Diane von Furstenberg has recruited Henry Zankov, the CFDA’s Emerging Designer of the Year, to design a special capsule that will be sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman, the DVF flagship in the Meatpacking. District and dvf.com.
“I used to work here [at DVF] as well. We are very close. We both have a strong fascination with color and patterns and prints, and it made sense to come together and work on something,” said the 44-year-old Zankov in an interview at DVF’s offices in New York’s Meatpacking District.
Zankov and von Furstenberg, who worked together for four years, stayed close once he left to start his own designer company in 2020.
Taking a reporter through the DVF x Henry Zankov capsule, he pointed out looks such as as a Bali floral garnet sequined mesh dress, a fringe knit cardigan, a merino wool and cashmere dress, and an Infinity geo merino wool turtleneck.
The color palette features acid yellows, rich brown, and baby blues offset by deep burgundies. Elevated fabrics include chiffon, silk and cashmere, with materials including metallic Japanese lurex, satin, and cashmere intarsia braid with embellishments such as digitally printed sequins, paillettes, and intricate hand embroidery. Prints include broken polka dot, paisley, batik, and ombre polka dot. Silhouettes are long and loose, and shapes borrow from the world of menswear, with subtle wrapping techniques that nod to DVF’s legacy.
A look from the DVF x Henry Zankov collection.
Lexie Moreland for WWD
“You see Diane’s energy in here, but it’s never literal. It’s really looking at her life when she started, to now. This woman who has lived in the city and spent a lot of time in her country house in Connecticut and spent a long time in Bali,” said Zankov, adding that it represents the duality of city and country living.
Without being nostalgic, Zankov said he looked through the DVF archives and came up with pieces that are hand-embroidered, some are cashmere, and there’s the paillette idea in broken polka dot.
“All of her prints have movement in them. We have this beautiful polka dot that’s not static, but irregular. There are batik prints from Bali mixed with geo,” Zankov said. “I took a Bali floral and did an embroidery version of that in tulle with a little overlay. Even though it’s very feminine, it’s also about this urban woman. It’s about somebody who can mix all these pieces that are meant to interchange and clash, and they’re not supposed to be matchy-matchy.
“Obviously this is a wrap dress house,” Zankov said. ” We didn’t want to do anything literal. We have scarves and bandanas. And a top that’s not a traditional wrap dress.”
Zankov said he worked on the collection, which has 30 stock-keeping units, for six months. While his name won’t be on the label, it will be a different color than the label on the main DVF collection, which is designed by Nathan Jenden, vice president of creative and design at DVF, who returned to the brand in January 2024 as a consulting designer and was named creative director in January 2025.
Joining Zankov in the interview were Graziano de Boni, chief executive officer of DVF, and Jenden, who spoke about the rationale for the DVF x Henry Zankov capsule and what they hope to accomplish with it.
De Boni explained that after DVF took the business back in-house in February 2024 from its Chinese licensee and distributor Glamel, 2024 was a transition year. For 2025, the strategy was to basically “go live” with the business in February, and “test, evaluate and adjust.”
Jenden, who has been with DVF on and off since 2001, and most recently left in 2020, was responsible in the past for some of DVF’s bestselling styles. The first collection under Jenden’s creative direction was spring 2025. They’re now six months into it and have been learning.
“Diane was thinking of the legacy of DVF, the business. The legacy of the brand has been longtime secure and it’s a forever brand, but the business has had its ups and downs, there’s no secret in that respect. That’s why I also came on board,” said de Boni
According to de Boni, there are two things at the core of this: One is to make sure whatever they do reflects the authenticity of what the brand is about. He said the brand has an iconic DNA, with its wrap dress, prints and other signatures. The other element is to elevate the product, and go back to the level it had when it started out, using better materials and better quality overall. He said it was having an attitude of thinking they are a designer brand.
An ad image from DVF x Henry Zankov.
Courtesy of Diane Von Furstenberg
“It has nothing to do with the price positioning because we like where it is, but the spirit started with Diane and what she’s done and what she represents, not just in the world of fashion, but in general.”
De Boni said they discussed, “What do we need to do so the company is relevant for today’s customer, and how do we bring in a young customer?
“I’m a heritage brand [of 53 years]. We have three generations who love this brand. I want to make sure I’m right for all of that. I want them to be happy wearing our product. We also want to be in the conversation and in her mind. Sometimes a heritage brand doesn’t need an overall shake-up, it just needed an evolution,” de Boni said.
