The Week in Review: Remembering Oscar de la Renta, Celebrating Fashion

Oscar de la Renta shaped the meaning of elegance. With his tasteful lines, flowing silhouettes and bold colors, de la Renta proved great art in any form can transcend. In his 82 years—50 of which were spent at the helm of his own company—he celebrated women, donated his time and resources to education and cemented fashion’s role in politics by dressing the most important women in Washington.

“My job as a designer is to make a woman feel her very best,” he once said. “Work hard. Believe in yourself. It’s not the publicity that sells the clothes, it’s the woman.”

He dressed generations of women, including Audrey Hepburn, Oprah, Sarah Jessica Parker, Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer, rapper Nicki Minaj, Amal Alamuddin at her recent wedding and every first lady since Jacqueline Kennedy.

“We will always be grateful to Oscar for the love he showed us, and for sharing his talent on some of the most important occasions of our lives,” the Clintons said in a statement after his passing.

“We will miss Oscar’s generous and warm personality, his charm and his wonderful talents,” former first lady Laura Bush said in a statement. “My daughters and I have many fond memories of visits with Oscar, who designed our favorite clothes, including Jenna’s wedding dress.”

In a piece penned for Vogue, Anna Wintour, Artistic Director for Condé Nast and Vogue Editor in Chief, wrote, “There is much being said that his passing yesterday marks the end of an era. Not true. He was the most democratic man I knew and he would have lived happily and defined any era.”

De la Renta’s influence is seen in magazines on Flipboard, in topics ranging from bridal inspiration to women’s rights.

Wedding Wishes by kpease1: A bridal how-to, covering everything from de la Renta’s inspirational dresses to invitation options and location suggestions.