| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Oscar de la Renta |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia: Oscar de La Renta |
| Modern Fashion Encyclopedia: Oscar de la Renta |
Although he was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New York at the age of 30, Oscar de la Renta has become a great ambassador for American fashion. His appointment as designer to the French couture house of Pierre Balmain in 1992 was a historic occasion—the first time an American designer had been commissioned by French haute couture. The choice in many ways reflected the growing eminence of New York as a fashion force and the international status of American designers.
As a designer, de la Renta has inspired many international trends. During the 1960s, his clothes were elaborate and witty parodies of experimental street fashion: jackets and coats of bandanna-printed denim, embroidered hot pants under silk minidresses, or caftans made out of silk chiffon and psychedelic silk saris. He was largely responsible for initiating the ethnic fashion of the 1970s with gypsy and Russian fashion themes incorporating fringed shawls, boleros, peasant blouses, and full skirts. In the 1990s de la Renta was popular for his romantic evening clothes, glamorous, elegant, and made from richly opulent fabrics such as brocade, transparent chiffon, fox fur, ermine, and embroidered faille.
Throughout his career, de la Renta has concentrated on simple shapes and silhouettes to create dramatic and flashy statements. He has an inherent feeling for women's femininity and established fashion classics, such as variations of his portrait dresses in taffeta, chiffon, or velvet with ruffled necklines or cuffs, or his ornate luncheon suits, embroidered in costume jewelry and gold. Since founding his own company in 1967 to produce luxury women's ready-to-wear, de la Renta expanded to create jewelry, household linens, menswear, and perfumes. These products are marketed and sold all over Europe, Asia, and South and North America.
The designer had a well-traveled international fashion pedigree before establishing his own label business. He studied art at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, leading to a job at Balenciaga's Madrid couture house, Eisa. A move to Paris in 1961 brought him work as an assistant to Antonio De Castillo at Lanvin-Castillo. He moved with Castillo to New York in 1963 to design at Elizabeth Arden. Joining Jane Derby Inc. as a partner in 1965, he began operating as Oscar de la Renta Ltd. in 1973.
His first marriage to the late Françoise de la Langlade, editor-in-chief of French Vogue, in 1967 was an undoubted asset to de la Renta's business. Together they created soirées that were the equivalent of 18th-century salons. The environment enhanced the wearing of an Oscar de la Renta creation and provided valuable publicity, with frequent mentions in society columns. He has not forgotten his Dominican associations though and has been honored as its best-known native son and one of its most distinguished citizens with the Order de Merito de Juan Pablo Duarte. He also helped build a much needed school and daycare center in the republic for over 350 children.
Still designing in New York today, de la Renta continued to redefine American elegance with his famous womenswear line, Signature; the couture line, Studio; his ready-to-wear, and a range of sophisticated dresses and suits known as Miss. When in 2001 a signature line of accessories by de la Renta made its debut on the New York fashion scene, the designer was asked once again to describe the forces that influenced his design and sensibility. He told the New York Times ' "Fashion of the Times" column about the two places he lived as a child and young man, the Dominican Republic and Spain, and how they dramatically affected his work: "From my island side comes my love for the exotic, for color and light. From my Spanish side comes my love of gypsies and bullfighters," he said. And indeed, the new line of accessories—bags and shoes, boots and belts—repeats motifs familiar in de la Renta's earliest designs.
The drama and sexiness of high fashion is not ignored even in the simplest accessory. There is, after 36 years of design, a kind of rebirth for de la Renta in his accessories collection: "As clothes become more minimalist, you can tell who a woman really is by her accessories." And de la Renta's signature formula of casual, feminine, graceful, and comfortable yet elegant clothes prevails. If a design itself is very simple, then the materials used are luxurious. Utilitarian boots, for example, take on an entirely new status with heavy embroidery. If a particular design is complicated, then de la Renta edits the colors or the fabrics to produce a consistently wearable and classic line of clothing and accessories.
In 2001 de la Renta launched a fall collection for Balmain combining his love of the ethnic influence (Spanish-Russian) with hot colors and sleek sophisticated styling. Oscar de la Renta continues to be a major presence in the contemporary fashionable world.
