El veintidós de julio/July 22nd
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A Dominican American fashion designer who dressed many first ladies and Hollywood stars, de la Renta was born the seventh child, and only son, to a Dominican mother, Carmen María Antonía Fiallo, and a Puerto Rican father, Oscár Avellino de la Renta. Though his father wanted him to follow his footsteps and go into insurance, de la Renta showed an inclination for art at a young age. After his mother died from complications of multiple sclerosis when he was 18, he left for Spain to study painting at the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. For extra money, he drew clothes for newspapers and fashion houses. The wife of the U.S. ambassador to Spain saw a dress he had sketched and commissioned him to design a gown for her daughter for her debutante ball. She wore it on the cover of Life magazine, and de la Renta's career was launched. He apprenticed under Cristobál Valenciaga and then joined Antonio del Castillo as an assistant in Paris. He married Francoise de Langlade, the French editor of Vogue, in 1966 (he was her third husband). They were married until she died of cancer in 1983. Soon after her death, he adopted a son, Moises, from the Dominican Republic (he became as designer as well, and Michelle Obama wore a red sheath from his collection in 2009 - click HERE). In 1990 he married Annette Engelhard. He has step-children from both marriages, several of whom help operate his global enterprise. Read de la Renta's Washington Post obituary from 2014 HERE.
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