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We Talked to Diane von Furstenberg About the Changing Meatpacking District

By Danielle Tcholakian | December 22, 2015 1:10pm
 Diane von Furstenberg.
Diane von Furstenberg.
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Getty/Paul Morigi

MEATPACKING DISTRICT — Diane von Furstenberg's history with the Meatpacking District runs deep.

From her earliest days — when she relaunched her business in a neighborhood where "people thought the people who worked with me wouldn’t want to work" there — the once-gritty area is where she chose to stick it out and grow her global fashion label.

It's also where she chose to invest.

Years ago, von Furstenberg backed the development of the rusted, elevated railway along 10th Avenue into the hugely popular High Line Park. Now, she and her husband Barry Diller are funding the Pier55 project in Hudson River Park that will create a massive green space on the water.

"Clearly, my commitment to the neighborhood is very real," von Furstenberg said in a recent interview.

Last month, opponents of a block-long redevelopment of Gansevoort Street announced that von Furstenberg had signed a petition siding with them against the developers.

But DNAinfo learned that von Furstenberg later changed her mind and took her name off the petition.

We spoke to the fashion legend to find out why she went back on the decision and what she loves about the ever-changing Meatpacking District.

What made you sign the petition against the Gansevoort development in the first place?

Somebody asked me, sent me an email and asked me to sign the petition. And I signed the petition without even knowing what I was signing, which I should never do again.

So you met with the architects designing the plan. What convinced you to take your name off the petition?

I looked at the plan and I realized there was no reason to go against it. I thought they were respectful to the neighborhood. I thought they were earnest and sincere. I believe them. I thought they cared, and I liked what I saw.

Tell us about your relationship to the Meatpacking District.

I have a long history with the neighborhood.

I moved into the neighborhood, I think in '97 or '98, when I bought a small carriagehouse on West 12th Street. I went back into business and I turned it into my studio showroom.

The neighborhood at the time was not at all the neighborhood it is now. It was full of butchers. It didn’t smell good. There was condoms all over the floor, in the street. People thought the people who worked with me wouldn’t want to work there.

I loved it because I loved its character. It reminded me of Belgium, my native country. I loved the cobblestone, the bricks. I just loved it.

How did you become involved with the neighborhood?

The first neighbor I met was Florent [Morellet]. [His restaurant] Florent was the really fun diner. You had construction workers go there, and you had artists go there. You went there for breakfast, you went there late night, you went there for lunch, you went there all the time.

My first connection with helping the neighborhood is that he asked to use my space to do a fundraiser, to try to get the neighborhood to become historically preserved. So we did that. I had a big, huge loft. The restaurant had a little show and people could come and have all different kinds of food and we raised money in order to apply for the neighborhood to be historically preserved.

The next people I met through that was Robert Hammond and Joshua David, who were these two young guys who had this crazy dream to turn this old abandoned elevated road and turn it into this green park.

Do you still feel connected to the neighborhood?

I did sell my two carriagehouses. I sold them and I bought three or four small meatpacking houses on 14th Street and Washington. It costs me money, the fact that we had made it a historical preserve. I had to save the façade, but I was very happy to do that. I had to go to Landmarks to get the OK and all of that, but I was very happy to do that.

I am very, very attached to this neighborhood.