Oscar de la Renta was one of the greatest fashion designers in the world who made the impossible, possible in the fashion world.
He was taught alongside to the top coutourier Cristobal Balenciaga. He established his fashion company worldwide, being the first American designer to present his collection in Paris. His style, always classy and aristocratic with colorful designs, was loved by everyone. He had strong social sensitivities and he always offered more than he could for the greater good.
He was the youngest of seven children and the only boy in his family. He was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic at 1932, to a Dominican mother, Carmen María Antonia Fiallo, and a Puerto Rican father, Óscar Avelino De La Renta, owner of an insurance company. The Fiallos, De la Renta’s mother’s family, was one of the oldest and greatest families in the Dominican society. Members of the family were poets, scholars, and businessmen, as well as top army brass. A maternal uncle, Luis Arístides Fiallo Cabral, was a doctor, lawyer, and architect, who received every degree the University of Santo Domingo could offer. Another maternal uncle, Fabio Fiallo, was a diplomat and poet. On his father’s side, De la Renta’s great-great grandfather José Ortíz de la Renta was the first mayor of Ponce, Puerto Rico, elected by popular vote and who had the distinction of serving as mayor eight times, the most ever for the city
At the age of 18, he went to study painting in Spain at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid.,when his mother died from complications of multiple sclerosis. For extra money, he drew clothes for newspapers and fashion houses. After Francesca Lodge, the wife of John Davis Lodge, the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, saw some of his dress sketches, she commissioned de la Renta to design a gown for her daughter. The dress appeared on the cover of Life magazine that fall. He quickly became interested in the world of fashion design and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, which soon led to an apprenticeship with Spain’s most renowned couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. He considered Cristóbal Balenciaga his mentor.
In 1961, de la Renta left Spain to join Antonio del Castillo as a couture assistant at Lanvin in Paris. In 1963, de la Renta turned to Diana Vreeland, the editor-in-chief of Vogue for advice, saying that what he really wanted was to “get into ready to wear, because that’s where the money is”. Vreeland replied, “Then go to Arden”. De la Renta proceeded to work for Arden for two years in New York City before he went to work for Jane Derby, an American fashion house. When Derby died in August 1965, de la Renta took over the label. From 1993 to 2002, de la Renta designed the haute couture collection for the house of Balmain, becoming the first Dominican to design for a French couture house.
In 1966, de la Renta became the third husband of Françoise de Langlade , an editor-in-chief of French Vogue who once worked for the fashion house of Elsa Schiaparelli. They were married until she died of cancer in 1983. After her death, de la Renta adopted a boy from the Dominican Republic and named him Moisés. In 1990, the designer married Annette Engelhard. De la Renta had stepchildren from both marriages, so some of them work at the company until today.
De la Renta presented four collections of 50 sets each. His design line features influences from his homeland with colorful, impressively bulky creations that are decorated with lace, wings and tails, as well as eccentric accessories. In 1977, de la Renta launched his fragrance, OSCAR, followed by an accessories line in 2001 and a homewares line in 2002.
De la Renta’s designs have been worn by a diverse group of distinguished women and celebrities like Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, Lora Bush, Princess Diana, Hillary Clinton, Michel Obama, the journalists Oprah Winfrey and Anna Wintour, the models Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford, the actresses Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz and Sara Jessica Parker, the singers Jennifer Lopez , Beyonce and Taylor Swift His own creation was also the gown of Amal Alamuddin in her wedding with George Clooney. In 2014, the George W. Bush Presidential Center hosted an exhibit entitled “Oscar de la Renta: Five Decades of Style” which shared the designer’s creations for Mrs. Bush and America’s First Ladies.
From 1973 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1988, he served as President of the CFDA. De la Renta served as a board member of the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and WNET. He served on the boards of several charitable institutions such as New Yorkers for Children, the America’s Society. He was chairman of the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute. He received an honorary degree from Hamilton College (New York) on 26 May 2013. The Dominican Republic honored him with the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella and the Order of Christopher Columbus. De la Renta founded the Casa del Niño orphanage in La Romana. He contributed extensively in the construction of a much needed school near his home at the Punta Cana Resort and Club in Punta Cana.
In 1967 and 1968, de la Renta won the Coty Award (the U.S. fashion industry “Oscars”) and in 1973 was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame. De la Renta’s talents received continual international recognition. Among them, he received the Council of Fashion Designers Designer of the Year Award in 2000 and in 2007. In February 1990, he was honored with the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award. King Juan Carlos of Spain bestowed de la Renta with two awards, the Gold Medal of Bellas Artes and the La Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil. He was recognized by the French government with the Légion d’honneur as a Commandeur. De la Renta held dual citizenship in the Dominican Republic and the United States. He was an Ambassador-at-Large of the Dominican Republic.
De la Renta was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and he died of complications from cancer on 20 of October, 2014, at his home in Kent, Connecticut, at the age of 82. A few days before his death, he set as his ‘successor’ the artistic director of the House Nina Ricci, Peter Copping.
“Luxury to me is not about buying expensive things; it’s about living in a way where you appreciate things. “
Oscar De La Renta
Source: Wikipedia
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