Meet Talita Von Furstenberg, Fabulous Muse To Her Legendary Grandmother DVF

“Here I am in Florence, aged nine, on a shoot with my grandmother – I thought I was being so helpful,” giggles Talita Von Furstenberg, flicking through pictures on an iPad. There she is inside a giant paper bag, Victoria-Beckham-for-Marc-Jacobs-style; there she is with a gaggle of models; there she is cheesing for the camera with her grandmother, Diane. “They were giving me ‘jobs’ to do, like carry a sweater from one room to another. I felt so important!”

Today, the 18-year-old has a more legitimate role in the family business: she’s just been named the muse of DVF, which starts anew this season under the steady hand of Nathan Jenden, following the departure of Jonathan Saunders. Jenden and Talita go way back – keep scrolling through the iPad and you’ll find a happy snap of a blonde, gap-toothed little girl on the shoulders of a jeans-and-shirt-clad man pulling a face as she yanks his eyebrows 11 years ago on that same Cruise shoot, in Florence. “That’s Nathan,” she confirms. “He used to work with my mother 15 years ago, when she was designing. He really knows DVF inside out.”

Jenden officially came back into the DVF fold in January – he had worked alongside Diane for a decade, leaving the brand in 2010 to focus on his own label – and had three weeks to turn this collection around. Talita thinks he’s done a bang-up job. “He sees a piece of fabric, gets a paper and pencil and draws it – he just knows. That’s pure talent.” For autumn he’s designed a print-driven collection of multi-purpose pieces: think wrap dresses where a top layer of ruffle-trimmed chiffon peels off to reveal a slip dress underneath – “day-to-night, right there” – or mesh dresses, where an under layer can be peeled off, so it becomes a top to wear with jeans. “It’s all so easy and wearable,” says Talita, who models the collection in the accompanying campaign. “For a long time it felt like DVF had lost its purpose, but Nathan has brought the brand back to where it used to be, what I remember it to be.”

At a time when a lot of brands are freaking out, as the New Yorkers would say, about how to capture the minds and wallets of millennials – they don’t wear heels! They’re into sustainability! They’d rather spend money on avocado toast than a new coat! – it makes sense for DVF to pin its colours to the fresh faces of its young, fabulous progeny. Just as Maria Grazia Chiuri’s twenty-something daughter Rachele, or Clare Waight Keller’s teenaged twin daughters, keep both designers informed on younger customers’ habits, so too, Talita, who has built quite the following on Instagram (128,000 follows and counting) gives DVF a hotline to the modern socialite scene – and the girls who want to look like them.

Talita describes her style as “California cool” – she grew up there, though is now based in Washington, studying international relations at Georgetown – and admits she’s trying to break out of a black-for-evening rut. She plans to skewer the safe option with the yellow leopard-print wrap dress and the green cropped shearling jacket from the autumn collection. She follows Attico girls Giorgia Tordini and Gilda Ambrosio for Insta inspo. And as for the big shoe question – has her generation turned its back on sky-highs? – she’s noncommittal. “I prefer to wear sneakers, it’s so much more fun but then… your legs look better with heels.”

In New York she frequents Soho House and this week made a new discovery, Avra, an upscale Greek restaurant, but she’s happy studying in Washington. For now. “I definitely do want to go into fashion – design and styling really interests me. At the moment Nathan and I are working on a little TVF for DVF collection. I can balance it with school.” And with that, she’s back in the spotlight, posing for Vogue’s feed with art direction by her grandmother. “Move this way a little. Yes! That’s perfect,” says Diane. Fabulosity. It’s genetic.