What Diane von Furstenberg Can’t Live Without
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If you’re like us, you’ve probably wondered what everyday stuff famous people add to their carts — likehair sprayor anelectric toothbrush. We asked the designer Diane von Furstenberg, now a co-founder of the vegetable-blend brandOKO,about the Hermès notebook she uses as a diary, the tights she has purchased a thousand times, and the bodysuits she has been wearing since she was 20.
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Oh my God, I own hundreds of them because I have them in all my houses. I wear it every day. I have them in black and in white. Mostly in black. Only white in the summer. It’s actually officially a swimsuit, but I use it as a bodysuit. It’s a very simple swimsuit, and it’s called Aquarelle, like the watercolors. I have been wearing it since I was 20 years old, since they started the company. The other day, I spoke to the CEO of Eres, and I said to them, “I would like you to check in your bookkeeping because I bet I am your oldest and most faithful customer.” My grandchildren used to always think it’s so hysterical that their grandmother is always ready. She’s always in a bathing suit.
The same thing: I have used Wolford forever. There are three kinds I like. The opaque ones are my favorite, and as soon as the weather is not so great, I get into them. There are some called Individual, which are a little sheer for the night. They also have the fishnets, which I love, both in nude and in black. In nude it’s nice because it’s like your bare legs but it’s not. Oh my God, I own thousands, and they’re very expensive. Do they hold up? Yes, until you make holes. The truth is that if you ask about anything people wear all the time, you are sure that the quality is there. Otherwise they don’t wear it. It’s the same thing with my clothes, the wrap dress or whatever. It’s a friend you can count on.
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I sleep in these, and they’re very soft. You feel very clean in them. They’re thin, and they’re embroidered, and they’re very pretty. The kurta is the most common thing in India. Men wear it, women wear it. I own hundreds, hundreds. Those are things I have in every one of my houses.
[Editor’s note: Lal Behari Tandon lists all prices in rupees; we’ve made an approximate conversion to U.S. dollars.]
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I have written in my diary all my life. I was born on New Year’s Eve, so on January 1, I have a new book with new pages. New year, new everything. My favorites are the Hermès. They’re soft leather with white pages with no lines. You get the leather separately and then you have a refill. So when it’s full, you can continue to use it, just with a new refill. For my diary, one is good enough, but I also use one for notes and things like that. I have changed the colors occasionally. I not only buy them for myself, but I give them, too, because it’s hard to have a conversation with me where I will not tell you to write in your diary.
[Editor’s note: The unlined pages von Furstenberg uses are currently unavailable, so we linked to the lined version.]
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Agendas are something that will probably disappear within a few years because it’s very archaic not to do your agenda online. But I’m still attached to my Smythson, where I can see my appointments from week to week. So I still use it, but I am sure it’s a product that is due for extinction. Oh my God, I’ve been using it for 40, 50 years. Originally, I used the diary from Smythson until Hermès came out with theirs and then I got that.
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I went to Chile for some kind of a retreat, and there was a woman, an Austrian woman, who had made these. She’s a scientist, and she talked about probiotics, and I ordered them. I’m hooked. I take them twice a day, morning and night. I never had probiotics before. One day, you just hear about something and then it becomes a habit. It took me three years to remember the wordprobiotics, so it’s a miracle that I know what it’s called. Every one of these products I’ve used forever. The most recent one is probably the probiotic, but that’s already at least 15 years.
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I’ve used this all my life. I like the mixed-bristle one. It’s two different kinds of bristles. They are great for my curly hair, and I’m totally, totally hooked on it. It comes in different sizes. You have the small one, which you could put in your handbag, and the big one, which you could put in your bathroom. The quality is great. It’s great for the hair. It’s one of those real old English products. I use it every time I brush my hair, I blow-dry my hair, I untangle my hair. I have lots of them, but I’ve been using them since I was 20.
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Arnicare is the best trick ever. It’s homeopathic. In America, people don’t use homeopathic products that much, but in Europe, especially in France, it’s very common. Arnicare is the absolute best thing to use for bruises or any wound you have. It takes the bruise away. It’s really miraculous.
For some reason, I have often had a black eye. I had a ski accident. I had a variety of accidents that gave me a big, huge blue-red eye. I always take Arnicare. The most recent one, I had a little thing on my forehead, and I had to have 37 stitches. As a result, the blood comes down and you have a horrible black eye. I always photograph it, and they showed it on Instagram. I came to the office, and the PR department of Arnicare — because I mentioned how much I need Arnicare — sent me a huge basket of Arnicare. I never liked a present more.
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This is a wonderful cream. It’s slightly tinted. It kind of cleans up your face. It’s just a dream. Natura Bissé is a very, very good company out of Spain. I use it a few times a day. It evens my skin out. It’s like preparing a canvas.
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It’s the most practical one-stop piece because it’s a jumpsuit. Jumpsuits are like dresses. It’s one-stop dressing, and it’s the most comfortable. It makes you have very long legs and a tiny waist. I like it in print. I mean, I’m a little old for it, but I wear it, and I wear a jacket on top. All my clothes are very ’70s. I was lucky to design clothes in the ’70s because the ’70s and the ’30s are decades that remain timeless.
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Jane, the person who created these, was my chef on our boat for 15 years. She was a young girl from Australia. I have an issue with swallowing due to some radiation I did years ago. She made a lot of purées for me, and she created this thing called OKO. You can use it as a soup, you could use it as a dip, or you could use this as a vegetable. You could put it on a sandwich. It has a beautiful color, and it’s really wonderful. You can order it online.
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