Photographs by 5th Avenue Digital
The star of White Plains Hospital’s 120th anniversary gala wasn’t in attendance. But his presence was felt in every fold, bead and stunning effect.
The presentation of Oscar de la Renta’s Fall 2013 Collection was a triumph for event co-chairwomen Susan Yubas and Mary Jane Denzer – whose eponymous store has been selling de la Renta fashions for more than 30 years. (The ladies looked elegant, too, Denzer in flowing black lace de la Renta, Yubas in a short pale-green lace J. Mendel dress from Mary Jane Denzer.)
The runway show – held in the lucent atrium of 800 Westchester Ave., the Rye Brook home of RPW Group – reaffirmed de la Renta’s fearless affinity for pattern, texture and color and reflected the 21st century’s anything-goes attitude toward styles and previous decades, even other centuries.
A ruby Versailles toile print chine off-shoulder sweetheart ball gown and a mulberry silk faille gown with gold bullion and bead toile embroidery echoed the age of Mozart. A silver tulle beaded shift dress with flounce hem and a shocking pink silk faille gown with gold bullion and bead embroidery evoked “The Great Gatsby,” which is all the rage now thanks to Baz Luhrmann’s new 3-D film.
Many of the dresses and gowns had ’50s silhouettes – long pencil skirts and gently draped jackets topped by gumdrop hats; cinch-waist cocktail numbers. But de la Renta also had fun with the ’60s with bubble dresses like the teal silk faille strapless number that made the models look like psychedelic lollipops.
Given the range and baroque elegance of the collection, were we right to detect more than a hint of John Galliano, the former Dior bad boy whom de la Renta has brought in from the fashion cold after his anti-Semitic meltdown? The Anti-Defamation League itself has given this its seal of approval. De la Renta is like the E.F. Hutton of old: When he speaks, others listen.
The women at the hospital gala, however, couldn’t stop talking about everything the runway models were wearing, from their drop earrings to their high peekaboo shoes.
Whereas the men in attendance looked as if they had never seen women that tall or that thin.
For more see Watch in this issue.
