Fashion Designer, Icon. At the age of 18, de la Renta left home to study painting in Madrid. It was there he developed a love of fashion design and began an apprenticeship with Cristóbal Balenciaga, who became his mentor, and then, landed a job with Lanvin in Paris. After the wife of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain saw some of his dress sketches, she commissioned him to design a gown for her daughter. The daughter and the dress appeared on the cover of Life magazine. Soon after, he moved to New York City where he became a designer for Elizabeth Arden. In 1965, he launched his own label, and soon caught the eye of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He dressed Nancy Reagan in the 1980s and then provided inaugural gowns for Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. Among the actresses who donned his glamorous red carpet gowns were Audrey Hepburn, Cameron Diaz, Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Kristen Stewart, Penelope Cruz and Sarah Jessica Parker. The Dominican Republic honored de la Renta with the order al Merito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the order of Cristobol Colon. In the U.S., he received the Coty American Fashion Critics Award twice, was named womenswear designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2000 and also received a lifetime achievement award from the CFDA — an organization for which he served as president in the 1980s. His cause of death was complications from cancer.
Fashion Designer, Icon. At the age of 18, de la Renta left home to study painting in Madrid. It was there he developed a love of fashion design and began an apprenticeship with Cristóbal Balenciaga, who became his mentor, and then, landed a job with Lanvin in Paris. After the wife of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain saw some of his dress sketches, she commissioned him to design a gown for her daughter. The daughter and the dress appeared on the cover of Life magazine. Soon after, he moved to New York City where he became a designer for Elizabeth Arden. In 1965, he launched his own label, and soon caught the eye of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy. He dressed Nancy Reagan in the 1980s and then provided inaugural gowns for Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. Among the actresses who donned his glamorous red carpet gowns were Audrey Hepburn, Cameron Diaz, Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Kristen Stewart, Penelope Cruz and Sarah Jessica Parker. The Dominican Republic honored de la Renta with the order al Merito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the order of Cristobol Colon. In the U.S., he received the Coty American Fashion Critics Award twice, was named womenswear designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2000 and also received a lifetime achievement award from the CFDA — an organization for which he served as president in the 1980s. His cause of death was complications from cancer.
Bio by: Louis du Mort
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