Prince Egon von Fürstenberg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Memory palace (talk | contribs) at 20:26, 10 November 2016 (Added differentiation info between Egon and brother Sebastian.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Egon von Fürstenberg
Prince of Fürstenberg
Egon (left) with younger brother Sebastian and sister Ira in 1955
BornEduard Egon Peter Paul Giovanni Prinz zu Fürstenberg
(1946-06-29)29 June 1946
Died11 June 2004(2004-06-11) (aged 57)
SpouseDiane Simone Michelle Halfin
Lynn Marshall
IssueAlexander von Furstenberg
Tatiana von Fürstenberg
HouseHouse of Fürstenberg
FatherPrince Tassilo of Fürstenberg
MotherClara Agnelli
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Prince Egon von Fürstenberg (Eduard Egon Peter Paul Giovanni Prinz zu Fürstenberg, Prinz Egon zu Fürstenberg, 29 June 1946 – 11 June 2004) was a socialite, banker, fashion and interior designer, and member of the German aristocratic family (princely house, Fürstenhaus Fürstenberg).

In 1969 he married fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, with whom he had two children, Prinz Alexandre Egon (b. 25 January 1970) and Prinzessin Tatiana Desirée (b. 16 February 1971). They couple divorced in 1972. In 1983, he married Lynn Marshall (born ca. 1950), an American and a Mississippi native who was co-owner of flower shop; the couple remained childless.[1] Between his marriages Egon also had a male partner: he was frank about his bisexuality and the openness of his first marriage.[2]

Fürstenberg went on to author two books on fashion and interior design (The Power Look, 1978, and The Power Look at Home: Decorating for Men, 1980), and to open an interior design firm. He died in Rome on 11 June 2004 of liver cancer deriving from an earlier hepatitis C infection, and was survived by his children and both wives.

Family

Eduard Egon Peter Paul Giovanni Prinz zu Fürstenberg, born 29 June 1946 in Lausanne, Switzerland, was the elder son of Prince Tassilo zu Fürstenberg (1903–1989) and his first wife, Clara Agnelli (born 1920), elder sister of Fiat's chairman, Gianni Agnelli.[3] After Clara's departure his father married Texas oil heiress Dr. Cecilie Amelia Hudson, née Blaffer.[4]

Fürstenberg's younger brother is Prince Sebastian zu Fürstenberg,[citation needed] and his sister is socialite and actress Princess Ira zu Fürstenberg.

The House of Fürstenberg is an ancient German family which reigned over a small principality within the Holy Roman Empire until mediatized in 1806,[citation needed] henceforth retaining their official princely status until the fall of the German Empire in 1918,[citation needed] and thereafter maintaining aristocratic eminence through continued ownership of vast estates.[citation needed] Although zu rather than von is the predicate attached to the family's princely title (denoting that the family retained possession of, not merely past or nominal association with the Fürstenberg family seat), Egon and his sister chose to use the more familiar von for career purposes.[citation needed]

Ancestry

Family of Prince Egon von Fürstenberg
16. Karl Egon II, 9th Prince of Fürstenberg
8. Prince Maximilian Egon I of Fürstenberg
17. Princess Amalie of Baden
4. Prince Karl Emil of Fürstenberg
18. Richard, 5th Prince of Khevenhüller-Metsch
9. Countess Leontina Antonie of Khevenhüller-Metsch
19. Countess Antonia Maria Lichnowsky
2. Prince Tassilo of Fürstenberg
20. Count György Festetics de Tolna
10. Tassilo, 1st Prince Festetics de Tolna
21. Countess Eugénia Erdődy de Monyorókerék et Monoszló
5. Countess Maria Matilda Festetics de Tolna
22. William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton
11. Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton
23. Princess Marie of Baden
1. Prince Egon of Fürstenberg
24. Edoardo Agnelli
12. Giovanni Agnelli
25. Aniceta Frisetti
6. Edoardo Agnelli
26. Leopoldo Boselli
13. Clara Boselli
27. Maddalena Lampugnani
3. Clara Agnelli
28. Ranieri Bourbon del Monte, Prince of San Faustino
14. Carlo Bourbon del Monte, Prince of San Faustino
29. Maria Francesca Massimo, dei Principi di Arsoli
7. Princess Virginia Bourbon del Monte
30. George Washington Campbell
15. Jane Allen Campbell
31. Virginia Watson

