STYLE ICON

– Oscar –

You can imagine why I wanted to dedicate this edition of Style Icon to Oscar de la Renta today. He was huge, and his creations even more so. Adding an illustration of a dress here seemed like the obvious thing to do, but I secretly decided on something else. Not a difficult choice for me, it had to be a fragrance by Oscar.

Oscar certainly was an amazing fashion designer and Princess Di, Sarah Jessica Parker and Amal Clooney have all been embraced by his fabulous creations, but he also created some very special perfumes. Okay, perhaps with the help of a perfumer, but they did carry his name. And rightly so. The refinement and femininity of his de la Renta designs were captured in these bottles.

Oscar De La Renta launched his first perfume in 1977. Called Oscar. His inspiration for the fragrance came from the gardens of Santo Domingo. The Dominican Republic, where Oscar was born. He loved the smell of the Ylang Ylang flower, and he combined it with clove, coriander and a bouquet of flowers. The result is chic, elegant, flowery and very feminine. It became a bestseller in over 70 countries. Hopefully it will stay that way, because la Renta has sadly left us. Oscar happily is still with us.