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Oscar de la Renta: Too Much is Never Enough

New York's patron of patrician chic Oscar de la Renta said it with roses this season, or rather a whole garden of flowers; everything from leather petal bracelets to silk organza flower embroidery

Like a filmmaker or Renaissance oil painter, the mature years of de la Renta have been marked by a renewal with the avant-garde - so even though his clothes are the nearest thing there is to couture in America - they are imbued with an offbeat artistry.

That's why his cast appeared with red and turquoise streaked hair, and why every second look as dissected by, dripped with or encircled by Russian gold brooches, earrings, mini belts and tassels in some too much is never enough chutzpah.

There was a thoroughly charming moment when U.K. model Cara Delavigne strutted out in the most outrageously short shocking pink ostrich feather peplum bustier and cocktail shorts, a little bird of paradise strutting across the floor in the designer's headquarters way up high in an historic Fifth Avenue skyscraper just as sun set over the city skyline.

Though the single most arresting image was a shimmering silver bead tunic and matching pants that dazzled the audience at the Tuesday, Sept. 11, evening show. Commercially savvy as ever, the designer, who hit 80 in July, had plenty of slick crowd pleasers - lace chiffon blouses no woman would not want in her closet, white guipure pencil skirts that reeked sophistication.

And, ever the gentleman, de la Renta listed all 11 of his designer assistants in the program notes. You could count on one hand the number of Continental designers who have ever done that.

As the Italians say, i signori non si fanno, meaning you can't make a gentleman. One has to be fortunate to be born one, not by the accident of birth but the nobility of intention. In that sense, de la Renta is American fashion's finest gent.

		* Thom Browne Spring 2014 * Delpozo Spring 2014