The bright future of the exes

Marc Jacobs arrives at Diane von Fürstenberg’s home with long, sharp nails covered in purple glitter that catch the light with every movement of his hand. Although the room we’re in is crammed with clothes, photographs, works of art and people accustomed to viewing fashion and cinema up close (among the guests are Sofia Coppola – who dedicated the documentary film “Marc by Sofia” to him – her father Francis Ford and the photographer Annie Leibovitz), it is ultimately his nails that end up being the most closely scrutinised detail. Even by us. Jacobs knows this; he smiles. He continues discussing his work with a slightly childlike light-heartedness that remains intact even as everything around him has grown far larger. We met him in Venice, in the new home that Diane has rented from a cousin who, evidently, did not know what to do with such a large flat overlooking the Grand Canal. Also present is Charly Defrancesco, a former stripper, entrepreneur and the designer’s partner (they married in 2019), a witty and affectionate presence who helps make the evening even more enjoyable. “If only those hands and nails could talk,” he quips. Jacobs has sold control of the brand that bears his name after nearly thirty years with LVMH, but remains its founder and creative director. The deal announced in 2026 with WHP Global, alongside G-III for certain operational activities, ushers in a new corporate phase with him remaining at the heart of the collections, the fashion shows and creative direction. “I’m enjoying a wonderful time, because as well as working, I’m spending time with my husband and friends; there’s a life beyond the collections and the shops,” beyond the brand that now lives on even beyond his own persona, we might add. “I’m more interested in my future, whilst many, on the other hand, prefer to keep talking only about my past,” he adds. His past takes the form of images, archives, campaigns and a long history that began with Perry Ellis, continued through Louis Vuitton, and culminated in his own brand. The present, on the other hand, also takes the form of his hands, with nails that become a parallel conversation. They are long, decorated, encrusted with purple Swarovski crystals and crafted with the precision of a small design object – a manicure that has been part of his repertoire for several years. In 2016, in fact, with the hashtag #MalePolish, he helped to normalise a gesture that still seemed eccentric to many men in the fashion world. Since then, he has continued to experiment with shapes, colours, crystals, logos, textures, deliberately displayed regrowth and three-dimensional decorations. Marc’s hands have become a sort of walking sketchbook. They speak, in fact, more than his husband might realise, and each time they tell a story even before a conversation begins. The hostess finds the situation amusing, just as she still finds fashion amusing – and the wrap dress, which for her has always been directly linked to character. Her main focus today is the DVF Awards, now in their seventeenth edition in 2026. She established them in 2010 in partnership with the Diller-von Furstenberg Family Foundation to support women involved in projects capable of bringing about tangible change in the lives of other women. This year, the awards went to Jane Fonda, the former Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley, photojournalist Lynsey Addario, the founder and CEO of Food4Education Wawira Njiru, and Gisèle Pelicot. Diane now views fashion with a detachment that allows her to talk about it without nostalgia. Her interest has gradually shifted from the object itself to the effect that the object can produce. Awards have become an important part of her work, as have writing, conversations, curating her own archive and building a personal memory that continues to inspire her work. Her move to Venice—to which she has dedicated two books (La donna che volevo essere and Serenissima, both published by Marsilio)—is also part of this phase: “It’s a life choice that feels like a new chapter, accompanied by a home that’s perfect for welcoming people and stories,” she tells us. Today, fashion designers find themselves within a system in which the brand is a global enterprise, the creative director a managerial figure, the public a digital community, and personal image part of the product.

