De la Renta was born Oscar Aristides Renta Fiallo in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father. 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 became interested in the world of fashion 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 as well as designing 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. 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...
When it comes to elegance my first thought goes to Oscar de la Renta.I am a big fan of his clothes, and I really enjoyed the Oscar de la Renta Women's SpringSummer '10 runway at New York Fashion Week '10-'11.I hope u feel the same way...
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ReplyDeleteLovely ! He's amazing !