Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg has been given many titles in her life - mother, working girl (via Dolly Parton's song of the same name), princess and president (of the Council of Fashion Designers of America). While she may never be America's first lady in the political sense, she comes close in the sartorial stakes.
'Look at this picture,' she says in her office at her headquarters in the Meatpacking District of New York.
'This is Mrs Obama's Christmas card and look at what she is wearing. It's a reissue of the first wrap dress I designed 37 years ago and here is the president's wife wearing it in 2010. It goes to show how it's still relevant.'
While von Furstenberg has achieved many things in her life, her iconic wrap dress is one of her greatest fashion accomplishments and has become a uniform for women around the world. As such, it is the subject of a new exhibition that is opening in Beijing this weekend, after successful tenures in Moscow and San Paulo.
Journey of a Dress, which will be shown in the Pace Gallery in the 798 Art District, combines the designer's love for art and fashion. It will feature about 60 looks spanning four decades of her career, along with items from her personal archives such as photos, clippings, illustrations and fabrics. Also on display will be art works by her friends and some of the 20th century's most successful artists, including Francesco Clemente, Francois-Marie Banier and Anh Duong, as well as photographers Helmut Newton, Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh, Annie Leibovitz and Francesco Scavullo.
'There will be four sections divided into themes - the American Dream, Studio 54, Femme Fatale and Working Girl. It's all of the facets of the clothes I make. It's designed as a narrative that tells the story of the brand and how our look has evolved,' she says. 'The set-up is also unique. If you stand at one end of the gallery and look in one direction you see all my designs. From the other end, all you see is the art. At the back we will also have a 3-D wall playing the video of our recent autumn-winter show.'