Name: Diane von Furstenberg on navigating the pandemic and the future of DVF
Uploaded: 2020-10-13
Duration: 4 min 58 s
Description: von Furstenberg says that previously planned changes are being accelerated.

 CLAIRE ZILLMAN: You've been really public and open about how the pandemic has affected the retail business. You've shut all but one of your retail stores. You've had to let some employees go. But you say the brand will go on and you're working on re-imagining it. I'm wondering if you can start maybe, Diane, by just talking about where you are in that process and how the future of DVF is taking shape, especially now when there are so many unknowns. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG: Well, I think that this pandemic that happened to us was completely unexpected. But we had no choice but to accept it. So I think that this forced pause is forcing us as individuals to think what our priorities are and think through and maybe change some things. And as a business, in a weird way, it's an opportunity to have the time to check and re-evaluate the business model. In the business like the fashion business where you always work nine months in advance, six months in advance, you're always catching up, and you never have time to think things through. So in a weird way, this is forcing us to think things through and to re-evaluate the business model. And so I think it's actually-- anyway, it is what it is. But it's interesting to be able to re-evaluate it. CLAIRE ZILLMAN: Right. And Talita, can you help us understand sort of that just pause, this re-evaluating? I mean, what sort of ideas are coming out of it in terms of where the brand can go from here? TALITA VON FURSTENBERG: I think we're constantly figuring out where fashion is going, the future of fashion, how the industry is changing, how our business is changing, how our business model is changing, and kind of figuring that out how to be efficient without everyone working in an office space is really hard, especially in the fashion industry when it's such a hands on thing. You want to be constantly seeing the samples. Without having everyone together and not even everyone on the time zone, it is really hard to figure out those small things. So we're trying to figure out how to be the most efficient, how to be the most productive, how to create an oversight without the space that our studio had in the past has definitely been challenging. But every day, we learn how to cope with the new situations, just like everyone is doing, learning how to adjust to the times. And I think with fashion, it is much more relevant and much more-- DIANE VON FURSTENBERG: And you're studying this. TALITA VON FURSTENBERG: Yeah, I'm at NYU right now studying, actually, the future of fashion and sustainability in fashion. So it's definitely really interesting to be at this actual pivotal moment of change in the industry when brick and mortar stores obviously have been dying out in the past, but now it really is. Retail is much different. It's all DTC, it's all online. There is so much change that happening. And I think DVF hostages except that and evolve with the times as it's changing. And I think we're doing that, and we have exciting things in the works. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG: Yeah, I mean, it's very interesting that she's studying this, because had she studied what she's studying now two years ago, it would have been useless. But to studying it now is very, very interesting. So it is a changing world. I think that the pandemic has accelerated by at least five years, if not 10 years, the virtual world that we are going into this virtual world, which is different. TALITA VON FURSTENBERG: And also the clothes that you need for that world are also different. So if we're not going into the office space, we don't really need work attire. If we're not going out at night, we don't need formal attire. What people want to wear has changed, and we also have to adjust product to match that. DIANE VON FURSTENBERG: Exactly. Because fashion is a reflection of the time. So it's very interesting. I mean, usually we design according to a calendar. So the month of June you design for wedding dresses and graduation dresses. And all of a sudden this year, there was no graduation, and there were very few weddings or they were much smaller. So it is a very interesting time, to say the least. 

Diane von Furstenberg on navigating the pandemic and the future of DVF

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von Furstenberg says that previously planned changes are being accelerated.