He ain’t going anywhere.Photo: Getty Images
Ending pesky rumors that Oscar de la Renta, like Valentino, was stepping down and/or selling his business, WWD sat down with the designer and his CEO (and son-in-law — nice score) for an in-depth chat about the biz. We scanned through the 20-page (online) article and now happily bring you the choice bits:
The company is so completely not for sale, so stop talking about it already. Move along, people, nothing to see here.
A.B.: Having said that, yes, in general, if somebody came along and said here is $10 billion, guess what, my first thing is that I’m going to run to Oscar’s office and say, “Let’s hand them the keys.”
Unless of course, you give them money. Then maybe they’ll sell it.
Wow, that’s a lot of power for a son-in-law.
They’re raking it in, economy be damned!
O.D.L.R.: One of my assistants, who is a wonderful girl, worked for quite a long time at another couture house. The designer used to make really unbelievable clothes. And it’s not that he’s not making beautiful clothes now, but I think that their emphasis is not really on selling the clothes, but on selling the accessories and selling the brand. When she saw me working, she said, “Oh my goodness, you work very differently,” because, you know, every single dress I fit, I work on it. She said [the other designer] never touched the clothes, and I said that’s not the designer I knew.
Ooh, five points to anyone who guesses the name of that designer correctly! —Amina Akhtar
Oscar on the Record: With No Plans to Sell, He’s Bullish on Future [WWD]
