Óscar de la Renta

Óscar de la Renta, portrayed in 2008 at the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, Spain

Óscar de la Renta (born July 22, 1932 in Santo Domingo , Dominican Republic , as Óscar Aristides Ortiz de la Renta Fiallo ; †  October 20, 2014 in Kent , Connecticut , United States ) was a Dominican fashion designer , who was one of the most influential by fashion critics 20th century fashion designers.

Life

Óscar de la Renta emigrated to Spain at the age of 18 , where he studied painting at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid . From the mid-1950s, however, he very quickly turned to designing women's fashion. In 1957 he got a job at Eisa in Madrid, the couture atelier of the important Spanish fashion designer Cristóbal Balenciaga . De la Renta describes his time at Balenciaga as the best fashion school he could attend. After design offers from Dior and Lanvin , de la Renta continued his work in Paris from 1960, where he worked for Antonio Castillo as a fashion assistant for Lanvin . He kept the Balenciaga style he had learned in Paris.

After de la Renta's move to New York in 1963, he worked for Elizabeth Arden and the fashion company Jane Derby, among others . The experience he gained there helped him in 1967 to create his own brand for clothing and perfumes under the name Óscar de la Renta . Just two years later, de la Renta sold his young company to the fashion group Richton International, but stayed with the company as chief designer. In 1970 he launched menswear under his name. In 1973, de la Renta was appointed chairman of the influential American fashion association CFDA for three years . In 1974 de la Renta bought his company back from Richton International. In 1976 the young Miss O line was added to the de la Rentas range. In 1977 the company's first perfume was launched; since then numerous perfumes have appeared. From 1987 to 1989 de la Renta was again President of the CFDA. By the late 1980s, Óscar de la Renta's enterprise value was already estimated at half a billion US dollars. In 1992 he was appointed artistic director of the Parisian fashion house Balmain , which he left in 2002, two years before it went bankrupt. In 1995 the portfolio was expanded to include the second line Óscar by Óscar de la Renta , in 2002 with designer furniture and in 2003 with bridal wear. In 2004 the O Oscar diffusion line was launched and a flagship store opened on Madison Avenue in New York City. There are also Óscar de la Renta shops in Punta Cana , Dubai and Riyadh, among others .

The fashion of the house is now sold exclusively under the name Óscar de la Renta for women and children. Women's fashion is presented on the catwalk at New York Fashion Week . The second lines and men's fashion (with the exception of one licensed line) were discontinued. Only the Pink Label sub-brand for lingerie still exists. De la Renta gained particular fame because he dressed important personalities such as Jackie Kennedy , Nancy Reagan , Hillary Clinton and Barbara Bush .

In 1967 Óscar de la Renta married Françoise de Langlade (1921–1983), editor of the French edition of Vogue . In 1984 he adopted a son, Moises. In 1989 de la Renta's second marriage was the designer Annette Reed (* 1939). He had stepchildren from both marriages. Since 1969 de la Renta was a Dominican citizen as well as a US citizen. In 1990 (life's work), 2000 (women's fashion), 2007 (women's fashion) and 2013 (founder award) he was awarded prizes by the CFDA. De la Renta died on 20 October 2014 at the age of 82 years at his home in Kent, Connecticut, from the effects of cancer .

Web links

Commons : Oscar de la Renta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cathy Horyn, Enid Nemi: Oscar de la Renta, Who Clothed Stars and Became One, Dies at 82. In: The New York Times . October 20, 2014 (obituary, English), accessed October 21, 2014.