Oscar de la Renta

By Sara Templeton

He may not be quite as recognised as say Yves Saint Laurent, or Coco Chanel, but Oscar de la Renta has had quite an impact on the fashion scene for the last four decades. He is widely recognised for his delicate and opulent designs, made with the finest of materials, and it is a well-known fact that the prominent designer is a huge gardening aficionado.

De la Renta hails from the Dominican Republic, and was born there on July 22nd, 1936. When he was 18-years old, Oscar decided to leave his homeland and make for Spain.

When he arrived in Madrid, Oscar enrolled in the Academy of San Fernando to study artistry and painting. During his early years in Spain, he became interested in fashion design. One thing lead to another, and before long he was sketching designs for some of Spain's leading fashion houses.

This eventually lead to an apprenticeship with one of Spain's biggest couturiers: Cristóbal Balenciaga.

After spending a good period of time with the famed French designer in his Spanish operation, de la Renta then moved to Paris, where he scored a job with Antonio Castillo's house of Lanvin as a couture assistant. At this stage, Oscar's early fashion design career was really going places, his skill set ever improving.

In 1963, after spending a couple of years in France working with Castillo, Oscar de la Renta then moved to New York to design the couture collection for none other than Elizabeth Arden. After working with Arden, de la Renta then took the plunge and in 1965 branched out and created his own ready-to-wear label - a very daring move for the budding fashion designer.

From the late '60s onwards, the Oscar de la Renta label has gone from strength to strength. Reknowned for his extravagant designs incorporating luxurious materials, the Oscar label is today much more accessible.

For example, the Oscar Jeans line is a well-priced wardrobe designed to appeal to both men and women in todays often hectic society. He has also created wedding dresses, linens, swimsuits and you can even buy jewellery, lingerine, cosmetics, eyewear and sleepwear from the Oscar de la Renta range.

In 1977, de la Renta came out with his first frangrance - simply titled Oscar. To this very day, the Oscar fragrance is still one of the world's best-selling perfumes. De la Renta even won the prestigious Frangrance Foundation Perennial Success Award in 1991 for his Oscar parfum.

The Dominican Republic feels a lot of pride for one of its most widely recognised sons. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, from the Hispanic Heritage Society in his homeland and today he is an active member of the Republic's society.

He has since helped create a much-needed school and child-care centre for some 1200 youngsters in the Dominican Republic and continues to support his country of birth to this day.

Some of his more famous projects include dressing such nobles as the Duchess of Windsor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - in fact Oscar de la Renta has made a name for himself by dressing many First-Ladies. "Nancy Reagan had a wonderful figure. Hillary Clinton was more difficult. Remember, she was coming from Arkansas," recounts de la Renta in a recent interview, while he is currently helping Laura Bush with her wardrobe.

But what of his passion for gardening?

Oscar says that he really appreciates grand gardens and that he likes: "... a little bit of everything." Sounds like our kind of gardener!