SAVANNAH, Ga. — Designer Oscar de la Renta says the fashion world is enjoying its golden days, with designers willing to offer clothes accessible to the masses.
“Fashion has never been as exciting as it is now,” de la Renta said Saturday at the Savannah College of Art and Design, which presented him its 2001 Andre Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Today, what is important for us is the masses, the working woman, the professional woman, because they are the ones who really buy fashion.”
De la Renta believes his designs are enjoying a resurgence because “minimalism was never part of my working philosophy.” Among those seen wearing de la Renta’s newest creations are New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and “Sex in the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker.
“I think why my clothes are so successful now is because we went through the 70s and 80s and the whole women’s lib movement, women going to the workplace and dressing like men, wearing pantsuits,” he said.
“Now today there is a reemergence of femininity where a woman knows that putting makeup, putting lipstick, looking pretty is an asset, even in the workplace, and that being a woman is great.”
In 1963, de la Renta began designing the couture collection for Elizabeth Arden in New York, and in 1965, he began his signature ready-to-wear label.
De la Renta launched his first perfume for women, Oscar, in 1977. Today, Oscar is a best selling perfume in more than 70 countries and was awarded the 1991 Fragrance Foundation Perennial Success Award.
Today, the Oscar de la Renta label includes the Signature Collection, Pink Label and OSCAR by Oscar de la Renta. To complement these designs, the Fall 2001 runway show marked the debut of Oscar de la Renta Accessories, a signature collection of luxurious shoes, bags and belts.
Over the years, de la Renta has created two fragrances for men — Pour Lui and Oscar for Men — and two additional fragrances for women — Volupté and SO de la Renta. In 1995, de la Renta received the Living Legend Award from the American Society of Perfumes.
De la Renta has received numerous honors including the 1990 CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2000 CFDA Womanswear Designer of the Year Award.
De la Renta helped build a much-needed school and daycare center in the Dominican Republic that serves 1,200 children. The Dominican Republic recognized De la Renta’s philanthropic efforts, honoring him with the order al Mérito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the order of Cristóbal Colón.
A tireless patron of the arts, de la Renta serves as a board member of The Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall and Channel Thirteen/WNET. He also serves on the board of important cultural institutions including New Yorkers for Children, the Americas Society and the Spanish Institute.
