Postal Service Honors Fashion Icon

NEW YORK — The U.S. Postal Service today issued Forever stamps honoring Oscar de la Renta, one of the world’s leading fashion designers, during a ceremony at Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal. The stamps are being sold as a pane of 11 stamps.

For 50 years, de la Renta created glamorous, sophisticated clothes that showcased the distinctively feminine attributes of the women who wore them. His innovative designs and close attention to detail elevated American style and brought international attention to New York as world leader in fashion.

“The Postal Service is proud to honor Oscar de la Renta for his genius and pioneering leadership in the fashion industry,” said Janice Walker, vice president, Corporate Communications, U.S. Postal Service, who dedicated the stamp.

“These beautiful stamps illustrate his highly polished style and tremendous skill, which helped bridge the gap between American and French designers of trend-setting fashions for women.”

Walker was joined at the stamp dedication ceremony by Secretary Hillary Clinton; Michael R. Bloomberg, founder, Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th Mayor of the City of New York; Alexander Bolen, chief executive officer, Oscar de la Renta LLC; Anna Wintour, artistic director of Condé Nast and editor in chief of Vogue; and Anderson Cooper, journalist and author.

“Our family and our company are profoundly honored that the U.S. Postal Service has chosen to memorialize Oscar de la Renta’s life and work with this series of beautiful stamps,” said Bolen.

“Oscar was proud to be an American and this would have made him tremendously happy. To commemorate his personal version of the American dream with these stamps is a great honor for which we thank the U.S. Postal Service,” Bolen said.

The Oscar de la Renta stamp pane includes 11 images — an evocative black-and-white portrait of de la Renta and 10 stamps that show details from some of his most exquisite gowns.

The portrait photo of de la Renta is by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.  The photo of the light pink dress is by Norman Jean Roy. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps.