Mr. de la Renta after his last collection in September.
Gallery of Óscar Renta Fiallo
Diane Von Furstenberg - Front Row - Spring 2012 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, 2011.
Gallery of Óscar Renta Fiallo
Designer Oscar De La Renta (L) and Model Karlie Kloss (C) pose on the runway at the Oscar De La Renta fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2014 on February 11, 2014 in New York City.
Achievements
Designer Oscar de la Renta(L) and Michael R. Bloomberg attend the 2014 Carnegie Hall Medal Of Excellence Gala Honoring Oscar De La Renta at The Plaza Hotel on April 24, 2014 in New York City.
Designer Oscar de la Renta(L) and Michael R. Bloomberg attend the 2014 Carnegie Hall Medal Of Excellence Gala Honoring Oscar De La Renta at The Plaza Hotel on April 24, 2014 in New York City.
Designer Oscar De La Renta (L) and Model Karlie Kloss (C) pose on the runway at the Oscar De La Renta fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2014 on February 11, 2014 in New York City.
Dominican Oscar de la Renta is an internationally known fashion designer whose designs for the last 30 years have had a trend-setting influence and have received international recognition. He is considered one of the most distinguished citizens of his native Dominican Republic, where he is also a philanthropist.
Background
Ethnicity:
His mother was Dominican and father - Puerto Rican.
Mr. de la Renta was born on July 22, 1932, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Born to a Dominican mother, Carmen María Antonia Fiallo, and a Puerto Rican father, Óscar Avelino De La Renta, owner of an insurance company, he was the only son of seven children, it is believed that this experience, along with his success, may have contributed to his understanding of women's fashion. His mother died from complications of multiple sclerosis when he was 18.
He belonged to a family of poets, scholars, mayors and highly successful individuals. Their origin in the island can be traced back to the foundation of San Carlos de Tenerife in 1685 by Canarian settlers. 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.
Education
Oscar de la Renta received an international fashion education. At 18 he left the Dominican Republic to study painting at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. He aspired to become an abstract painter.
In 1959 Mr. de la Renta left Spain to assist Antonio Castillo at Lanvin in Paris. He was also recruited by Christian Dior while he was still in Paris. During this time his work was highly influenced by Balenciaga. He visited New York City in 1962 and while he was at a ball with his friend Count Lanfranco Rasponi, he was offered a job by American fashion designer Elizabeth Arden. In 1963 he made his debut with the brand Elizabeth Arden and one of his designs was taken up by Helmut Newton for the following year’s American Vogue edition.
Despite the success that he gathered at Elizabeth Arden, Oscar de la Renta joined Jane Derby, with a 33 percent stake in the company in 1965. Also he began his own signature ready-to-wear label in 1965. The same year heiress Anne Ford wore his embroidered, ermine-edged wedding dress. Soon, he became famous with Vogue and his photograph was published in the 1967 edition. The label was an immediate hit thanks to Oscar de la Renta use of colour, his vibrant prints and romantic rendering of Spanish and Caribbean silhouettes.
Mr. de la Renta designed uniforms and interiors for Casa de Campo, a hotel in La Romana, in Santo Domingo in 1975. The success of his line led to the launch of a perfume in 1977, as well as expansion into diffusion and bridal lines later in his career. In 1982, with all the fame and money he had achieved, Oscar de la Renta tried to pay back to the society by founding La Casa del Niro for underprivileged Dominican children with his friend Xiomara Menendez.
While Oscar de la Renta expanded his lines and took them in a new direction in the 1990s, his pieces remained feminine and flattering. Between 1993 and 2002 Oscar de la Renta designed the haute couture collections for Balmain, becoming the first Dominican to design for a French couture house. By the late '90s and early 2000s, his work became the preferred wear of American first ladies. He dressed first lady Nancy Reagan in the 1980s, and then provided the gowns for inaugural events for both Hillary Clinton in 1997 and Laura Bush in 2005.
Besides his passion for haute couture, Mr. de la Renta was a tireless patron of the arts. At one time or another, he has served on the boards of The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and Channel Thirteen/WNET. He also supports several cultural institutions, including New Yorkers for Children, the Americas Society and the Spanish Institute.
In 2002, he added his name to a whole new business venture: furniture. His 100 pieces for Century Furniture featured dining tables, upholstered chairs and couches. In 2004, despite the risk of lessening the value of his brand as a whole, he added a less expensive line of clothing called O Oscar. He said he wanted to attract new customers whom he could not reach before.
(Presents the work of 28 leading Spanish fashion designers.)
Religion
Oscar de la Renta was raised Catholic.
Views
Quotations:
"Fashion is about dressing according to what's fashionable. Style is more about being yourself."
"The qualities I most admire in women are confidence and kindness."
"I wanted this, I wanted to do this, but my work is me, and it has to be right."
"I am not interested in shock tactics. I just want to make beautiful clothes."
"I always say: To be well dressed you must be well naked."
"I like light, color, luminosity. I like things full of color and vibrant."
"Gardening is how I relax. It's another form of creating and playing with colors."
"I don't really know how to do casual clothes."
"I'm a very restless person. I'm always doing something. The creative process never stops."
"I do not have one theme for each season, I just try to make beautiful clothes all year round."
"Now is the most exciting time in fashion. Women are controlling their destiny now, the consumer is more knowledgeable, and I have to be better every single day."
Personality
Physical Characteristics:
Mr. de la Renta had been diagnosed with cancer in 2006.
Connections
In 1967 Oscar de la Renta married Françoise de Langlade, an editor at French Vogue. The union made them one of the fashion industry's most famous husband-and-wife partnerships. It was her third marriage and the marriage ended when she died in 1983 due to cancer. In 1989, six years after the death of his first wife, he married Annette Reed, a respected American publisher. Mr. de la Renta had stepchildren from both the marriages and has an adopted son, Moises de la Renta.