Oscar De La Renta was a popular entrepreneur and fashion designer who belonged to the Dominican state. Oscar De La Renta was a famous personality who designed dresses for a number of celebrities including Laura Bush, Nancy Reagan, and Hillary Clinton, socialists, many Hollywood stars, red carpets, and many more parties and wedding wears.
Before launching his own fashion brand, Oscar De La Renta worked for famous fashion designers.
What was Oscar de la Renta’s Net Worth?.
Oscar de la Renta was a fashion designer who had a net worth of $200 million at the time of his death in 2014. During his lifetime, he was one of the world’s leading fashion designers. In the 1960s, he became known all over the world for dressing Jacqueline Kennedy. He would go one to design dresses for many First Ladies, including Nancy Reagan, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama.
Oscar worked for Balmain and Lanvin, and he released his first ready-to-wear collection in 1965. An award-winning designer, he formed an eponymous fashion house that still dresses key figures.
Particularly known for his red carpet gowns and evening wear, de la Renta has set up several other enterprises. In 1977, he launched his first fragrance, Oscar, and in the early 2000s. He also created an accessories line and a homewares line. Furthermore, de la Renta’s craftsmanship went beyond creating attire in 2006, when he designed Tortuga Bay, a boutique hotel.
Early Life
Oscar de la Renta, the renowned fashion designer, was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on July 22, 1932. His mother, Carmen María Antonia Fiallo, was Dominican, and his father, Óscar Avelino De La Renta, was Puerto Rican. Oscar grew up in a Catholic household with six older sisters. When he turned 18, his mother sadly passed away from complications of multiple sclerosis.
Around that time, de la Renta studied painting at Madrid’s Royal Academy of San Fernando. To earn money, he sketched clothing for fashion houses and newspapers. In 1956, Francesca Lodge, the wife of U.S. Ambassador John Davis Lodge, saw some of Oscar’s sketches. Impressed, she hired him to design a coming-out gown for her daughter. The gown even graced the cover of “Life” magazine.
De la Renta’s talent caught the attention of Spanish fashion houses, and he soon began sketching designs for them. He also landed an apprenticeship with the renowned couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga. In 1961, Oscar left Spain to work as a couture assistant to Antonio del Castillo, a Tony-nominated costume designer, in Paris.
Career
In 1963, de la Renta told “Vogue” editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland that he wanted to “get into ready to wear, because that’s where the money is,” and she advised him to work for Elizabeth Arden, stating, “She is not a designer, so she will promote you. At the other place, you will always be eclipsed by the name of Dior.” Oscar spent two years working for Arden in New York, then he worked for the American fashion house Jane Derby.
De la Renta took control of the label after Derby died in 1965. That year Oscar launched his ready-to-wear label, he received the Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion.
From 1993 to 2002, he designed a haute couture collection for French fashion house Balmain. He began offering bridal wear in 2006. His wedding gowns have been worn by well-known brides such as Jenna Bush, Amal Clooney, Kate Bosworth, Amanda Peet, and Katherine Heigl. In 2004, de la Renta opened his flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York City, and in 2008, he opened his first international stores in Madrid, Spain, and Athens, Greece. He launched a line of children’s apparel in 2012, and the following year, the William S. Clinton Presidential Center hosted the exhibit “Oscar de la Renta: American Icon.” Another exhibit, “Oscar de la Renta: Five Decades of Style,” followed in 2014 at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
Oscar de la Renta’s Personal Life
Oscar de la Renta, a renowned fashion designer, married Françoise de Langlade, the editor-in-chief of “French Vogue,” in 1967. They remained together until 1983 when Françoise sadly passed away from cancer. After her death, de la Renta adopted a child from the Dominican Republic named Moisés. Moisés followed in his father’s footsteps, pursuing a career in fashion design. However, in 2005, they had a falling-out after Moisés created a women’s fashion line.
In 1989, Oscar married Annette Engelhard, and he became a stepfather to her children: Eliza, Beatrice, and Charles. Oscar and Annette remained married until his passing. Eliza, now the Vice President of Licensing at Oscar de la Renta, LLC, is married to Alex Bolen, the CEO. De la Renta held dual citizenship in the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. In 1982, he founded an orphanage in the Dominican Republic called La Casa del Niño.
Death of Oscar De La Renta.
Oscar was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, and the following year, he stated, “Yes, I had cancer. The only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die…The one thing about having this kind of warning is how you appreciate every single day of life.”
At age 82, De la Renta passed away at his Connecticut home on October 20, 2014, due to complications from cancer. According to “Cure,” a publication for cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers, Oscar had “bouts with intermittent cancer” during the last few years of his life, and a few months before his death.
He put on a Designed for a Cure fundraiser for Miami’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (where he had been treated for cancer) that featured cancer patients and survivors and their doctors modeling his designs.
Awards and Honors
Oscar won Coty Awards at the 1967 and 1968 Coty American Fashion Critics’ Awards. And he was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1973. He was President of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) from 1973 to 1988. He received the organization’s Designer of the Year Award in 2000 and in 2007 and a CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.
King Carlos of Spain honored de la Renta with the La Gran Cruz de la Orden del Mérito Civil and the Gold Medal of Bellas Artes.
In 1999, he received the Légion d’honneur (as a Commandeur) from the French government. Oscar also received the Order of Christopher Columbus and the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella from the Dominican Republic, the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement, and the Carnegie Hall Medal of Excellence.
In 2013, de la Renta received an honorary degree from New York’s Hamilton College, and in 2017, the U.S. Postal Service released an 11-stamp series in his honor.