Diane: A Signature Life: My Adventures in Fashion, Business, and Life

In 1973, Diane Von Furstenburg introduced her now famous wrap dress, an outfit she estimates has ""found its way into almost every closet in America,"" becoming a cultural icon, symbolic of women's growing sexual and financial freedom. Five years later, in 1978, the market appeared to be saturated with the dress and the era of the wrap came to a close. Today, Von Furstenburg has updated and reissued the dress for a new generation; launched fragrance, cosmetics and couture companies; and ventured into the home-shopping business. She asks that this memoir ""inspire those who read it,"" and certainly the determination and verve with which she has overcome each setback in her life--be it a business reversal, a love affair turned sour or a cancer diagnosis--might prove inspirational to some. But despite the fascinating raw materials of her life (the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, she married a German prince, becoming a jet-setting socialite/entrepreneur/mother/paramour), this autobiography offers far more glitz than grist for thought. She drops names and brand names so interchangeably that we know not only who the celebrities are who buy her clothes but when the author received her first Pucci shirt. When Von Furstenburg reflects on her philosophy of life--""to me, life is love is life is love. I put those words on a T-shirt once""--readers may suspect that the real purpose here is to sell apparel. And sell it will. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to Vogue. (Nov.)