Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta has passed away.
According to E! News, the 82-year-old fashion wonder had previously been diagnosed with cancer in 2006, but in an interview with the International Business Times last year, De La Renta said he was “totally clean” of cancer.
When asked about retiring from fashion, De La Renta responded, “People ask me, ‘At your age, when are you going to retire?’ I think every singe day there is a learning process. For a long time…I wondered what would happen to the brand when I am no longer here. But I will be here for a very, very long time.”
De La Renta also stated, “The only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die. We always think we are going to live forever. The dying aspect we will never accept. The one thing about having this kind of warning is how you appreciate every single day of life.”
De La Renta has dressed numerous celebrities in his gorgeous dresses, including Jackie Kennedy, Jennifer Garner, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Michelle Obama. De La Renta also designed Amal Clooney’s wedding gown this past summer.
The designer was a two-time winner of the American Fashion Critics’ Award and served as the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America from 1973 until 1976 and from 1986 until 1988. Last year he received the CFDA’s Founders Award.
De La Renta is survived by his second wife Annette Engelhard, their son Moises, and his stepchildren from both his marriage to Engelhard and his previous marriage to French Vogue editor-in-chief Françoise de Langlade, who passed away in 1983.
(Photographs courtesy of E! News and Vogue)
