“Don’t look back, always look forward.” That was the sage advice delivered by the eloquent Mr. de la Renta for Spring 2010. America’s master couturier doesn’t feel the need to recreate what he’s done in the past. This season an eclectic elegance inhabited the collection’s 53 looks with mystery, confidence, and sophistication from the first belted silk faille safari jacket and pant to the final tulle gown with crystal embroidery.

Predictability is generally disappointing, but Oscar de la Renta’s consistently brilliant and beautiful designs never grow tiresome. While the overwhelmingly ubiquitous statement since the recession firmly took its footing in late 2008 has been a shift towards investment dressing, with pieces that are absolutely unique and divine, Oscar de la Renta has not only followed this golden rule, he’s the one who has written and rewritten that assumption empowering generations of women. Luxury isn’t the enhancement to an Oscar de la Renta collection, it is the foundation. He simply knows no other way to be and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Oscar de la Renta is never one to shy away from rich color combinations, but what differentiates his juxtapositions of bold and neutral hues is his remarkable ability to blend and overlap these color ways as was evident with this season’s embroidered dresses among which my favorite showstoppers included a teal and white chiffon dress paired with a tweed jacket and a black tulle dress woven with teal and hyacinth embroidery. Then again, this is the man who elevates the classic safari suit by re-envisioning and reinvigorating it in a jewel-tone teal, who can take that same silhouette still and soften it in a peridot with a white anglaise trim, and yet again make it even more poetic when reinterpreted in white with a beige linen short.

In less experienced hands, the ruching of a bark silk gazaar dress would never feel so romanticized nor would the mainstay trench coat or tweed jacket feel so modern and youthful, and could the classic sheath ever be this sublime without his threadwork? Even the typically conservative houndstooth and dowdy crochet feel elegant and decadent when the former is personified in a hyacinth blouse transitionally layered under a cloque dress and the latter is an offering of a teal knit dress and cardigan. A cotton blouse with billowy sleeves doesn’t feel pretentious or overly dramatic when paired with a crystal embroidered jacket and linen pants because what might have seemed editorially contrived or stylishly mismatched on any other stage was original and classic Oscar!

 
 
Oscar de la Renta’s designs are the epitome of effortless chic, inasmuch as the customer and critic is almost [temporarily] blithely unaware of every painstaking detail of craftsmanship that goes into creating his garments, because all she is focused on in that one moment— following that model with an attentive eye, gliding past her on an elevated runway; studying the glossy pages of a fashion magazine, or holding that piece de resistance in her hands at her local specialty boutique is the overwhelming beauty of an Oscar de la Renta work of art. Yes, his clothes are covetable; they speak to that princess in us all, allowing us to channel our inner glamour goddess by day and by night like no other designer stateside.

This season lace mantillas veiling provided a sense of mystery while millinery added another layer of intrigue with hats by Patricia Underwood. Mr. de la Renta modestly admitted, “Everyday is a learning process…” and he says the woman [his customer] is teaching him. She informs his choices as a designer. Thankfully, Mr. de la Renta shows no signs of retiring anytime soon. “I am consciously building on what I’ve learned.” as he learns, he builds and continues to create even more collectible looks that we will enjoy for many seasons to come.

Images provided courtesy of Oscar de la Renta.

For additional information, please visit http://www.oscardelarenta.com

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