Oscar de la Renta Fall 2016 Fashion Show ~ Sisters Vogue

In 1973, Oscar de la Renta was one of five American designers to go up against their Parisian counterparts at the Battle of Versailles. Princess Grace was in the audience, and so was Andy Warhol. The legendary event is remembered as a turning point in fashion. The Americans had barely any money, but they had chutzpah, and by dint of will (and a fabulous cast of African-American models) they stole the show. “It was about modernity and the minimalism of American sportswear versus French tradition,” said Peter Copping at a showroom preview today. The designer, who arrived at De la Renta a little over a year ago, has made a deep study of the house founder’s archives and history. You could say that modernity and tradition are the driving forces of his work for the label.
The Versailles battle gave Copping a literal framework for his new Fall collection. He juxtaposed high-tech sportif fabrics with 18th-century-inspired ones, as in the case of a strapless bustier in stretch wool with the snap of a bathing suit accompanied by a dove gray taffeta ball skirt. And he used age-old dressmaker techniques like corsetry boning not just on silk damask, but on unexpected materials like leather. Copping was a knitwear innovator at Nina Ricci; one of his most modern touches here was the tissue-thin sweaters (totally seamless, thank computers) that he paired with skirts and layered under shift dresses and skirt suits.
Held up to the very high standards of his breakthrough Spring season, the early part of this show fell a bit flat. Partly it was the color palette, which wasn’t nearly as vibrant as the carnation red, marigold, and turquoise of Spring. Copping probably also erred somewhat too minimal on those second-skin sweaters. But he made up for the slow beginning with some beautiful cocktail numbers and gowns. As a rule, these leaned more toward the Versailles, couture, 18th-century side of his equation, and they included a Bordeaux silk draped bustier worn with a weightless toile de Jouy organza skirt shot through with tinsel, a strapless black dress hand-stitched with gold metal thread and boasting heat transfer crystals, and a dusty rose floral jacquard draped gown accessorized by a choker that fastened in back with a matching dusty rose taffeta bow. In this battle, as it were, tradition won, but Copping is still tinkering with his ODLR formula: We’re looking forward to next time.