By: Gabriela Yareliz (with help from mom)
Oscar de la Renta has died at 82.
The world has lost one of its greatest designers. He was certainly one of my favorites. When I was a girl, I would read too many magazines (maybe I still do), and when I saw a dress I liked, I would find the little caption that said who the designer was. I began to realize the majority of the dresses that I liked were designed by the same man, De La Renta.
Very few do femininity, with the exception of Dolce & Gabbana, the way Oscar de la Renta does. And still, his is a distinct and unique style. He was a philanthropist, gardener, visionary, creator, husband, traveler, go-getter and maestro.
He founded an orphanage called Casa del Niño in La Romana, adopted a son, and supported the construction of a school in the Dominican Republic, his home. He worked as a couture assistant and designer for names like: Balmain, Balenciaga and Lanvin.
He dressed some of the most beautiful and powerful women in the world. Many of these women live in our minds wearing his creations.
“We live in an era of globalization and the era of the woman. Never in the history of the world have women been more in control of their destiny.” Oscar de la Renta
You will be missed, sir. He is one of our most powerful and admired Latin trailblazers. He said of his Dominican Republic: “My country has given me a very strong sense of who I am.” And he, like others who persevere and succeed, has given his people a strong sense of who they could be. Inspiration.
And with his creations, he left us a piece of his heart.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 