To that end, he wanted to do something unexpected “injecting elements of modernity and elements of novelty, elements that sometimes are unexpected, they surprise, and she [the customer] says, ‘look what DVF is doing.’”
They began thinking about talent that is New York-based, both creatively and on the communications, narrative and storytelling side. De Boni said he was talking to their vice president and head of design, Morgan Hill, and she recommended he meet with her friend, Zankov.
De Boni and Zankov befriended each other last year and had conversations. De Boni found out Zankov used to work for von Furstenberg. “Diane has always done things in a unique and unexpected way. If we’re going to do a collaboration, it needs to be authentic. What’s better than going back to an alum designer — someone who worked with Diane, knows Diane, and worked with her sketches and fabrics. It becomes a natural collaboration.”
Jenden said, “Diane is the designer. We have codes and a brand vocabulary, and it felt that Henry’s vocabulary worked with, exploded a little bit and added another level in. Using the same playful sense of color and a slightly ‘devil may care attitude,’ felt like it was told in a different way, it wasn’t a random collaboration. Henry is part of the family.”
Zankov definitely feels the connection with von Furstenberg. “I think Diane and I have a very strong personal relationship. We definitely have a fascination with color and pattern. Aesthetically it also made sense, I think, for me [and] my brand. I mostly do knitwear, and it gave me an opportunity to experiment with wovens and silk and embroidery and really look at the whole wardrobe and not just through the knitwear lens,” Zankov said.
“We’re taking Diane’s heritage and what she represents today. What’s also strong is Diane herself. She’s timeless and her energy and wisdom are timeless and transcend age. It’s really about this woman who has this inner confidence. And this duality makes her who she is. A woman who lives in the city but also spends time outside the city,” Zankov added.
Reached in Europe, von Furstenberg said Zankov brought a fresh point of view to the capsule. “It’s his interpretation. They all went to the same school. They all grew up at DVF. So it’s in their DNA,” she said.
Asked if the Zankov collaboration will go beyond one season, she said, “We’ll see. DVF is formula dressing, and I want to go back to this formula dressing, and then you bring in groups that tell a story.”
She said it’s very exciting that the capsule will be sold in Bergdorf’s. “I think it’s very nice first thing that we are doing. I like the direction that it’s going, and I like the direction of the alumni.…It’s always interesting to see the interpretation of young people,” von Furstenberg said.
Jenden said there have been collaborations at DVF — such as the one with Target — “but never like this. This is very different, almost like an artist-in-residence.” Jenden said he worked closely with Zankov on the collection, and they were on the phone with each other every day. “He would take the clothes and reinterpret them and we would challenge each other,” Jenden said.
An ad image from DVF x Henry Zankov.
Courtesy of Diane Von Furstenberg
The DVF x Henry Zankov collection is priced about 10 percent higher than the main DVF line. It retails from $300 to $1,300. Zankov said whether it’s beaded or print, “everything has to have a sense of ease to it. How does it transcend time and your life day to day?” Zankov said.
The capsule is available to preorder Aug. 27 on bergdorfgoodman.com and will be available to purchase in-store and online from Sept. 3, before launching on Sept. 15 at DVF’s Meatpacking boutique and at dvf.com.
Yumi Shin, chief merchandising officer at Bergdorf Goodman, said, “Bergdorf Goodman is proud to celebrate the creative reunion of Diane von Furstenberg and Henry Zankov with the exclusive global launch of a limited-edition capsule collection. This collection marks the reintroduction of DVF at Bergdorf Goodman — an iconic brand reimagined through the lens of two visionary talents. We’re honored to present this capsule to our customers, offering a distinctive, inspired wardrobe edit exclusively available for a limited time at Bergdorf Goodman.”
Bergdorf’s plans a party for the DVF x Henry Zankov collection at the store, with Zankov and Jenden in attendance, on Sept. 4. Bergdorf’s will also carry DVF’s main line this fall. That line hasn’t been carried at Bergdorf’s since fall 2019.
The DVF x Henry Zankov ad campaign was shot by photographer Willow Williams and styled by Jermaine Daley.
Zankov said his favorite part of doing this collaboration “was working with all the patterns and colors that don’t match and the prints that are jarring. Also thinking about the longevity of this. How do the pieces live in your wardrobe for a long time and how do they become heirlooms?”
Asked how they attract a customer who may have not shopped DVF for a while, Zankov said, “I think she’ll be surprised in a good way. She’ll say, ‘This is so DVF.’”
“She may be surprised to see it’s DVF, and she may just like the clothes,” Jenden said.