Diane von Furstenberg's lessons

Diane von Furstenberg sat down with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, discussing how she draws strength and inspiration from selfies, the things her mom taught her, and the importance of owning a black turtleneck. The conversation was for Julia’s new podcast, Wiser Than Me.

Diane’s take on selfies is just as interesting as it is humorous and relatable. Most people would agree that selfies have come to be associated with vanity or self-interest, but her revelations on why she takes them and how they make her feel (when done right) suggest selfies can mean different things to different people – and different generations.

"I have a tendency to think that, at least in my case, when I look at myself in the mirror, I find my strength there,” she explained, before adding “so somehow, when I look at myself in the mirror, I like it and then sometimes I see a picture of me and I say, 'Oh my God, that's not how I feel like."

Shortly after her 74th birthday, she shared this picture – asking whether she was crazy to post it, encouraging people to ‘own’ their age. 

During a conversation with Cosmopolitan, she weighed in on her decision to post it, saying:

"It wasn't even a great picture of me, but what I like about it was that I faced it, I was looking at myself, I was owning my age, and I threw it into the universe, but I never expected it to have such an impact."

The comments were filled with support and celebration, and one even read:

“Thank you Diane for this, makes me feel better about getting older and my changing body. I needed this. I'm 77 years old.”

That user’s remarks help illustrate the appetite for podcasts like Wiser Than Me. So often, women 50 and up feel the pressure to look to younger women to ensure they’re in the know when it comes to trends, music and slang. And even when they’ve got a team of people doing that work for them, they get dragged for not acting their age. But in her podcast, at age 62, Julia is specifically looking to women older than her to glean wisdom and life lessons. 

While I love the podcasts that are currently in the market from women like Emily Ratajkowski and Alex Cooper, the podcast scene is really over-saturated with millennials, both men and women, sharing their own life experiences and the experiences of people in their demographic. And despite everyone’s story being different, we see a lot of similar narratives being recycled, with slight degrees of variation - if we’re lucky. 

There are certain stories you just don’t hear when most of your podcast guests have just hit 30. Like the story of Diane’s mother being liberated from Auschwitz almost two years before she was born. Over the years, Diane has spoken at length about the impact her mom’s teachings had on her. Most notably, her mother instilling the idea that ‘fear is not an option’ acting as a sort of northern star in some of her most trying times. 

“She weighed 49 pounds…My mere birth was a triumph over misery, and therefore, just the fact that I was born was a triumph," she told Julia. "She never wanted me to be a victim. Never be a victim, no matter what happens. And that's how you build your character. Because the only thing that you have complete control of — the only thing — is your character."

Thanks, in part, to following her mother’s advice, Diane has acquired a massive amount of wealth and fame. But this is the thing that always leaves me at odds. It’s hard to laud someone worth $1.5 billion and also humanize them at the same time. She met a prince in college and took on a title after they married, birthing two kids before divorcing him, only to move on to media mogul Barry Diller. 

With all the talk about nepotism and nepo babies, it’s hard not to think about privilege. And despite the wealth, fame and privilege she acquired throughout her life, she wasn’t born into it. And the woman’s got stories to tell. 

Podcasts, at their core, are a medium for storytelling. And one look at the current landscape tells you not all stories are equal, and the stories of younger people are more enticing. But Julia is flipping that notion on its head and instead welcoming the wisdom of older women and providing a platform for them to share their stories. And to me, that’s worth a listen.