Legendary fashion designer Oscar de la Renta passed away Monday, announced his family and close friends. The “Sultan of Suave” was 82.
The cause of death was not immediately clear. He had been diagnosed with cancer in 2006, but had said that he was “totally clean” last year.
Born July 22, 1932 in the Dominican Republic, de la Renta left home at the age of 18 to study painting at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. He found his love for fashion when the wife of the U.S. ambassador to Spain commissioned him to create a dress for her daughter and the dress wound up on the cover of Time. He then became the apprentice of Cristobal Balenciaga, who became his mentor. Next, de la Renta moved to Paris and worked for Lanvin before moving to New York to work for Elizabeth Arden.
In 1965, de la Renta started his own line of clothing. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was among one of his first fans. Nancy Reagan, Hilary Clinton, and Michelle Obama have also donned his gowns, not to mention countless starlets. No awards season is complete without Oscar de la Renta gowns.
de la Renta has won a multitude of fashion awards, including two Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Designer of the Year awards, a CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award, and two COTY awards. However, he remained humble and was always touted as the consummate gentleman.
“He was a true, true gentlemen, in the truest sense of the word — a real bright light — and this is just a terrible, terrible loss for the fashion world,” said Alina Cho, fashion journalist and editor at large at Random House.
By all accounts, he lived life to the fullest and made a point to enjoy every minute of it. At the 92Y “Fashion Talks” series in June 2013 he said, “The only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die. We always think we are going to live forever. The dying aspect we will never accept. The one thing about having this kind of warning is how you appreciate every single day of life.”
de la Renta is survived by his wife of 25 years, Annette, and his son, Moises.