O

scar de la Renta, you will be greatly missed.

For over half of a century Oscar de la Renta was a major player in the fashion industry. It all began as a young man studying art in Madrid. The swiftness of his ascent to success speaks to his iconic talent. He landed a job sketching with Cristóbal Balenciaga in 1957, moved on with Antonio Castillo at Lanvin in Paris. On his first day in New York he got hired to design Elizabeth Arden’s made-to-­order clothing line for her Fifth Avenue boutique. In two years he was designing under his own label.

Oscar de la Renta is an internationally known, household name when is comes to high-fashion. His work steals the scene at nearly every red carpet, having adorned Jennifer Garner, Cameron Diaz, Amy Adams, Emma Watson, Allison Williams, Taylor Swift Sandra Bullock, Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz and many, many more beautiful women. 

Since the most fashionable Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis every First Lady has donned an Oscar de la Renta dress.

 The first dress he ever made was made for the U.S. ambassador’s daughter Beatrice Lodge for her coming-out ball in Madrid, in 1956.

He loved the beauty of a woman, and pairing that beauty with the beauty of a dress. “There is no sound more feminine than a woman in a taffeta dress.”

The love he has for his dresses earned him a wealth of recognition in the community. Two years in a row, 1967 and 1968, he won the Coty Award and was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1973. Twice over he served as the President of the CFDA and twice was he a winner of the American Fashion Critic’s Award. In 1990, he was honored with the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award. Just last year he received the Founders Award from the CFDA.

The iconic designer was always working, and always strong, throughout his battle with cancer in the last few years of his life. We were all wowed by his show at NYFW just last month, and we will continue to look to his collections for inspiration.

​ 

Thank you Oscar for making the world a more beautiful place.