“We’re here in this building that is called LACMA West that used to be May Company Wilshire, a very big department store. And, actually, 40 years ago, I came into this department store, and actually one of the ads in the timeline on the wall at this exhibition was an ad on this building,” said Diane von Furstenberg on Friday, January 10, at the opening of the Los Angeles stop of her Journey of a Dress exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of her wrap design. The exhibition, held in the historic building near the LACMA campus, includes over 200 mannequins wearing vintage and current versions of the famed dress in both long and short versions (and even pantsuits). Along with the clothes, supersized archival patterns, and a timeline charting the design’s journey over the past 40 years, the show also includes numerous portraits of the designer by such artists as Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, and Francesco Scavullo.

In addition to the continued presence of the former department store building in L.A., von Furstenberg also pointed out another similarity between the year when the wrap dress launched and the present day. “You also have the same governor in California that you had 40 years ago,” she quipped. That realization led the designer to riff on the cultural climate in America after her dress made its big screen debut in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver (worn by Cybill Shepherd). “When I came to New York, Andy Warhol was everywhere, like parsley. Andy was very shy and a voyeur,” she said, noting that Warhol used to go everywhere with a tape recorder. “And when you said something, he’d say, ‘Gee, that’s great.’” Then, von Furstenberg added, “He’d Polaroid you.” She described lunches at the Factory, calling Warhol an artist and a visionary who did everything before everyone. “He would have gone nuts with Instagram,” she added. Von Furstenberg also noted that people always ask her about Studio 54, about the hedonism and the scene itself. “It had the most attractive people in the world, so it was a great pickup place. It only lasted a few years, but the ’70s were the moment between the pill and AIDS,” she said. The designer and her team fittingly recreated their version of the famed New York nightclub inside LACMA West for the exhibition’s opening party.

And von Furstenberg admits she didn’t always appreciate the notoriety brought on by the famous dress design. “It’s the one thing I owe everything to, but sometimes I even resented it.” She credited it with paying for her children’s education, and for bringing her both independence and fame. She also credited Vogue editor Diana Vreeland for launching her fashion business. Using her best Vreeland voice, von Furstenberg said, “She didn’t come with a little dress, she came with an idea.” There is even a large reprint of Vreeland’s letter championing the dress in the exhibition. Von Furstenberg says she doesn’t have a favorite dress. “They’re all my children,” she said. Von Furstenberg’s company has devoted a portion of her DvF website to personal stories about wrap dresses. “These days,” von Furstenberg added, “the dress has a life of its own.”

By Elizabeth Varnell

 

Pictured: The Diane von Furstenberg: Journey of a Dress exhibition at LACMA West, formerly the Wilshire May Company building.
Photo Credit: Fredrik Nilsen

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