Some have sold up, others have stepped down from leadership roles, whilst others have set up foundations, written books, opened restaurants and forged collaborations. Their second act has become a laboratory. Take Frida Giannini, for example. When we met her in Palmarola, Alda Fendi’s island (who was the first to hire her, along with her sisters), there were just a few weeks to go before the outbreak of her controversy with the Sabaudia local council over the state of the area and her decision to return the title of ambassador for the town in Lazio, which she had received in 2019. After nine years as creative director at Gucci, her work has gradually shifted towards consultancy (for Liberty London, amongst others), collaborations and personal projects. Fashion remains an integral part of her outlook on life, whilst her time is now divided amongst interests that predated her major responsibilities at the fashion house, such as music. Her collection of 8,000 vinyl records, for instance, has been turned into a book, which she discussed with Il Foglio della Moda a few years ago: A Journey Into the Style and Music of My Icons Since 1969 – The Year of the Big Bang, published by Rizzoli New York. Her life also includes Bixio, the café-bistrot she opened in Monteverde, the Roman neighbourhood where she was born. The venue occupies the premises of the historic Bar Faustini and stems from a desire to restore a place of memory to everyday life. She oversaw its identity and interior design alongside chef Dario Pompei: the space retains the feel of an old neighbourhood bar whilst updating it through lighting, furnishings, materials and details, which Giannini selects with a designer’s precision, whilst the menu spans the entire day, from breakfast to Roman and Mediterranean dishes, to the so-called ‘tegamini’ and ‘scarpette’ served with homemade bread, including the ‘ciambellone’. “Ours,” she points out, “is strictly homemade”. She, who for years worked on handbags, jewellery, dresses and accessories, now works on a room, a light, a plate, a cup, and the way a person enters and sits down. The scale is different, but the attention to detail is the same. Then there is Donatella Versace, who at the latest Milan fashion shows has become something of a cross-cutting presence in the fashion system. Seated in the front rows, invited by various fashion houses, she was photographed, greeted, embraced and drawn into conversations and private parties. At Gucci she was laughing with the model Mariacarla Boscono; during Vogue World she stood alongside Demna and Pierpaolo Piccioli; then came other evenings, other tables, other brands. Her presence seemed to signal the next phase following the golden era when her surname had been synonymous with a single house – a transition that was both historic and personal. Versace now belongs to the Prada Group, which completed its acquisition in 2025, announcing a few months later the appointment of Pieter Mulier as the new Chief Creative Officer. A few days ago, having brought her twenty-seven-year creative tenure to a close, Donatella Versace made her return to creative work with the Revolve Group: a new fashion and beauty project aimed primarily at a young audience. She will be Chief Creative Officer of the new brand, whose name and product details are still under wraps. The launch will begin in the United States and other international markets, with a clear focus on the younger generations. She is a different Donatella from the one we remember from the campaigns of the 1990s and 2000s, yet immediately recognisable: more active on social media, freer to speak directly to the public, with a large following on Instagram and TikTok, and someone who continues to use words such as ‘fearless’ and ‘inclusive’ or expressions such as ‘alive in the world’. Her relationship with the LGBTQI+ community remains a key part of her public identity, and her ability to transform an attitude into an image, an image into a symbol, and a symbol into a connection with the public continues to be one of her most striking characteristics. Her new project with Revolve has emerged precisely within this new ecosystem, and the traditional fashion house – with its calendar, its collections and its heritage – now seems to belong to a different structure altogether. Donatella can now focus on Donatella the person; she has her place secured not only at dinner (the quote is from The Devil Wears Prada, I know), but in her own language and with an audience she knows primarily through the screen. The interesting question concerns how that personality will be translated into a new brand: how much of her past will be carried over and how much will be left out. A bit like Marc Jacobs did with the company that changed hands – the name has remained, the designer continues to create, and he – Jacobs – can afford to be simultaneously the creator, the personality, the collector, the observer and the star of his own social media, with or without false nails. **Fashion, at this stage in their lives, seems to have broadened its horizons.** The clothes remain, of course, as do the shop, the fashion show, the logo and the collection, but around them have emerged film, books, cuisine, awards, foundations, collaborations and social media. The fashion designer is no longer merely the person who presents a collection (many) times a year but has become a figure capable of generating attention in many different forms. Perhaps this is the true continuity between different generations of creatives: the ability to change one’s craft before the craft changes them. Jacobs achieves this through a new corporate phase and an increasingly free-spirited personal creativity. Von Fürstenberg through a platform dedicated to women, with books and a still very active intellectual life; Giannini through music, writing, consultancy and a Roman bistro; and Donatella through a brand that has yet to be named (most likely her own), but which is born under the banner of her presence. While fashion has made them famous, the challenge—and indeed the privilege—will be to determine how to leverage that fame when the calendar is no longer enough. Fashion can wait for the next show; what matters to them is not remaining faithful to their own legend, but continuing to surprise it.