Karlie Kloss Remembers Oscar de la Renta

by Eddie Roche
Karlie Kloss

Karlie Kloss

Karlie Kloss remembers Oscar de la Renta in the January issue of Glamour, which hits stands on December 9th and is available now digitally at Glamour.com/app. The designer and model first started working together when she was 15 . “I met Oscar when I was just a teenager. It was my second season of doing shows, so I was still very fresh and it was all new,” ” Kloss recalls to Glamour. “I remember walking into his atelier and being so wide-eyed; it was covered from wall to wall with trays of beautiful jewelry and gorgeous shoes and gowns. There were textures and fabrics I didn’t know existed. Here I was, this American girl from the Midwest, standing in this house of elegance and luxury to the level of First Ladies. The technique and craft that went into creating an Oscar de la Renta dress was like that of a couture house. It was totally intimidating! I don’t know what he saw in me; I was a kid playing dress-up in these elaborate, womanly gowns. But he saw something, because I walked in nearly every one of his shows from that point on.” She also talks about his legendary charm saying, “Before a show he would always grab my hand and say, ‘Karlie, you are beautiful.’ That was everything. Nobody does that! It doesn’t matter if you’re a model about to go on the runway or just any woman, somebody grabbing your hands and looking you in the eyes like you’re the only person in the world? He made you feel special.” One of their final moments together was when she attended the Met Gala in May with de la Renta, who passed away in October. “That night at the dinner, I had one of the most heartfelt conversations with him that I’ve ever had with anyone,” she says. “He told me how he fell in love with his wife, Annette, and he told me about his first wife, who had died of cancer 30 years before. The most important thing in life, he said that night, is to love and be loved, and to do what you love. For me, it was so inspiring to see someone at 81, still so happy going to work.”

Karlie Kloss

Karlie Kloss

Karlie and Oscar at the 2014 Met Ball Photos: BFA

 

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