La Renta

Oscar de la Renta, the international designer darling of the ladies who who do galas, will dress the first lady for inaugural festivities.Hillary Rodham Clinton and de la Renta started talking wardrobe soon after the November election, says Susan Seelbach, the designer's spokeswoman. The choices have been narrowed to a wool suit and matching melton coat for Monday's swearing-in ceremony. For the round of balls, it will be an embroidered tulle fTC gown with a matching satin cape. The designer and White House are mum about colors and particulars.

NOW HERE'S a little flash! Bill and Hillary Clinton have their eyes on the ball when it comes to 2008, but in the meantime, has anyone noted that they bought a piece of beach property in the Dominican Republic right next to the beautiful domain of designer Oscar de la Renta and his wife, Annette? Struggles pay off The Supremes -- Mary Wilson, Flo Ballard and Diana Ross -- used to sing "Nothing but heartaches ... nothing but heartaches," way back when. Heartaches by the number actually then came to all three women.

It's official. Oscar de la Renta, who has been showing his ready-to-wear in Paris for the last two years, will design Pierre Balmain's haute couture and ready-to-wear collections. After three months of negotiations, agreement was reached Monday, Mr. de la Renta said by telephone in Paris.His first collection for Balmain will be for spring 1993 and will be shown on Jan. 27. "I'm coming back to New York on Wednesday," he said, "and will be back in Paris for a few days in December. Then I'll spend the month of January here."

New York-- --Outside the tents at Bryant Park, the trees are bare; the wind whips through. It is winter, and it is cold. While most of us may be dreaming about the arrival of spring, it is Fashion Week, and fall has arrived. For eight days and nights, big names including Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang are unveiling their fall collections. The mood this fall is a continuation of many of the elements prevalent in recent seasons. Femininity is a major theme. Ruffles, bows and lace are prominent accents.

Paris -- On more than one occasion, fashion insiders have suggested that Oscar de la Renta's designs reflect a decidedly European flavor, despite his company being based in New York.It is a suggestion that makes the designer -- who claims to observe no fashion distinctions along geographical boundaries -- bristle."Why can't American fashion be international like all other fashion? My customers have the same fashion needs no matter where they live."That may well be so, but it is also true that Mr. de la Renta's designs do seem more at home on the larger-than-life runways of the Cour Carre du Louvre than in the much smaller ballroom of New York's Plaza Hotel, a notion underscored this week when de la Renta became the first big-name American design er to bring his runway show to Paris.

Oscar de la Renta has charmed legions of ladies into his fabulous clothes by charming their socks off. The man has it.Tall, tanned and gracious, the designer sipped a cup of morning chocolate in the cushy surroundings of one of Georgetown's fine hostelries. He was to be honored at flag-raising ceremonies at Washington's Dominican Embassy before doing the honors at a spritz-and-sign guest appearance in Hecht's fragrance department. It was April 30 and the 17th stop in an 18-city national tour to promote his new fragrance, Volupte.

Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta, the ambassadors of American fashion, are always ready to charm.Since Mr. de la Renta, now 61, showed his first collection in 1965 for Jane Derby, and Mr. Blass brought his boyhood visions of 1930s glamour from Fort Wayne, Ind., to New York 50 years ago, they both have slowly and methodically built their careers by dressing the affluent.The formula has paid off handsomely for the two designers.Mr. Blass, 71, has 50 worldwide licensees which reportedly generate retail sales in excess of $700,000,000.

For more than 40 years, Oscar de la Renta has been in the business of making women fall in love. He doesn't rely on flowers, candlelight dinners or the myriad other methods of romantic trickery. Instead, he's called on a glorious silk brocade jacket, a cape of warm cashmere or a fairytale evening gown with fluttering ostrich feathers to help him win the hearts of countless women. When designing, he says, he anticipates the moment that a woman meets a beautiful dress. "I always say, 'Creating clothes is like falling in love,' " de la Renta says during a recent visit to Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase.

When Jacqueline Kennedy and designer Oleg Cassini worked together 40 years ago, they created a kind of fashion magic that has not been seen since. The Parisian-born Cassini plugged into Kennedy's innate fashion sense, and women everywhere wanted to be just like her. Last week, renown designer Oscar de la Renta and first lady Laura Bush - who paired up for George W. Bush's second inauguration - brought back a hint of that iconic time. And Bush's most-acclaimed fashion moment to date left style-watchers wondering if her fledgling relationship with de la Renta has revealed her more stylish side.

A fanciful brocade gown by Nina Ricci will be one of the designs featured at the Ebony Fashion Fair, the 36th annual style extravaganza which comes to Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Sunday at 5 p.m. Proceeds from the show which presents creations by the world's top designers such as Oscar de la Renta, Givenchy and Valentino will benefit the charities of the Baltimore chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. Call (410) 783-8000 for ticket information.

