DVF Brings Women Confidence, and Style

March 6, 2008— -- For more than 40 years, fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg has been a champion of women, helping to define a new independent femininity through her clothes and lifestyle.

The designer who brings women "confidence, not clothes," is now bringing International Women's Day to the United States, in partnership with Vital Voices, a global women's organization.

"The older I get, the more impressed I am with women. I have yet to meet a woman who is not strong. They don't exist," she told Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America today.

The designer says she owes her strength and confidence to her mother, who survived the Holocaust.

"She went to the concentration camp at age 20. She came back at age 22 and she weighed 49 pounds. She was a miracle. She wasn't supposed to be alive. She wasn't supposed to have a child, and I was born 18 months later."

"My mother never, ever, told me about evilness. She only saw the beautiful things … she wanted to protect me from it."

"The one thing she always said is 'fear is not an option.' If I was afraid of the dark, she would lock me in a closet. It may not be politically correct, but after an hour in the closet, I realized there's no reason to be afraid of the dark," Von Furstenberg said.

Inspired by her mother, Von Furstenberg is now working to bring attention to women's rights abuses around the world with Vital Voices. "When I first encountered this organization [Vital Voices], I said, 'this is it.' I finally found the organization that believes in what I believe, and not in the not in the condescending way, not in a patronizing way, not in a judging way, but really equal …They equip women, give them strength and support."

In her new role, Von Furstenberg is hosting a documentary-style play based on the true stories of seven different women, from seven different countries, whose strength helped them survive and escape their own desperate lives.

"These are real women … growing up in countries where no one encourages them to dream," she said.