一位设计师女强人的自白

Diane von Furstenberg’s life combines the hallmarks of a fairy tale with the more sober reality of a career woman – and single mother – who longs to have it all.

戴安娜•冯•弗斯滕伯格的人生既包含童话故事的元素，又包含想要兼顾一切的事业女性兼单身母亲面对的生活现实。

Her new autobiography, The Woman I Wanted To Be, charts the highs and lows of the young European princess turned American fashion designer. It recounts the growth of her business from just a suitcase of samples – when she arrived in New York in the 1970s – to a multimillion-dollar powerhouse. All this was down to a game-changing invention: the wrap dress.

冯•弗斯滕伯格的新自传《我曾经想成为的那个女人》描述了她一生的起起伏伏，曾经的年轻欧洲王妃后来如何摇身一变成为美国时尚设计师。自传讲述了她的生意是如何发展起来的，上世纪70年代，她来到纽约，从拎着样品箱跑业务开始做起，最终经营起一家数百万美元的企业。这一切都源于一项革命性的发明：裹裙（wrap dress，V领前盖式连衣裙——译者注）。

As she tells the tale, she underlines the importance of financial and emotional independence, highlighting the fateful mistake she made when she licensed her name – and ceded millions of dollars – to others.

在叙述人生故事的过程中，她强调保持财务和情感独立的重要性，着重讲述了她犯下的一个重大错误——授权别人使用自己的名字，结果将数百万美元拱手让人。

The book is as charming and erratic as Von Furstenberg herself. Confusingly, the chapters are only partially chronological. Von Furstenberg arranges her memoirs by inspirations: family, love, beauty and the business of fashion. This haphazard structure is one of the book’s main flaws. The narrative is disjointed, making the author seem detached both from her own reality and that of the reader

这本自传像戴安娜•冯•弗斯滕伯格本人一样，富有魅力又变幻无常。书中的章节并不完全以时间为序，让人感觉有些混乱。冯•弗斯滕伯格的自传是按照她的灵感源泉来安排的：家庭、爱情、美丽以及时尚事业。结构杂乱无章是该书的主要缺陷之一。叙事是散乱的，使得作者看上去跟她自己和读者两方面的生活现实都有点脱节。

The early pages paint a vivid picture of a privileged postwar childhood in Brussels, raised by loving parents, traumatised by their experiences in the Holocaust. Boarding school in England precedes university in Madrid before marriage to Prince Egon von Furstenberg and emigration, young and pregnant, to New York. At first the glamorous couple lead a dizzying jet-set life, whirling through Studio 54, Park Avenue parties and constantly criss-crossing the Atlantic.

该书最初的章节生动地描绘了她的童年，她出生于二战后，童年在布鲁塞尔度过，家境富足，经历过犹太人大屠杀的父母对她宠爱有加。她曾就读于英国的寄宿学校，后赴马德里上大学，嫁给埃贡•冯•弗斯滕伯格王子(Prince Egon von Furstenberg)，夫妇俩在年纪轻轻的她已有身孕时移居纽约。一开始，这对金童玉女过着令人头晕目眩的空中飞人生活，经常出入纽约54俱乐部(Studio 54)，参加公园大道的各种派对，不断来往于欧洲和美国之间。

Ultimately, however, two young children and her husband’s wandering eye lead the twenty-something socialite to find a career path to independence.

然而，最终，抚养两个年幼孩子的压力，以及丈夫的风流性格，使得这位二十多岁的名媛走上独立的事业女性之路。

Her account of those first years is colourful and poignant. “We grew up together . . . I was barely a grown-up myself,” she writes of her children as she juggled motherhood and her ambitions to be a “tycooness”. Von Furstenberg learns her trade the hard way, hustling department stores until a sprinkling of magic dust appears in the form of Diana Vreeland, editor of American Vogue. The fashion designer’s creation of the jersey wrap-dress in 1974 leads to sales of $100m through licensing deals and puts her on the cover of Newsweek.

她描述的早年岁月是丰富多彩和凄美的。那时，一面做母亲、一面为实现成为“女大亨”的雄心而奋斗的她分身乏术，提到孩子，她写道，“我们一起长大……那时我自己也算不上什么成年人”。冯•弗斯滕伯格历经千辛万苦才学会在时尚行业立足，她曾奔波于不同的百货商场推销自己的货品，直到遇到人生中的贵人——美国《时尚》杂志(Vogue)主编黛安娜•弗里兰(Diana Vreeland)。1974年，冯•弗斯滕伯格发明紧身裹裙，通过授权交易达到1亿美元的销售额，让这位时尚设计师登上了《资讯周刊》(Newsweek)封面。

But she and her partners “behaved like amateurs on a runaway horse”, she says. “I didn’t even know what licensing meant,” she laments, as her empire finally crashes down. A boom-and-bust cycle haunts her 30-year career and its colourful ventures into cosmetics and home interiors.

但她说，自己和几个合伙人“就像骑在一匹脱缰野马身上的业余骑手”，哀叹道，“我甚至都不懂授权是什么意思”，她的帝国最终崩塌。在30年的职业生涯里，她尝试过进军化妆品和家居内饰，而这种盛衰周期也一次次轮回。

At one point, her son Alexandre intervenes to demand that she “make a plan . . . stop haemorrhaging money or else pull the plug”. Her long-time partner – and now husband – Barry Diller, the US media billionaire, often appears to pick up the pieces.

她的儿子亚历山大(Alexandre)曾出手干预，要求她“制定一个方案……止住钱哗哗往外流的局面，要么就别干了”。她的长期伴侣（如今是她的丈夫）、美国媒体亿万富翁巴里•迪勒(Barry Diller)常常出面收拾残局。

For all her emphasis on the importance of standing on one’s own two feet, when things go wrong she seems unable to do so, repeatedly seeking the money and managerial savvy of men, be they lovers, sons or friends.

尽管她极力强调靠自己的重要性，但在出问题的时候，她似乎都无法做到这一点，一次又一次从身边的男性（无论是她的爱人、儿子还是友人）那里寻求资金和管理经验方面的帮助。

Despite touting herself as an everywoman, her cosseted existence and dependence on industry titans make her trials far from universal.

尽管鼓吹自己是个平凡的女性，但她娇生惯养的一生和对业内巨头的依赖使得她的人生经历不具有普遍意义。

The book does end on an upbeat note. The brand – which was wobbling again as little as two years ago – finally appears on track, steered by a team of feisty women. Who doesn’t love a happy ending?

这本自传确实有个令人振奋的结尾。在一群争强好胜的女性领导下，短短两年前再度陷入困境的DVF品牌终于走上了正轨。谁不喜欢大团圆结局呢？