Perfume has power; an alluring scent makes a lasting impression. A woman’s fragrance is like a DVF dress, it’s about the way you feel when you put it on…sexy, confident, and classic; and like a DVF dress, perfume should keep speaking even if no one is talking.

Women have been seducing men for hundreds of years with their scent. It has been said that Cleopatra conquered the Romans with her perfume. This is the power of fragrance. Christian Dior said, “Long after one has forgotten what a woman wore, the memory of her perfume lingers.” I’m sure King Solomon couldn’t remember what Cleopatra was wearing because he was hypnotized by her scent.

Diane von Furstenberg was in Dallas last Tuesday to launch her new fragrance Diane at Sephora in North Park. Watching Diane on Good Morning Texas I was tickled to hear her say, “Dallas has the most beautiful women in the world…Dallas is special.” 

Diane von Furstenberg’s new fragrance Diane has musky notes of patchouli, frangipani and violet flowers. It is seductive, mysterious and impossible to forget. Sephora describes it beautifully, “Built up like one of her dresses: it wraps up a woman’s body and stays with her all day long.” Her slogan for the fragrance is “Be the woman you want to be.”  

 

The beautiful ice sculpture bottle was inspired by the golden links of her sutra bracelets she wears. Carved into her bracelets are Diane’s mantras “love, laughter, freedom, harmony, truth, confidence and life.” I think you can sense the powerful aroma of her fragrance in her mantras.Diane von Furstenberg, the Belgian-American designer was born the same year as my dad. Diane has said, “Beauty is perfect in its imperfections, so you just have to go with the imperfections.” I love the fact that the designer, who is sixty-four, has never had any plastic surgery and doesn’t plan to.
Diane has had a fascinating life! She married a prince in 1969. Her company was founded in 1972. She is most well known for her iconic wrap dress and her signature prints. All this time, Diane has been hobnobbing with the glamorous glitterati and has been photographed more than any designer.
Mario Testino who has photographed Diane told her to always smile big so she looks joyful in every shot and she truly does; she has a definite sense of self and exudes confidence.
Her fashion empire includes: clothing, shoes, bags, jewelry, luggage, tableware, bedding, and now fragrance. Diane is actually her second fragrance following Tatiana.
The DVF legacy is similar to Coco Chanel’s. They each invented their own feminine and modern style that has remained relevant for decades.
She likes the fact that her customers are so young; it makes her feel current. Her customers range in age from eighteen to eighty-eight.

 

I can’t help but think of Diane as I read Elaine Sciolino’s La Seduction. Even though she isn’t French, she has that obvious joie de vivre and a soft feminine power that only a woman can command. I believe Diane has the art of seduction down pretty well, in fact I can smell it!

 

If I were a celebrity, creating a fragrance would be first on my list of things I would do. There are very few designer fragrances I love. Sarah Jessica Parker’s Lovely and Stella McCartney’s Stella are two of my favorites. Fragrance is so personal; it envelopes you as a person but also takes on the environment you’re in. As Diane says, “fragrance is about addiction and memory.” Diane has that je ne sais quoi that you don’t forget.

 

I wore Diane to a local fashion show and dinner out with my girlfriends this past Friday. After leaving a crowded night spot, I could still smell Diane in my hair (not the smoke). I like a fragrance that can stay with you through the variable elements of life. I imagine Diane thought about this from her Studio 54 nights.

 

When sampling scents at a counter at Neiman Marcus recently, the salesclerk had me smell a few different perfumes. When I told her which scent I preferred, she replied, “Aww…I can tell you are a good girl!” There is a definite yin and yang in fragrances, contrasting flowers just like the many personalities we wear. I may be a good girl, but I might like for some people to catch a whiff of something mysterious that leads them to ponder whether I’m always good! With fragrance, I think we can all be like Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman” because it simply depends on how we want to smell.