vision and career as well as her philanthropic work?

Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion was organized by the Fashion & Lace Museum in von Furstenberg's native city of Brussels, Belgium.

Tours

Join a docent-led public tour of this exhibition!
Tuesday–Friday, 1:00 pm
Saturday–Sunday, 11:00 am and 1:00 pm

Docent-led private tours are offered on select days and times starting Friday, November 22. To book a private tour, email groupvisits@skirball.org or call (310) 440-4534 for more information.

Note: Public Tours are subject to cancellation.

Curatorial Acknowledgments

Nicolas Lor, Head of Exhibitions and Publications at the Fashion & Lace Museum in Brussels, is the originating curator of Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion, which he developed for the Fashion & Lace Museum. In 2013, his first research work on material and historical matters in fashion (textiles and fabrics) brought him to collaborate with the most famous luxury houses in Paris: Chloé, CHANEL, Maison Margiela, and Christian Dior Couture. Between 2018 and 2021, Lor worked as Fashion Archivist for the Christian Dior Couture house, where he researched and preserved rare pieces of fashion. Additionally, Lor participated in the acclaimed traveling exhibition Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams, curated by Florence Muller and Oriole Cullen, a project that was initially presented in Paris in 2017. Lor is known for his research into Chinese costume and Chinese fashion design. In 2017, he curated The new momentum — China contemporary fashion at the Shanghai Textile Museum. His work on Chinese fashion continued with the exhibition Future Fashion Spaces – Reimagined, co-curated with Pooky Lee in Shenzhen, as well as with the online exhibition Symbioses. Lor has written several papers for fashion and cultural journals or magazines, including Pièce détachée, Koï Magazine, and TTT Magazine. 
 

Cate Thurston is the Skirball Cultural Center’s curator of this exhibition.

Diane von Furstenberg is a fashion designer, founder of her eponymous brand, and the creator of the iconic wrap dress. A philanthropist, she established the DVF Awards with the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation in 2010 to honor and empower women leaders worldwide, an event approaching its 15th anniversary in 2024. An author, she has written several books, including Diane: A Signature Life, The Woman I Wanted to Be, which was translated into eight languages, and Own It: The Secret to Life. The recipient of countless prestigious awards, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2019 and she received the Chevalier de la Légion D’Honneur from France in 2020, the Commandeur de l'Ordre de la Couronne from her native Belgium in 2021, and the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award in 2022. Diane currently serves on the boards of Vital Voices and the CFDA and in 2023, she was the subject of Woman Before Fashion, a book published by Rizzoli, which followed the exhibition dedicated to her life and career at Brussels's Fashion & Lace Museum. In 2024, she was the subject of the documentary Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge, which premiered as the opening selection at TriBeCa festival before officially launching on Hulu and Disney+ internationally.

‘Diane von Furstenberg: Woman Before Fashion’ Exhibition Opens at the Skirball Cultural Center
TheWrap | October 21, 2024

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Entertainment Tonight | October 18, 2024

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Harper's BAZAAR | October 18, 2024

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Women's Wear Daily | October 16, 2024

Lauren Sanchez Channels Grecian Goddess Inspiration With Sensuous Twists in Bodycon Dress for Diane von Furstenberg Exhibit Opening
Women's Wear Daily | October 16, 2024

Unwrapped: Diane von Furstenberg Reflects on Her Influence as Skirball Exhibit Opens
Los Angeles magazine | October 16, 2024

Diane von Furstenberg Says She's 'Taking Back Control' of Her Brand: 'You Will See a Lot of Exciting Things' (Exclusive)
People | October 16, 2024

Diane von Furstenberg exhibition opens in Los Angeles to celebrate women
Fashion Network | October 16, 2024

It’s far from a wrap for Diane von Furstenberg: Skirball exhibition captures a ‘badass’ at 77
Los Angeles Times | October 15, 2024 (Login may be required)