Life

Egon von Fürstenberg was born at Lausanne, Switzerland,[5] was baptized by Pope John XXIII, and was thereafter brought up in great privilege in Venice, Italy.[2] He earned a degree in economics at the University of Geneva, followed by an 18-month term in the Peace Corps in Burundi working as a teacher, and then two years as an investment banker in New York.[2]

It was while studying at university that he met fellow student[2] Diane Simone Michelle Halfin,[5] a Belgian-born Jewish woman of Romanian-Greek descent and daughter of a Holocaust survivor (on her mother's side). They married on 16 July 1969 at Montfort-l'Amaury, Yvelines, France.[citation needed] The new Princess Diane von Fürstenberg was pregnant, and Egon's father, who also objected to him marrying a Jew, boycotted the ceremony.[6]

His wife opened her own fashion house in New York, at Egon's urging, creating a novel, eventually iconic wrap dress, a career as designer that pre-dated and arguably eclipsed Egon's.[citation needed] Fürstenberg began his career as a buyer for Macy's, taking night classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology,[7] and Parson's School of Design.[citation needed]

The von Fürstenberg's had two children, Prinz Alexandre Egon (b. 25 January 1970) and Prinzessin Tatiana Desirée (b. 16 February 1971).[5] They were divorced[5] in 1972.[citation needed]

Furstenberg began independent work as a fashion designer in 1977,[citation needed] designing clothes for plus-size women, and later expanding to full fashion and product licensing, with ready-to-wear, fragrance, and made to measure lines based in Rome.[citation needed] Next von Furstenberg designed ready-made clothing for the masses, and an off-the-peg (ready-to-wear) line of fashion.[citation needed]

Fürstenberg wrote two top selling books:[citation needed] The Power Look (1978), a guide to fashion and good taste, and The Power Look at Home: Decorating for Men (1980), a book on home furnishings (see below). He opened an interior design firm in 1981.[clarification needed][7] In 1991 he exhibited at Alta Moda days in Rome.[citation needed]

Fürstenberg collected art, and his collection included works by Zachary Selig.[8][page needed]

Egon von Fürstenberg died at Spallanzani Hospital in Rome on 11 June 2004.[5]New York Post,[who?] reported Fürstenberg's widow stating that he died of liver cancer caused by a hepatitis C infection that he acquired in the 1970s.[citation needed]

Published works

Fürstenberg's published works included:[citation needed]

  • The Power Look, 1978, New York, NY, USA: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, ISBN 0030204569 and 9780030204562.[full citation needed]
  • The Power Look at Home: Decorating for Men, 1980, New York, NY, USA: Morrow, ISBN 068803599X and 9780688035990.[full citation needed]

References

  1. ^ Rourke, Mary (12 June 2004). "Egon von Furstenberg, 57; Gave Up Banking Career for Fashion Design". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d Wohlfert-Wihlborg, Lee The Original Von Furstenberg, Egon, Wakes Up to His Own Potential, People, December 21, 1981 Vol. 16 No. 25; http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20081006,00.html
  3. ^ "Clara Agnelli". Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  4. ^ "Cecil Blaffer "Titi" von Fürstenberg, a patron of the arts and a member of a family that combined two great Texas oil fortunes". Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Egon von Furstenberg, 'Prince Of High Fashion,' Dies at 57", The New York Times, New York City, 12 June 2004
  6. ^ "This Day in Jewish HIstory //1946: An ex-serene highness and fashion guru is born - This Day in Jewish History". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  7. ^ a b Wohlfert-Wihlborg, Lee (21 December 1981), "The Original Von Furstenberg, Egon, Wakes Up to His Own Potential", People, 16 (25), retrieved 17 July 2015
  8. ^ Joan A. Quinn, 1989, "Click: Zachary Selig honors Prince Egon von Furstenberg." The Herald Examiner, 26 January 1989.[page needed]

Further reading

  • Mary Rourke, 2004, "Egon von Furstenberg, 57; Gave Up Banking Career for Fashion Design," Los Angeles Times (online), 12 June 2004, see [1], accessed 14 July 2015.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prince_Egon_von_Fürstenberg&oldid=748860385"