Luxury fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg is a prominent face and leader in the industry. She invented the wrap dress, one of the most popular women’s styles of all time, and at this year’s Met Ball, she had her dresses draped around the likes of Kate Mara, Gigi Hadid and Kate Beckinsale.

And it all started with some important advice from her mother.

“My mother was a Holocaust survivor and, having survived 13 months in the concentration camps, she taught me that fear is not an option. And no matter what happens, never be a victim. Life is a journey, and when you face obstacles the only thing you can do is accept them and embrace the reality,” said Furstenberg in an interview with the New York Times.

In order to be successful, von Furstenberg believes you must be confident in the choices you make and follow your instincts. For this to happen, you must be able to trust yourself.

“That’s the most important thing. In order to trust yourself, you have to have a relationship with yourself. In order to have a relationship with yourself, you have to be hard on yourself, and not be delusional. It all goes back to the same thing,” said Furstenberg in the same interview.

Once you can navigate the relationship you have with yourself and are confident in the way you carry yourself and the decisions you make for yourself, only then can you factor in others. Concluded von Furstenberg:

“I think the relationship you have with yourself is everywhere, every moment of the day — to be able to be alone, to be able to think, to be able to count on yourself, to be able to console yourself, to be able to inspire yourself, to be able to give yourself advice. You are your best friend.”

Photo Credit: theredlist.com