Why Is This Man Still Fashionable?
Oscar de la Renta Keeps Evolving;
Ready to Retire? 'Certainly Not'
By VANESSA O'CONNELL
wsj.com
At an age when contemporaries like Valentino Garavani are retiring, 75-year-old designer Oscar de la Renta is having a growth spurt.
His gowns, which sell for up to $16,000, and his luncheon suits, at up to $9,500, now have a following among wealthy women of all ages. His designer line, which includes knit tops and silk pants for the younger set, is sold at chains such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus in the U.S. and at 45 stores overseas, up from seven a year-and-a-half ago. Next year, he will increase the number of free-standing boutiques he operates to around 12 from seven. In all, Oscar de la Renta-brand clothing, perfume and other products generate about $750 million in annual retail sales, not counting O Oscar, a middle-market line produced under license by Kellwood Co.
The 42-year-old design house is a family business. Son-in-law Alexander Bolen, a 39-year-old private-equity veteran, is chief executive. Stepdaughter Eliza Reed Bolen, 38, oversees licensing. Son Moises, 22, has designed casual clothes.
While preparing for today's Manhattan showing of his "pre-fall" collection, the Dominican Republic native discussed his work. Excerpts:
WSJ: What accounts for your recent renaissance?
Mr. de la Renta: Probably it has to do with the fact that I seriously address today a consumer who loves clothes. The most important consumer is the professional woman, and today, a professional woman can buy really beautiful clothes. No longer she has to go to a husband and say, 'Can I buy this dress?' She can do it on her own.
There has never been in the history of fashion a time more exciting to be a designer because there has never been a woman as in control of her destiny. I have always done very feminine clothes. So this is my time, the time for women to really be proud to be women.
WSJ: Other mature fashion brands lost their core audiences. How do you keep yours while reaching younger women too?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119609473835803998.html
Mr. de la Renta: Sometimes you will get a designer that so strongly marks a period of fashion that neither he nor his customer can get out of that. I like to think myself in the second category, the designer who sees the changes in a woman and tries to keep pace. We do a secondary line, O Oscar, for the woman who cannot afford my clothes but who one day might be able to.
WSJ: How is your O Oscar line doing?
Mr. de la Renta: [Mid-tier apparel] is a business that across the board has been very, very difficult. Your margins are so small, and there is a wide range of competition. As a whole, that business has been very flat. We just keep trying to make it work. I am sure that we will succeed.
WSJ: You are often compared to your longtime friend Valentino Garavani. Are you thinking of retiring soon, too?
Mr. de la Renta: Certainly not. When I come to work every day I have a lot of very young, talented assistants. Most of all, Alex is sort of running the company. As long as I have the passion for what I do, and as long as there is an acceptance for what I am doing, I am going to keep doing it.
I am going to see [Valentino] in a couple of days. He sold his business a long time ago, which is something I am not contemplating myself. We have very different consumers. Valentino will hate me to say this, but Oscar has a little younger attitude. But listen, he was a great designer. I miss that he is no longer doing what he is doing. What keeps us going is the competition.
WSJ: What was your most challenging period as a designer?
Mr. de la Renta: I felt like a fish out of the water back when women were wearing minimalistic clothes. In the '70s and '80s, we went through women's lib, and had women hesitantly getting into the workplace, dressing in a manner that would not get too much notice, to become part of what was then a man's world. Today a woman knows that putting on lipstick, looking great, putting on a beautiful dress, is wonderful. She can express who she is, in a much stronger way, exercising a sense of femininity.
WSJ: Most designers today are part of a fashion conglomerate, or brands with buzz that are still independent. What do you tell potential investors who call to inquire about Oscar de la Renta?
Mr. de la Renta: Obviously this is a family-controlled business. I have to tell you that before my family came to work in the business, I thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to sell my business. Today when I have members of my family so deeply involved in the business, I think differently. There is a lot that we can do on our own to grow the business.
Five years ago my international business was practically nonexistent. Soon, we will be opening a freestanding store in London, and in Moscow. I have resisted the idea of selling just because I see the business now going in a different manner.
