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"  2014 has certainly been the year of DVF. The iconic designer recently celebrated 40 years of the wrap dress\u2014the origin of her reign as a trailblazing force in the fashion industry. Add to that a retrospective exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the upcoming release of a new docu-series show on E!, House of DVF, and now two new book releases highlighting her journey, advice and legacy. The Woman I Wanted To Be and Journey of a Dress, both out today, offer an insight to the incredibly exciting, glamorous and inspiring world of Diane von Furstenberg. To celebrate, the legendary designer shared some of her inspirations, fashion advice and memories of the late Oscar de la Renta with BAZAAR.  A lot of your love affairs are detailed in The Woman I Wanted To Be, which you wrote helped to influence who you are as a woman. In a time where many women are embracing staying single throughout their 20&amp;#039;s to focus on a career and themselves, what advice do you have to give to them? DVF: It&amp;#039;s a very personal thing, you know\u2026so single, or not single, that is not really important. I just think it is important not to lose yourself in relationships\u2026you have to know who you are and be true to that. The most important relationship is the one you have with yourself. If you nurture that, everything else will thrive. Confidence played a huge factor in your personal journey, both personally and professionally\u2014while a woman is deciding &amp;quot;the woman she wants to be,&amp;quot; what&amp;#039;s the secret to having self-confidence and projecting that confidence correctly? Strangely, I think the secret to confidence is a willingness to be vulnerable\u2026if you can learn from your failures and turn the bad things to good, then you will have confidence.  One piece of advice for the next generation of the fashion industry? DVF: Forget trends\u2014be you. What has been the highlight of your career and the DVF brand so far? DVF: There have been so many exciting moments but I am always the most interested in the present\u2026so I think my most exciting fashion moment is right now, celebrating forty years of the wrap dress and looking to the future. Who are the women, either alive or dead, that you would love to bring together at a dream dinner table? DVF: Oh, how many can I choose? I love intimate parties so I will choose 5\u2026Marlene Dietrich, Gloria Steinem, my mother, Mother Teresa, Colette.  This has been a huge year for the wrap dress\u2014we&amp;#039;re curious, how many wrap dresses do you have in your closet? DVF: Too many to count\u2026I have an entire archive! Who is one woman that you would love to see wear the iconic wrap dress? DVF: I love to see any woman wear the wrap dress\u2026I can remember driving up and down Park Avenue in the 70&amp;#039;s and counting all of the wrap dresses. It was such a thrill then and it still is now.  The Woman I Wanted To Be talks a lot about how important your family is to you, what is the one thing you hope to pass down to your children and grandchildren? DVF: Love, hard work and curiosity. We recently lost the legendary Oscar de la Renta. What is your favorite memory of Oscar?  DVF: Oscar and his wife Annette used to join my husband Barry and I on our boat every summer\u2026I will always remember how happy Oscar was swimming in the blue waters of the Mediterranean, literally surrounded by beauty as he liked to be.   Journey of a Dress, $50, and The Woman I Wanted to Be, $17, are both now available on amazon.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.harpersbazaar.com/fashion/designers/a4129/diane-von-furstenberg-interview-new-books/>