The other day I went down to West 14th Street for lunch in the atelier of Diane von Fürstenberg. With me were three dynamic women – Andrea Wong, the savior and creative force behind the Lifetime TV network, and Nina Garcia and Joanna Coles of Marie Claire magazine. This was the kind of lunch most women dream about, in a beautiful setting with fascinating personalities and nobody was there for a “reason.” We weren’t hustling. We weren’t trying to land an account. We were just getting together for the fun and the hell of it.

This address downtown is the new home of Diane, a totally stylish creature, one who keeps recreating her career over and over and defining her talent for simplicity and good looks and wearable clothes. She has had at least two blazing fashion successes in her lifetime and she is considered a miracle. No big sprawling company owns Diane von Fürstenberg. When I asked, she said, “My business is owned by my children!” (How many doting parents could make that intelligent statement?) 

Nobody mentioned face lifts at the table. Nobody talked about Prada bags. Nobody gossiped. We found ourselves grappling with the new economic realities and talking philanthropy, giving something back and underlining the power of women. And this wasn’t a particular agenda; it just happened.  

The best thing that came about was just before we left. Diane jumped up and then gave each of us her book, Be the Wonder Woman You Can Be. This handsome green volume features “The Adventures of Diva, Viva & Fifa” and Diane wrote the story with Cailyn Foss, while Konstantin Kakanias did the artwork. Click here for images from the book.

Everybody loves the “Wonder Woman” phenomenon and here Diane has gathered a kind of “WW” encyclopedia with illustrations. Gloria Steinem writes on WW. Lynda Carter covers the WW she enacted. The all-star comic strip itself is included. There are old and new versions here; it is just so much delightful fun.

In her introduction, Diane writes: “Wonder Woman has always made me smile – I love her look, her attitude and the way that she personifies the fantasy that everything is possible. It also doesn’t hurt that her alter ego’s name is Diana … the characters are all of us; they are me, you, a mother, a sister or a friend.” You can get this book on DVF.com and it is published by DC Comics.

But the best thing about the book is Diane von Fürstenberg’s ending where she demands we should “Give back! Turning dreams into reality. That is what empowered women can do.” She goes on to tell us about her Vital Voices organization that aids emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the world. You need to know about Vital Voices and join in this project. Log onto www.vitalvoices.org and begin living the Diane von Fürstenberg way.

As we departed, Diane said, “You know. Now whatever I sell in fashion, I want it to carry further, to have some meaning, to give a portion of the proceeds to empowering women. Women are the strength of the world and the world’s greatest strength.”

P.S. The lunch was great too – organic and delicious.   

Click here on this text to read my New York Post column.