de la Renta, Oscar

de la Renta, Oscar

(1932–  ) fashion designer; born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Trained by European couturiers, he settled in New York City where by 1965 he became a partner in Jane Derby, Inc. (later, Oscar de la Renta Couture). He designed luxury women's ready-to-wear, most notably sophisticated, European-styled daywear and lavish, romantic evening gowns. Like several other modern fashion designers, he came to move in the fashionable circles of the very people he clothed.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.