Diane Von Furstenberg was my first real interview

Yes it's true. About 2 years ago. It wasn't a complete disaster, but is wasn't pretty either. And by real I mean actually in person - not calling up some honor student's mom on the phone confirming the spelling of her kid's name.

You'd think that they would send out the intern - with no prior experience - having worked there for only two weeks - you'd think they'd send me out to report on something, say, along the lines of recapping the unique fellowship of Erma Ray's afternoon knitting circle. Not, however, to interview the creater of the wrap dress (something I'm embarrased to admit I didn't know on several different levels, but particularly because my family owns a clothing store, which, in fact, at one point carried her line) about her new cosmetics line. I'd just graduated from Clinique, people - what the crap did I know about some fancy overpriced make-up created by a bored fashion diva that wanted to add on to her already quite substantial empire. My editor helped me come up with questions.

So I head out to Sak's at the Galleria. A nightmare to get there in Dallas traffic. I have the cell number of Diane's assistant, Alexis, she tells me to meet them at the cosmetics counter where they will be giving free makeovers all day.

I should mention that I get really claustrophobic very easily - I'm talking sweat, red face, and general can't breathe-type panic. So you can imagine how I felt coming down the elevator into a swarming sea of teenage girls smacking on various flavors of fruity Bubbalicious. I push past the crowd and swing through the glass cases scanning for Diane. I make it all the way through where I'm spit out into the mall itself. No Diane. I walk back through the other way, meanwhile dialing up Alexis. Voicemail. I stand there not knowing what to do when a bushy, red-cheeked Sak's sales girl, clad in the typical "I'm a cosmetics consultant" black apron, asks me if I need help.

"Uh, yeah, I'm here to interview Diane Von Furstenberg..." I explain where I'm from. I don't think they entirely believed me, and being only an intern, I had no business cards to back up my story. But they did retrieve Diane for me. It seems she was behind the same counter I had walked past twice looking lost and panicked.

She seemed very calm. She's also really, really short. For some reason I'd expected her to be tall and commanding - not hidden behind the freaking counter.

Anyway, the interview, well, they plopped us down right in the middle of this mob of fans and makeover hounds. The Bubbalicious girls kept popping up while I was trying to ask a question, or she was attempting to answer. I was trying my best to seem professional, but it was really hard to hear through all the resounding "Oh my Gawds" around us. There were a lot of "can you say that again" and "what was that" and general looks from Diane like what the hell did you just ask me and I have no clue what you are talking about.

"Uh..." "Um..."

I got the general information - like her favorite item is the pink cheek stick. The article ran several (several) months later. Mostly because Alexis kept flaking out on sending images. (Again I don't think they believed I actually worked for a real publication).

I like to think I'm a little better at the whole interviewing thing now. But to always remind me of that first one, I've got a signed copy of Diane: A Signature Life sitting on my bookshelf. Of course, I've never actually read it.