A Lesson in Florals

From desktop to dress, follow the story of our custom floral Spring print.

Continuing our #DVFCraft series, we reveal the creation of our custom-made Curzon floral print— the vibrant flower pattern derived from sub-tropical, hot house blooms and a focal point of the Spring 17 collection.

If garments are brought to life by the people who wear them, then colors are brought to life by the prints in which they’re rendered. Prints are at the core of Diane von Furstenberg and fundamental to the brand’s DNA. Chief creative officer Jonathan Saunders weilds a career-long affinity with print and color, forging a distinct synergy with DVF’s heritage.

Our team of expert in-house print designers, led by Jonathan Saunders, immersed themselves in Balinese-inspired textiles from our expansive archive, decorative floral artworks, and archival botanical drawings. Thus the Curzon floral came to life.

As a true print house, our print designers begin from a point of artistic authenticity, preserving the integrity of the craft and design process by freely hand-drawing the initial print sketches. Combining traditional draughtsmanship with state-of-the-art technology, the sketches are first computer-scanned and digitized before being printed onto paper sheets to allow the designers to visualize and piece together the design.

To create the print, every shade of ink is custom-mixed to achieve a precise tone that compliments the others. The print design is first exposed onto individual silk screens before vivid dyes are hand-poured onto each screen by a specialist producer in China. Fine 100% silk is then screen printed and over-printed up with up to twelve different inks to achieve the complex, colorful and layered design.

Rolls of the finished, washed and dried printed silk is delivered to the New York City design studio where Saunders and his design team begins the process of draping and cutting the fabric until landing on the perfect shapes and silhouettes.