Publications
On de La Renta:
— Kevin Almond; updated by Kathleen Bonann Marshall
| Wikipedia: Oscar de la Renta |
| Oscar de la Renta | |
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De la Renta, far left, with Maria Perez-Arton of WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, First Lady Laura Bush and designer Carolina Herrera, 2005
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| Born | July 22, 1932  Dominican Republic |
| Nationality | Dominican/Puerto Rican |
| Labels | Oscar de la Renta |
Oscar de la Renta (born July 22, 1932) is one of the world's leading fashion designers.
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Oscar de la Renta (born Oscar Aristides Renta Fiallo) was born in Santiago de los Caballeros in Dominican Republic, to a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father.[1] At the age of 18 he left the Dominican Republic to study in Spain, where he studied painting at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He quickly changed his focus to fashion. While living in Spain, he became interested in the world of design and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, which soon led to an apprenticeship with Spain's most renowned couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. Later, de la Renta left Spain to join Antonio Castillo as a couture assistant at Lanvin in Paris.
In 1963, torn between designing custom clothing for Elizabeth Arden, shoes and accessories and designing ready-to-wear for Christian Dior-New York, de la Renta turned for advice to Diana Vreeland, the Editor-in-Chief of Vogue, 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 because you will make your reputation faster. She is not a designer, so she will promote you. At the other place, you will always be eclipsed by the name of Dior."[2] De la Renta proceeded to work for Arden for two years before he in 1965 went to work for Jane Derby and launched his own label. When Derby died in August 1965 Oscar de la Renta took over the Label.[3].
He was one of the three major protégés of Baron de Gunzburg, the others were Bill Blass and Calvin Klein.[4]
Two of his major competitors are Carolina Herrera and Carmen Marc Valvo.
De la Renta's talents receive continual international recognition. Among them, he received the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year Award in 2000 and in 2007 (tied with Proenza Schouler). In February 1990, he was honored with the CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award. From 1973 to 1976, and from 1986 to 1988, he served as President of the CFDA. He is also a two-time winner of the American Fashion Critic's Award and was inducted into the Fame in 1973. In 1993 to 2002, Oscar de la Renta designed the haute couture collection for the house of Pierre Balmain, becoming the first Dominican to design for a French couture house.
The Dominican Republic has also honored him with the order al Mérito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the Order of Cristóbal Colón. De la Renta has contributed extensively in the construction of a much needed school near his home at The PUNTACANA Resort and Club in Punta Cana.
De la Renta serves as a board member of the Metropolitan Opera, New York Opera House, Carnegie Hall, and WNET. He also serves on the boards of several charitable institutions such as New Yorkers for Children, the America's Society and is presently chairman of the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute.
His clothes were worn by many celebrities, including Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush, Jenna Bush, and others.
De la Renta was solely a Dominican citizen due to past United States law prohibiting dual-citizenship. He renounced his Dominican citizenship in 1971, (a formality required by the US, given that Dominican citizenship is non-renounceable) when he was naturalized as a United States citizen. Although he was offered the post of Dominican ambassador to the United States, de la Renta refused to part with his newly acquired citizenship, and declined the nomination. Today he holds both a US and a Dominican passport.
In 1967, de la Renta became the third husband of Françoise de Langlade (1931–1983), an editor-in-chief of French Vogue who once worked for the fashion house of Elsa Schiaparelli. She previously was married to businessman Jean Bruère and diplomat Nicholas Bagenow. After her third marriage, Françoise de la Renta worked as a consultant to Elizabeth Arden, became a prominent hostess, had their Manhattan apartment decorated by Denning & Fourcade[5], and later opened her own decorating business (among her clients were Florinda Bolkan and Helmut Berger). Of her approach to fashion, she once said, "Oscar is not my favorite designer–just one of them." As The New York Times noted after her death, "She was also widely credited for some of the successes of her husband, the fashion designer Oscar de la Renta. Although she was not active in his business, she attracted many of the rich and famous to his shows."[6][7]
In 1989, the designer married Annette Reed (1939-). She is the former wife of American Heritage magazine publisher Samuel Pryor Reed and the only child of the German banker Dr. Fritz Mannheimer and his wife, Marie Annette Reiss.
De la Renta has stepchildren from both marriages; he adopted a Dominican child, Moises de la Renta.
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 | Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Modern Fashion Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oscar de la Renta". Read more |
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