Is it truly half a century since Diane von Furstenberg unveiled her knit jersey “wrap dress,” in 1974? Time flies, and a woman in a DVF wrap dress flies too. Von Furstenberg’s design was lightweight and looked good on almost everyone. It opened over the knee to show a bit of thigh. It was office-ready with a touch of sexy. And it came in endless colors and patterns. The truth is, one great silhouette can win you immortality and the wrap dress did it for Diane. Still, this daughter of Jewish parents, her mother a Greek resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor, had grit. Though she married a German prince, she went right out to build a business, then an empire, and has since taken leadership roles in the fashion industry. Find out about her continuously productive life (she’s now 77) in “Woman Before Fashion,” an exhibition organized by the Fashion & Lace Museum in von Furstenberg’s native city of Brussels, Belgium. —Laura Jacobs