Oscar de la Renta
by Marilyn Kirschner | photographed by Yannis Vlamos

Prior to the show, Oscar told WWD that the collection was "a statement of luxe, modern individuality." And it certainly was. But of course, this is nothing new for the veteran designer, who has been so effective at fusing luxury with a youthful modern and relevant air for quite some time. He is one designer who is successful at keeping things luxurious but not so precious and pretentious that it looks completely unbelievable. He does this by using a lot of flat boots and shoes, keeping the models makeup and grooming very natural, young, and minimal, and keeping accessories to a minimum as well. I must also note that the day of the show, the temperatures in New York was single digit (and so freezing cold that big fur hats were THE accessory of the moment and a complete necessity). So, the vision of Oscar's weighty and very fall like textural tweeds, hound's-tooth, embroidered astrakhans, shearlings, double wool boucles, and furs, could not have looked better. Speaking of furs, furs are back this season in a big way, and Oscar showed them throughout—for day and evening. There were fur hats, boots, vests, collars. And there were massive fur hems- they appeared on coats for day and fur trim even turned up on a fuchsia brocade dress.

One of the best ways to get some shine into the day portion, was through a laminated tweed in brown and ivory (slightly mod and very modern!). This came in the form of a coat with massive wolverine hem, and a fitted jacket which was shown with black satin tights tucked into wolverine boots, and a matching hat (it was a crowd pleaser). For day, colors were rich and dark (black, brown, charcoal, Bordeaux) but for evening, there were hits of fuchsia and violet. And it was for nighttime that Oscar continued with dresses as a major statement. There were cocktail dresses in every imaginable fabrication: brocade, silk faille, wool crepe, boucle embroidered and of course there were those entrance making ballgowns his customers need. Standouts included three that were paired with tiny cropped fur (ermine, sable, chinchilla) boleros. Just a note, when Oscar took the stage, he looked terrific. It's very reassuring since as you may know, he has undergone treatment for cancer and the prognosis looks good.