It’s only fitting this blog post is on #FBF as we’ve been flashing back to last Friday ever since.  As most of you darling readers  know Feven won the custom DVF-printed Fiat 500x The Woman I Wanted To Be contest.  (Insert Eritrean celebration chant, “elelele” here!)

Can you believe it? It’s something out of a movie! But that’s not the best part…we got to meet the woman we’ve admired from a far for so long, the icon, Diane von Furstenberg.

Paulo Coelho once wrote in his book The Alchemist, “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”  And so, “The Journey of a DVFxFiat” begins.

We were first introduced to DVF when our mother bought the most elegant-modern black and white chain link dress by DVF, a dress that is just as stylish today. We were 10-years-old at the time and loved everything our mother wore. Our mother is independent, brave, strong, and the most hard working woman we know. When she wants something she will work overtime for it, and even if our father could get it for her, it meant more to her that she could get it on her own! We love that about our mother and we love that our father supported her as that instilled the same independence within us.

The journey between 10-years-old and now, the challenges and lessons in between that have shaped the ‘woman we wanted to be’ is a much longer story, but let’s hit the fast forward to Feven’s trip to Ghana in December of 2013, where Feven had the privilege of designing two custom Twinship dresses inspired by the one and only DVF. In fact, the yellow dress that Feven is wearing in her winning contest photo was designed with only her DVF in mind.

“I was in the Makola Market in Accra going through piles of fabric and selected three different fabrics that reminded me of DVF. As I was searching through the piles, I fell in love with three fabrics that reflected DVF’s use of bold textiles and color.” 

In honor of DVF inspiring us to be the women we wanted to be, we decided to wear these dresses to the Journey of a Dress exhibit. And to cement this memory we had our good friend, Carolyn, take photos of us at the exhibit and stopped by the DVF photo booth. We point this out particularly because as millennials we hardly “develop” photographs, the frames we use today are our iPhones, excited to have a tangible memory, we pinned this photograph on our living room vision board as inspiration, and as a reminder of how far we have come, next to an article written about our hero and father in 1991.

Now here we are at,  “the tweet that launched a thousand votes,” as Helena jokingly says.

A few weeks ago, our really good friend, co-founder and fellow girlboss, @savvybridie tweeted @thereal_feven: “This @HouseOfDVF contest has our names on it.” To which Feven innocently replied, “you already know.” Let’s pause for a second – just want to point that darling Helena had been the official “Uber driver” for I HEART SAVVY for the last year as Feven sold her car and put the funds towards the startup. Talk about taking risk…it’s because we believe in our business, our team and ourselves that much.

The contest, in 140 characters tweet/tell us how you became the Woman You Wanted to Be and attach a photo that explains it all. Feven’s tweet, “From Eritrea to a refuge camp in Sudan, I carry the pride of my people and the strength of my mother. #DVFxFIATcontest.” And those 140 characters changed everything.

Last week, Feven got the call that she was Top 5 and that the contest was now open to the public to vote. Well, as you know, The Twinship and I HEART SAVVY love a challenge, so we worked together and basically asked everyone and their mothers  (LITERALLY) to vote. That in itself is another blog post but let’s just say, #hustle&heart.

A few days later Feven got the call she won and later discovered that she was going to meet Diane von Furstenberg! The first thought she had, “is this a dream?” And the second thought was, “I have to give her that third fabric from Ghana.”  And can you believe the fabric was in her DVF travel bag this whole time!

Enough writing about it on our blog…please share in experiencing this moment with us on E!

And it doesn’t stop there…Feven had the honor of sharing her/our story of how we got to America and more on the World of DVF blog.

Winning the a custom wrap Fiat is truly amazing for a number of reasons, one being Feven didn’t have a car, but meeting the woman who has fueled and inspired us to be the driver in our lives is a surreal feeling. As Feven says to Diane (her voice trembling with gratitude), “You’ve created a movement. You’ve empowered and inspired so many women. I feel like I can fly.” It’s true…DVF is a love brand and it’s movement.

And so we end this blog post the same way we started it, “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” 

A special thank you to Bridie for that tweet and for documenting this moment on her iPhone! You can see it on her Instagram @savvybridie! A special Thank you to E! news for capturing not just an interview but the greatest moment on this journey so far. A speical thank you to our mother and father who have shown us as Diane’s mother says, “fear is not an option.” A special thank you to Carolyn who actually took all those pictures of us at the ‘Journey of a Dress’ exhibit. A VERY special thank you to EVERYONE who voted. It’s not lost on us. And though ‘thank you’ is not enough, a very special thank you to Diane for reviving our dreams and to FIAT for the most fashionable car ever!  Wow, as Feven says, “I’m a DVF Girl For Life.”

xoxo,

Feven and Helena #twinship

p.s. always be the woman you’ve always wanted to be and in turn you will inspire others to do the same.