with Santa at the DVF party

In spite of the economy, it is holiday time and we are rejoicing to the coming of a new President and a new era…

Time for new movies, all rushing into the cinemas so that they can qualify for the Oscars. Don’t miss Slumdog Millionaire, and if you like movies that force you to think go for Doubt or The Reader.

Time for dinners with friends…at La Esquina, The Waverly, or at At Vermilion, a new Indian-Latin restaurant on 46th and Lexington.

Time for parties…at Tom Sachs’ Soho studio organized by Visionaire, the 40th birthday party for Wendy Murdoch on the Gramercy Hotel’s roof, and the DVF holiday party.

And of course, time for presents…for the ones you give and receive. For me that means giving the gift of empowerment to women through the Sponsor-a-woman program of Women for Women International. For $350 a year, you can provide a female survivor of war with the tools and resources she needs to move from victim to active citizen. And the person who receives this gift gets to make a difference in the life of one woman. It is truly an inspiring organization and a gift that brings new meaning to giving back…

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Me with John Galliano

It is hard to believe that last night we celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. It was created after 9/11 when many people in the fashion industry realized that there was a need to support young designers and help them get through difficult economic times. Today, the landscape has changed but many of the challenges of being a young designer still exist, making the fund even more relevant.

Last night’s top winner was Alexander Wang, while Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai of Vena Cava and Albertus Q. Swanepoel of Albertus Quartus were runners-up. In addition to the financial help that each designer is awarded, one of the most important parts of the fund is the business mentorship that each designer receives.

And we all were fortunate enough to receive some good advice from the evening’s keynote speaker, John Galliano. The designer arrived straight from Beijing (with Charlize Theron on his arm) and spoke about his life in a very emotional and inspiring way.

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I always enjoy visiting Seoul - the people are so nice, so smart and so eager to make things happen!! Korea is the most advanced country when it comes to technology…everything happens through your mobile phone. This last visit was a short one. I talked at Ewha University (the largest women’s university in the world), in the most extraordinary new campus building designed by French architect Dominique Perrault. There was also a fashion show with lots of celebrities organized by my partner Simon Park in his studio space, followed by an incredible Korean dinner with Jay and Mye Ki Lee before I left for Shanghai…

I love, love, love Shanghai!! It is so full of things to discover - everything exists and everything is possible. There is old Shanghai and new Shanghai, making it a landscape of serendipity!!

My friend Huang Hung, who owns the magazine I-Look, a TV show and a blog that has 100 million viewers, came from Beijing to see me and organized a dinner at Issimo, a great Italian restaurant at the very cool JIA Hotel. There were about 20 people there, mostly designers, and great food…and great fun! The next day we went to visit many of their studios and I was so inspired by all their creativity.

We had a dinner at the home of art dealer Pearl Lam, THE hostess of Shanghai, who has the longest dinner table in the world, and the most fun décor you have ever seen.

I also found my home in Shanghai…the small boutique hotel The Mansion, located in the French Concession. It has been incredibly well decorated and restored to its art deco glory…I felt like Marlene Dietrich in the 1930s!!

Tokyo is the quintessential modern city and I always love going there. We opened our 2nd store in Roppongi Hills at the end of October and it looked gorgeous. It has a concrete staircase made of Swarovski crystal mirrors like the one from our headquarters in NY, and the iconic mural of Warhol makes the whole shop feel very unique and glamorous.

Between interviews and visits to stores, I spoke to hundreds of Design students at Bunka University. The opening started in the shop and ended on the top of the Mori buildings…hundreds of gorgeous young women dressed in DVF made me feel so proud and welcome!!

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With Melanne and the real women of SEVEN

When Aude de Thuin, founder and CEO of the Women’s Forum asked me to come and speak at their annual meeting, this year in Deauville, I was flattered and very interested in participating in this huge gathering of empowered women.

Instead of organizing a traditional panel on business, I thought that I would like to speak about the human side of women, and about their strength and courage. I decided that the best way to do this would be with a performance of the documentary play SEVEN. The play profiles seven women in the Vital Voices Global Network who have overcome tremendous challenges in their native countries to achieve the impossible. We had held a performance of the play at my studio in New York for International Women’s Day last spring, and I knew that Deauville would be the perfect environment for another showing. Melanne Verveer, co-founder of Vital Voices, came to Deauville as well, and we also arranged for some of the real women upon whom the stories are based to join us.

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