In the heart of London’s bustling Leicester Square, the W Hotel on Wardour Street is a standout. Encased in frosted glass with the famous ‘W’ affixed to the roof, it can be seen for miles. As CFDA’s partner over the last two years, W Hotels has nurtured the designers of the 3.0 Fashion Incubator class by giving them the gift of travel to inspire their collections – with destinations culled from their list of properties worldwide. Last week was no different. As the last stint in the two-year program, the 10 designers travelled to London for a week of media appointments, dinners, and cocktails. The cherry on top: CFDA Chairman Diane von Furstenberg joined in on the festivities. To mark the icon’s visit to the British capital, W Hotels launched “What She Said,” a new speaker series to be held at W Hotels around the globe with the aim to inspire, educate and empower women.
The inaugural talk featured von Furstenberg and London-based designer Mary Katrantzou, and moderated by entrepreneur and British Vogue contribute Calgary Avansino.
The two women spoke candidly about their journeys; the audience included London-based media as well as the 3.0 Fashion Incubator designers Dana Arbib of A Peace Treaty; Sara Beltran of Dezso by Sara Beltran; Isa Tapia; Sarah Law of Kara; Katie Ermilio; Lucio Castro; Yara Flinn of Nomia; Misha Nonoo, and Alex Orley and Samantha Orley of Orley.
Katrantzou kicked the talk off by saying, “I’m very honored to be a part of this conversation with Diane, a strong and inspiring female designer who has an incredible ability to inspire young professionals, including myself, to pursue their dreams. It is important that we keep striving to inspire one another to do better, young people today are the leaders of tomorrow and we have the responsibility of guiding each other.”
Von Furstenberg is known to never shy away from speaking her mind, and CFDA.com chose to highlight a few pearls of wisdom from her remarks.
“Everything is about an attitude. The first thing you decide is the shoes. If you go out with your girlfriends, then it’s cowboy boots. With a man, high heels. What woman are you going to be then? It’s not necessarily always the same woman.”
“I found my independence and my confidence and my freedom through one little dress. I was selling that confidence to other women.”
“I’m a survivor. My mother was a survivor and therefore I was born with that oomph. I’ll find something positive in everything.”
“Be true to yourself, and not to try and copy left and right. You can be inspired but do what you think is right.”
“Somehow find something that is you – sometimes is happens by accident.”
“You cannot underestimate the power of the first juice – the first book, first song, first movie, everything about you is in that first juice.”
