Egon von Fürstenberg or Prince Egon of Fürstenberg (29 June 1946 – 11 June 2004) was a fashion designer.
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The Fürstenberg family is descended from both Stéphanie de Beauharnais (adoptive daughter and first cousin of the stepchildren and also adoptive children of Emperor Napoleon I) and the 18th-century English collector, writer, and eccentric William Thomas Beckford.
Eduard Egon Peter Paul Giovanni Prinz zu Fürstenberg was the elder son of Prince Tassilo of Fürstenberg (1903-1989) and his first wife, Clara Agnelli (born 1920), a sister of Fiat's Gianni Agnelli. He had a sister, Ira, and a younger brother, Sebastian. His stepmother was the Texas oil heiress Dr. Cecil Amelia Hudson, née Blaffer; by her, he had two stepbrothers.
Egon von Fürstenberg was born at Lausanne in Switzerland. Brought up in great privilege in Venice, Italy, he was baptized by the future Pope John XXIII.
Fürstenberg began his career as a buyer for Macy's, and took night classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology.[1] He began designing clothes for plus-size women, and later expanded to full fashion and ready-to-wear lines, including fragrances, product licensing and a haute couture line based out of Rome.
On 16 July 1969 at Montfort l'Amaury, Yvelines, France, he married the Belgium-born Diane Simone Michelle Halfin, daughter of a Holocaust survivor. She was Jewish, and the senior Fürstenbergs objected to the couple's union on that basis. They had two children, Prince Alexander von Furstenberg (b. 25 January 1970) and Princess Tatiana Desirée (b. 16 February 1971), and were soon divorced. His wife launched her own fashion house at Egon's urging, where she created the iconic wrap dress.
Diane later married media mogul Barry Diller in 2001. In 1983 Egon married a Mississippi native, Lynn Marshall (ca. 1950-).
Fürstenberg wrote two top selling books: The Power Look,[2] a guide to fashion and good taste, and The Power Look at Home: Decorating for Men,[3] a book on home furnishings. He created an interior design firm in 1981.[1] His collection of art included works by artist Zachary Selig.[4]
Egon von Fürstenberg died at Spallanzani Hospital in Rome. According to the New York Post, Fürstenberg's widow stated that he died of liver cancer caused by a hepatitis C infection picked up in the 1970s; other sources suggest that AIDS was the underlying cause.[citation needed] Fürstenberg had earlier intimated in a New York Magazine article that he was bisexual.[5]. In June 2000 he then made his 'coming out' as a bisexual with a in interview to the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica [6]
   | Homepage Egon von Fürstenberg - Egon Von Furstenberg Official Web Site |
| | Homepage Egon von Furstenberg - Egon Von Furstenberg Official Web Site |
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