The wrap dress is emblematic of Diane von Furstenberg’s fashion legacy, more because of what it represents than the item itself. In the 1970s, the designer liberated women with her slinky, jersey wraparound designs that went from the office to dinner and everywhere in between — way before day-to-night dressing was a concept, much less a cliché. The dress was sophisticated and sensual. Most of all, it made women feel good.
It’s this idea — of easy, sexy, uninhibited feel-good glamour — that Henry Zankov is tasked with interpreting as DVF’s new artistic director.
He debuted his first collection for DVF on New York’s iconic High Line Thursday, just across the street from the brand’s glass-cube headquarters. Fittingly, he opened the show with a wrap dress — sort of. This version featured that same upturned collar, cuffed sleeves, and a diagonally buttoned placket down to the waist, where the skirt fell straight to the model’s knees. The whole thing was rendered in purple and mustard leopard print. But Zankov deftly avoided turning the wrap dress into a caricature of itself; he set out to capture its essence instead. The second look consisted of a sharp-shouldered, teal power suit worn over a logo-printed blouse, an elaborate pussy bow knotted at the neck.
“We were looking at wrapping as a concept as opposed to taking it literally,” said Zankov backstage following the show. “I think the wrap dress is iconic. It’s like a Birkin bag. I don’t think it needs to be reinvented.” That idea best came through in a blue wrapped and knotted T-shirt styled with purple wide-leg trousers or a shiny, hot pink wrap top worn with khaki pants.
There were nods to the ’70s, the brand’s founding decade, via printed, slightly see-through chiffon dresses with plunging necklines. There were also safari-style jackets with contrasting piping and sashes at the waist styled over column skirts.
Zankov is not exactly new to DVF; he worked as a knitwear designer for the brand from 2014 to 2018, before launching his namesake label in 2020. While each brand has its own distinct sensibilities, color and print are at the center of the Venn diagram here. He played with color blocking on patchworked leather trench coats and chiffon gowns. Zankov-isms — those techniques and signatures that have emerged within his own line — came in the form of cross-hatched, open-weave knitwear.
Von Furstenberg herself, who met Zankov with a warm embrace after the show’s finale, impressed upon her successor the importance of working with the body. “I was thinking about the different types of sexiness and seduction,” Zankov said. “How do you seduce with body language but also with fabric? There are different ways of being seductive, and I wanted to cover all the facets of that.”
DVF is one of New York’s most iconic brands, and its sensual and exuberant spirit feels so right for right now, in the right hands. In his debut, Zankov gave us a glimpse of a new era, one that celebrates body, mind, and play. DVF is about clothes that accentuate women’s very full lives; Zankov has started the wardrobe that can adapt to every aspect of them.