WSJ: You were treated for cancer last year. How is your health?
Mr. de la Renta: My health is good. I just had a hip replacement six weeks ago. Last year, I had something a little bit more serious. But I am totally well now.
WSJ: What's it like working so closely with family members?
Mr. de la Renta: Heaven -- hell. No. Extremely wonderful. Sometimes Alex gets on my nerves. It took me a very long time to convince him to work with me. His business was a very different business. Now when he comes to see me in the studio and starts to express his ideas, I always tell him, "Parsons [the New School for Design] is right up the street, and they have night classes."
Eliza I have been working with for such a long time. She is a great image for the company. She represents the young consumer.
Moises is trying to learn the craft. And I hope he will. He has a sense of style. He is shy sometimes in expressing himself, especially in front of Alex. But he has an eye, no question about it.
WSJ: Are there conflicts between the Oscar de la Renta boutiques and the department stores that also carry the clothes?
Mr. de la Renta: [Operating boutiques] is a very different kind of business. Certainly it involves more risk. When you own the store, you own the merchandise until you sell it. But at the same time, the margins are so much bigger. We have been extremely successful at it. Yesterday we were doing a trunk show in our store on Madison Avenue. For the first time in our store we did over $1 million in one day. We were always very worried that our business with the big stores would shrink. But it is a very different consumer who goes to a boutique than goes to a department store.
WSJ: You increased your advertising recently. Is it paying off?
Mr. de la Renta: The increased awareness of the brand I certainly hope was because of the money that was spent on advertising. In the past, our advertising was minimal. We were much more reliant on the advertising done by the stores. For the image of the brand, and the strength of our image, it is better we do it ourselves.
WSJ: Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush both wore your gowns on Vogue covers, and you dressed them, as well as former First Lady Nancy Reagan, for inaugural balls. What accounts for your popularity among these first ladies?
Mr. de la Renta: I think first ladies identify with the kind of clothes that I do because they feel that I represent them well. Fashion is nonpolitical. So I have been lucky enough that a lot of first ladies have chosen me to design clothes for them.
Oscar de la Renta Keeps Evolving;
Ready to Retire? 'Certainly Not'
By VANESSA O'CONNELL
wsj.com
At an age when contemporaries like Valentino Garavani are retiring, 75-year-old designer Oscar de la Renta is having a growth spurt.
His gowns, which sell for up to $16,000, and his luncheon suits, at up to $9,500, now have a following among wealthy women of all ages. His designer line, which includes knit tops and silk pants for the younger set, is sold at chains such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus in the U.S. and at 45 stores overseas, up from seven a year-and-a-half ago. Next year, he will increase the number of free-standing boutiques he operates to around 12 from seven. In all, Oscar de la Renta-brand clothing, perfume and other products generate about $750 million in annual retail sales, not counting O Oscar, a middle-market line produced under license by Kellwood Co.
The 42-year-old design house is a family business. Son-in-law Alexander Bolen, a 39-year-old private-equity veteran, is chief executive. Stepdaughter Eliza Reed Bolen, 38, oversees licensing. Son Moises, 22, has designed casual clothes.
While preparing for today's Manhattan showing of his "pre-fall" collection, the Dominican Republic native discussed his work. Excerpts:
WSJ: What accounts for your recent renaissance?
Mr. de la Renta: Probably it has to do with the fact that I seriously address today a consumer who loves clothes. The most important consumer is the professional woman, and today, a professional woman can buy really beautiful clothes. No longer she has to go to a husband and say, 'Can I buy this dress?' She can do it on her own.
There has never been in the history of fashion a time more exciting to be a designer because there has never been a woman as in control of her destiny. I have always done very feminine clothes. So this is my time, the time for women to really be proud to be women.
WSJ: Other mature fashion brands lost their core audiences. How do you keep yours while reaching younger women too?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119609473835803998.html
Mr. de la Renta: Sometimes you will get a designer that so strongly marks a period of fashion that neither he nor his customer can get out of that. I like to think myself in the second category, the designer who sees the changes in a woman and tries to keep pace. We do a secondary line, O Oscar, for the woman who cannot afford my clothes but who one day might be able to.
