Last year, 82 years old, the designer Oscar de la Renta passed away. And WITH IT WAS A WHOLE ERA IN THE HISTORY OF FASHION - SIMPLE, ELEGANT BEAUTY. TODAY WE REMEMBER THE MAIN MILESTONES OF HIS CAREER.
Interesting facts: Oscar de la Renta (1932-2014)
- The family of de la Renta had seven children, of whom Oscar was the only boy.
- De la Renta was twice married: His first wife was the editor of the French Vogue, and the second was the American aristocrat Annette Reed.
- It was he who introduced the concept of how fashion victim - "fashion victim".
- In 2009, the designer was awarded the prestigious Superstar Award for his invaluable contribution to the development of the American fashion industry.
- The last creation of the designer is a wedding dress by Amal Alamuddin, the wife of George Clooney.
Oscar de la Renta belonged to the generation of fashion designers who studied classical couture of the 50s and began to create modern fashion, as we see it today. Despite the fact that the designer spent most of his life in America, he had a real European couture school from Cristobal Balenciaga himself. In the Madrid studio of the Spanish genius, the training of de la Renta began, who came here at the age of 18 from the Dominican Republic to study painting at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts of SanFernando.
However, in Madrid he quickly became interested in fashion, and in order to earn some money, he began to draw various sketches and illustrations for glossy magazines. After some time, he became an apprentice in Eisa - the Spanish part of couture sewing Balenciaga. Like many talented people, his path to fame took more than one day. To get into the Balenciaga House, the young man took as much as 10 years. Luckily, the wife of the American ambassador to Spain Francesca Lodge - and de la Renta's family belonged to high society - ordered a dress for her daughter from 28-year-old de la Renta. The future designer did not disappoint the first client, putting all her soul and imagination into an amazing outfit. The girl became the star of the evening, and the dress was on the cover of Life magazine. From this began the career of a designer.
De la Renta often liked to joke about the fact that he was not close to the master: "In Balenciaga, I mostly raised pins from the floor." Nevertheless, his sewing technique and the accuracy of classical proportions more accurately than all other designers who at one time worked for Balenciaga repeated the hand of the master. De la Renta was not a revolutionary, he did not create futuristic masterpieces and did not invent fantastic silhouettes. Of all the designers, he used one of the stylistic techniques that he simply “polished” with each collection: the crinoline, which he always made shorter in front than behind, lightened the silhouette of the dress, and the waist, slightly raised due to the assembly on his stomach, seemed even thinner.
The designer had a rare talent for doing insanely beautiful things in the classical sense of the word, when all the advantages of a female figure are emphasized. He knew how to sing true beauty and did it with the ease of a genius. Bright, cheerful colors, rich embroidery, Spanish lace, silk of dense texture, his favorite taffeta - all these elements, conservative in design, may not be new, but always up-to-date - all this embodied the "design from Oscar".
In 1961, de la Renta left the House of Madrid in order to conquer Paris. In the fashion capital, the designer began working with Antonio del Castillo, creative director of the French House Lanvin, who invited de la Renta to his team. The Dominican fashion designer possessed inhuman charm and self-confidence - and in a couple of years he got acquainted with all the key figures in the fashion world. Having made friends with the Duchess of Windsor, the fashion designer soon adjusted his personal life: thanks to the socialite de la Renta, he met his first wife, the chief editor of the French Vogue, Francoise de Langlad, one of the most influential women in the world of fashion and style. Bohemia of the 60s, glamor of the 70s, jetset lifestyle, the world of beau monde became his everyday reality ...
However, de la Renta was not blinded. He was a very practical person who early guessed the needs of modern society. Possessing a business vein, de la Renta could foresightly predict that the future of fashion is not in the magic of couture, but in the democratization of pret-a-porter clothes. He wanted to build his own business and cherished to grow a big dream in the land of endless possibilities - in America. Dreaming of conquering the New World market, de la Renta turned for advice to his wife's colleague, the editor of the American Vogue Diana Vreeland.
Instead of going to work with famous fashion designers, in whose shadow there was a risk of staying forever, Vreeland advised him to go to Elizabeth Arden’s House: “You will quickly build your reputation with her. She is not a designer and will always promote you. It's better than being in shadows like Dior. " In 1963, de la Renta came to conquer New York, and two years later he came to Jane Derby. When she died, he bought her brand and replaced her name with his own. So the company Oscar de la Renta appeared.
In the 70s, he released one collection after another, and they determined the designer's cosmopolitan style, his romantic message and particular femininity. For this, everyone loved him - he had the gift to make beautiful all those whom he dressed. Reviews of the collection were full of phrases “J'adore Oscar!”, And I wanted to buy his dresses directly from the shows. They were never "sloppy" or vulgar.
De la Renta often admitted: "Creating beautiful dresses, I was always a little in love with my clients." Friendship and warm relations with customers continued to be the key to successful creativity.
Together with his wife Francoise, they were always in the thick of New York social life, with her receptions at the first ladies, night parties in the famous Studio 54 and balls at the American writer Truman Capote. Someone even called them power couple - the bohemian New York lay at the feet of Oscars and the French. He was considered the chief designer of Manhattan, even more - the prestigious Upper East Side. The first ladies of the United States, starting with Jackie Kennedy, also melted away from his compliments during the fitting. Combining aristocratic manners with the ability to keep himself in society and sociability, he was the embodiment of an impeccable gentleman ... Later, the designer sewed inaugural dresses for Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. And Audrey Hepburn, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Sarah Jessica Parker showed off his dresses on the red carpet, joking: "You need to dress for an Oscar from an Oscar!"
It is impossible not to mention his special love for the design of wedding dresses. If the designer’s cult collections combine luxurious flowers as a decor: peonies, roses, hydrangeas - and unbridledly joyful juicy tones, then de la Renta's wedding works are real works of art. Fluffy skirts that emphasize the waist of corsages, graceful neckline, demonstrating the beauty of women's shoulders, a branded high hem of the skirt, slightly opening the bride’s leg, but most importantly - the abundance of the finest lace made each bride even more beautiful. His latest creation was a wedding dress for Amal Alamuddin, wife of the most famous Hollywood bachelor George Clooney, which put a beautiful point in the half-century career of a fashion designer. We will miss the smiling genius who knew how to sing feminine beauty in the saturated colors of Spain, in the grandeur of his native Santo Domingo, the romance of Paris and the unbridled love of New York ...
