`Prince' of high fashion dies
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-06-12 22:02

Egon von Furstenberg, a Swiss-born aristocrat who started his fashion career as a buyer for a New York department store and went on to be known as the "prince of high fashion" for his elegant ways and glamorous creations, died Friday in Rome, where he lived in a Renaissance palace. He was 57.

Egon von Furstenberg is cheered by his models at a 2002 show in Rome.

His fashion house said he died in a hospital but declined to give the cause of death.

A brief company statement spoke of the "premature death of our dear and most beloved Egon."

He was considered both eccentric and elegant.

During Rome's High Fashion weeks, a glittering event that draws stars like Sophia Loren, his designs were worn by some of the models whose "runway" was the Spanish Steps.

His creations included gowns or shorter dresses in bright hues like purples, yellows or reds, with often plunging necklines, slits or daring rear views.

His signature symbol spoke of his noble blood and love for high society -- it was a curvy crown with a star symbol.

Von Furstenberg was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, the descendant of a noble German family on his father's side. His mother was an Agnelli, the Italian family that controls Fiat.

He married the Belgian-born fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg in 1969, but they divorced soon after son Alexandre and daughter Tatiana were born. She married American media mogul Barry Diller in 2001.

Von Furstenberg seemed destined to a career in banking but he decided to follow his passion in fashion, with some of his friends from high society eventually become his clients. He was very close to a Russian princess, Irene Galitzine, who was a founder of Rome couture.

His start in the clothing business, though, was prosaic -- as a buyer for Macy's, the sprawling, world-famous New York department store. Early in his career he designed clothes for women wearing large sizes and in 1975 came out with a line of pullovers and men's shirts.

"He cut an extremely elegant figure and brought an Old World feeling to the made-in-Italy label," said designer Laura Biagiotti. "He must have loved fashion because he certainly didn't need to work."

He also put out a ready-to-wear line but was known for his high fashion collections, especially his concentration on color and a romantic look.

"Egon was a refined, bright and cheerful man with a great aesthetic sense, which he expressed in the world of fashion," said Carla Fendi, one of the five sisters of the Roman fashion house. "His death leaves me greatly saddened, and I will always remember him with affection," Fendi said.

Recalling von Furstenberg when he was with his wife, Diane, Fendi told The Associated Press: "The couple left me breathless for what a nice couple they made, for their beauty and for their innate elegance."

In Rome, his home was in a palazzo near the Pantheon.

Giovanni Agnelli, patriarch of the automaker dynasty, was his uncle. "Uncle Gianni got a real kick out of my work," von Furstenberg said last year after a much applauded show in January 2003, a few days after Agnelli's death.

A funeral was planned for Saturday in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Montesanto, also known as the Church of the Artists, in Piazza del Popolo, a Rome square. Burial was planned for Monday in a family tomb in Austria.

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