WSJ: How is your O Oscar line doing?
Mr. de la Renta: [Mid-tier apparel] is a business that across the board has been very, very difficult. Your margins are so small, and there is a wide range of competition. As a whole, that business has been very flat. We just keep trying to make it work. I am sure that we will succeed.
WSJ: You are often compared to your longtime friend Valentino Garavani. Are you thinking of retiring soon, too?
Mr. de la Renta: Certainly not. When I come to work every day I have a lot of very young, talented assistants. Most of all, Alex is sort of running the company. As long as I have the passion for what I do, and as long as there is an acceptance for what I am doing, I am going to keep doing it.
I am going to see [Valentino] in a couple of days. He sold his business a long time ago, which is something I am not contemplating myself. We have very different consumers. Valentino will hate me to say this, but Oscar has a little younger attitude. But listen, he was a great designer. I miss that he is no longer doing what he is doing. What keeps us going is the competition.
WSJ: What was your most challenging period as a designer?
Mr. de la Renta: I felt like a fish out of the water back when women were wearing minimalistic clothes. In the '70s and '80s, we went through women's lib, and had women hesitantly getting into the workplace, dressing in a manner that would not get too much notice, to become part of what was then a man's world. Today a woman knows that putting on lipstick, looking great, putting on a beautiful dress, is wonderful. She can express who she is, in a much stronger way, exercising a sense of femininity.
WSJ: Most designers today are part of a fashion conglomerate, or brands with buzz that are still independent. What do you tell potential investors who call to inquire about Oscar de la Renta?
Mr. de la Renta: Obviously this is a family-controlled business. I have to tell you that before my family came to work in the business, I thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to sell my business. Today when I have members of my family so deeply involved in the business, I think differently. There is a lot that we can do on our own to grow the business.
Five years ago my international business was practically nonexistent. Soon, we will be opening a freestanding store in London, and in Moscow. I have resisted the idea of selling just because I see the business now going in a different manner.
WSJ: You were treated for cancer last year. How is your health?
Mr. de la Renta: My health is good. I just had a hip replacement six weeks ago. Last year, I had something a little bit more serious. But I am totally well now.
WSJ: What's it like working so closely with family members?
Mr. de la Renta: Heaven -- hell. No. Extremely wonderful. Sometimes Alex gets on my nerves. It took me a very long time to convince him to work with me. His business was a very different business. Now when he comes to see me in the studio and starts to express his ideas, I always tell him, "Parsons [the New School for Design] is right up the street, and they have night classes."
Eliza I have been working with for such a long time. She is a great image for the company. She represents the young consumer.
Moises is trying to learn the craft. And I hope he will. He has a sense of style. He is shy sometimes in expressing himself, especially in front of Alex. But he has an eye, no question about it.
WSJ: Are there conflicts between the Oscar de la Renta boutiques and the department stores that also carry the clothes?
Mr. de la Renta: [Operating boutiques] is a very different kind of business. Certainly it involves more risk. When you own the store, you own the merchandise until you sell it. But at the same time, the margins are so much bigger. We have been extremely successful at it. Yesterday we were doing a trunk show in our store on Madison Avenue. For the first time in our store we did over $1 million in one day. We were always very worried that our business with the big stores would shrink. But it is a very different consumer who goes to a boutique than goes to a department store.
WSJ: You increased your advertising recently. Is it paying off?
Mr. de la Renta: The increased awareness of the brand I certainly hope was because of the money that was spent on advertising. In the past, our advertising was minimal. We were much more reliant on the advertising done by the stores. For the image of the brand, and the strength of our image, it is better we do it ourselves.
WSJ: Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush both wore your gowns on Vogue covers, and you dressed them, as well as former First Lady Nancy Reagan, for inaugural balls. What accounts for your popularity among these first ladies?
Mr. de la Renta: I think first ladies identify with the kind of clothes that I do because they feel that I represent them well. Fashion is nonpolitical. So I have been lucky enough that a lot of first ladies have chosen me to design clothes for them.
. With global production, you can have decent silk at reasonable prices.
