End of an Icon: Designer Oscar de la Renta Passes

Oscar de la Renta, 2011, NY Times

Oscar de la Renta, 2011, NY Times

Meg Power, Staff Writer

 

Haute couture’s daring and vibrant luminary Oscar de la Renta leaves an impressive legacy behind with passing away on October 22 at age 82.

Dominican born, Oscar de la Renta was the oldest of several siblings and the only boy. Raised in a protective, devout household, he never experienced the impoverished upbringing of many of the other Dominican youths. With a father who owned an insurance company and a mother who descended from a long line of scholars, poets, and businessmen, the de la Rentas maintained a comfortable lifestyle.

In 1950, Oscar ventured to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid to study painting. He began revolutionizing the world of high fashion with his original, dramatic, and eye-catching designs at the precipice of 1951, at the blossoming age of nineteen during Francisco Franco’s reign.

De la Renta initially never had any interest in fashion; only creating quick fashion sketches to earn some money to feed the expensive studies toward his abstract-painter future. Cristobal Balenciaga, one of Spain’s most accomplished couturiers, afforded the growing talents of de la Renta his first apprenticeship, strictly sketching dresses and sending them to clients.

It wasn’t until the US Ambassador to Spain’s wife, Francesca Lodge, saw a few of his sketches and kickstarted his career. He was immediately commissioned by Lodge to design a gown for her daughter, the gown appearing on the fall cover of Life magazine. It took de la Renta no time to become fascinated with the fashion world after earning such quick success. He started to submit illustrations to magazines scattered around Spain.

He worked with the renowned designer and his fashion house for over a decade, eventually considering his employer as more than just a mentor, but a friend and confidant as well.

In 1961, he found his first, real job in fashion at the studio of Lanvin-Castillo while vacationing in Paris. Hired to be his assistant, Oscar de la Renta reflected to Bernadine Morris, a fashion reporter for The New York Times.

“He loved me because I spoke Spanish, and he asked me if I could cut, drape and sew, and of course I said yes. He offered me a little more money than Dior, and I said I would start in two weeks. Then I went to a fashion school and asked the woman who ran it if she could teach me the year’s course in two weeks.”

Within a matter of 4 years, De la Renta progressed his career further than anyone else had imagined. Receiving this huge push in his career, he moved to America, staking claim in the one of the world’s fashion capitals New York City. The big move provided him with a plethora of opportunities for work, including the employment of cosmetic empress Elizabeth Arden who was the wealthiest women on Earth at the peak of her career.

Finally gaining a firmness in his footing, Oscar began his own ready-to-wear collection in 1965.

For fifty years, Oscar de la Renta transformed haute-couture and took it in a completely new and daring direction. His pieces adorned the bodies of a broad scale of women. Icons, fictional and nonfictional, such as Sarah Jessica Parker from Sex in the City, supermodel Kate Moss, First Lady Nancy Reagan and Beyonce composed a small sliver of his clientele, as well as female socialites of affluent families.

De la Renta was determined to stay relevant throughout the decades; becoming prevalent in the two drastically different realms of fashion: nice, uptown and glitzy, glamour. It was the dramatic fashion designs for his Hollywood clients that earned him a name in fashion, defining him in a new age. He also acted as president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America twice, won a lifetime achievement award from the same establishment, and became the first American fashion designer to show at Paris Fashion Week.

Besides being a fashion designer, Mr. de la Renta was a dedicated patron to the visual and performing arts. He supported multiple culture-enriching institutions such as Americas Society and New Yorkers for Children and served on the boards of companies like The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Channel Thirteen.

Unfortunately, a turn of events began. In 2006, de la Renta was diagnosed with cancer but remained resilient and continued his business and artistic endeavors. Over the eight years of being intermittently ill, he grew the company over 50 percent; over $150 million in sales. Due to complications with the terminal illness, Oscar de la Renta died at the grand age of 82.

With his passing, many celebrities and fellow designers voiced their upset. Nothing but appreciation, respect, and love was showered on him during his memorial. Anna Wintour, Fashion’s most iconic woman and Editor in Chief of Vogue Magazine, stated some very heartwarming things about her long-time friend.

In an obituary published on the Vogue website, Wintour described that “he was the most democratic man I knew and he would have lived happily and defined any era. He was happy dining with the rich and famous, for sure, but equally happy playing dominoes with his devoted staff. His designs reflected his extraordinary personality: optimistic, fun, sunny, romantic.”

Behind him, Mr. de la Renta leaves behind a monstrous fashion empire that is both original and a big business, a very hard balance to maintain. He was the last fearless survivor of bold designing and the remarkable impression he has left behind will forever remain.