While the Metropolitan Museum’s annual ball is the big fashion party of the spring, daytime dress up’s main event is the FIT Couture Council luncheon which launches the fall season. Just hours before Fashion Week was about to begin, more than 600 of the well-dressed, including fellow designers Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera, turned out at Lincoln Center to present Oscar de la Renta the 2012 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion.
all photographs by Patrick McMullan
Seated at a table with Nancy Kissenger, Anna Wintour and Sarah Jessica Parker, Oscar listened as Mayor Bloomberg described him as “the mayor of fashion, a fashion legend.”
Luncheon chairs Alexandra Lebenthal and Eleanora Kennedy both wore de la Renta creations. Alexandra in two-piece black and white; Eleanora in the smashing red shirt dress made famous the week before when Ann Romney wore hers to deliver the Convention address. Liz Peek in maroon de la Renta announced that almost a million dollars had been raised to benefit the Museum at FIT. Accepting the award, de la Renta admitted he’s still learning after designing for more than 50 years and still enjoys it. “I love what I do.”
Among those in the crowd we spotted a number wearing Oscar’s creations current and vintage—with black-and-white and red among recurrent themes.