The Dominican Republic has been attracting stars. And here is a chance to visit the Puntacana Resort and Club, whose owners include Oscar de la Renta and Julio Iglesias. (Mikhail Baryshnikov also has a vacation home in the area.) At $85 a person a night (taxes included), for at least three nights (until Dec. 23), you can have one of 175 deluxe rooms at the club, with daily breakfast and dinner as well as a credit for up to $100 a room for beverages (including alcohol). Details: 888-442-2262; puntacana.

As Fashion Week rolled around again, and the nation's top designers prepared to show their new looks for next spring, retailers, fashionistas and style insiders alike debated: Minimalist or luxurious? Which would this spring be? Well, after six days of nonstop runway shows, the biannual New York showcase of all the major American fashion players is just about over, and the answer is clear. It's neither and it's both. "I don't know if I can call it minimal; I don't know if I can call it luxurious," says Kate Dimmock, fashion director of SHOP Etc. magazine.

When Jacqueline Kennedy and designer Oleg Cassini worked together 40 years ago, they created a kind of fashion magic that has not been seen since. The Parisian-born Cassini plugged into Kennedy's innate fashion sense, and women everywhere wanted to be just like her. Last week, renown designer Oscar de la Renta and first lady Laura Bush - who paired up for George W. Bush's second inauguration - brought back a hint of that iconic time. And Bush's most-acclaimed fashion moment to date left style-watchers wondering if her fledgling relationship with de la Renta has revealed her more stylish side.

Laura Bush's gown - an ice blue and silver vision by Oscar de la Renta - took the first lady from her usual prim and proper appearance to one that was shimmery and glamorous. The first twins' gowns, both Badgley Mischka creations, were movie-star extravagant and as snug as security in the nation's capital, but much sexier. It was an extremely tasteful and stylish show for the throngs celebrating George W. Bush's re-election. As the Bushes dashed from swearing-in ceremony to parade to a string of formal galas during yesterday's inauguration festivities, freedom and fashion both took a stand.

When first lady Laura Bush dances tomorrow night with her husband, the newly resworn-in president of the United States, you can be sure she will steal his dark-suited thunder in an ice blue and silver embroidered tulle gown, made especially for her by famed American designer Oscar de la Renta. The gown is feminine, with a cinched waist and a little V-neck. It is elegant and classy, with a matching satin coat. It is meant to be tasteful and turn heads at the same time. But the first lady will do even more to stand in the spotlight earlier in the day when she appears at the outdoor Oath of Office ceremony in a winter-white cashmere day suit and coat, also by de la Renta.

For more than 40 years, Oscar de la Renta has been in the business of making women fall in love. He doesn't rely on flowers, candlelight dinners or the myriad other methods of romantic trickery. Instead, he's called on a glorious silk brocade jacket, a cape of warm cashmere or a fairytale evening gown with fluttering ostrich feathers to help him win the hearts of countless women. When designing, he says, he anticipates the moment that a woman meets a beautiful dress. "I always say, 'Creating clothes is like falling in love,' " de la Renta says during a recent visit to Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase.

The Dominican Republic has been attracting stars. And here is a chance to visit the Puntacana Resort and Club, whose owners include Oscar de la Renta and Julio Iglesias. (Mikhail Baryshnikov also has a vacation home in the area.) At $85 a person a night (taxes included), for at least three nights (until Dec. 23), you can have one of 175 deluxe rooms at the club, with daily breakfast and dinner as well as a credit for up to $100 a room for beverages (including alcohol). Details: 888-442-2262; puntacana.

NEW YORK -- The popularity of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and its imitators may have sent a message to the fashion world. Designers' collective vision seems to be about the wealthy who have no qualms showing it off. The American runway shows here this week have been dominated by the posh status symbols of furs (mostly real, some faux), gold and silver metallics, and glittering embroidery. It was telling that Nicole Miller presented her audience with the game book for the millionaire show.

NEW YORK -- At first, there seemed to be nothing unusual about Oscar de la Renta's latest fashion show. There were the requisite socialites and editors who planted Chaneled behinds on chairs at the posh Americas Society mansion on the Upper East Side. And all around them were tea-rose-hued walls, sparkling chandeliers and large fireplaces to set the stage for de la Renta's customarily opulent creations. But when the models began sashaying out, the show's distinguishing detail became apparent.

Season after season, when fashion designers reveal their visions for the moment, there often is some synchronicity, a common thread that wends its way through more than one collection. Because, invariably, the style oracles will look at the world around them, the mood of American shoppers, and their creativity and guesswork will lead them to some unified conclusion about a feel, a look, a symbol that the public will want. This spring, the "It" in fashion is the color white. This most pristine and simple of fashion statements is dominant in collections from classy Calvin Klein to girly Anna Sui, from sleek Marc Jacobs to the ever-elegant Oscar de la Renta.