Chelsea Clinton speaking at the CFDA Fashion Awards. (Photo: Getty Images)
Chelsea Clinton was the biggest surprise at Monday night’sCFDA Fashion Awards. The 35-year-old’s presence was kept secret until she stepped out on the stage to reflect on her friend, designer Oscar de la Renta, who died in October.
“The first conversation I remember having with Oscar, I was 17 or 18. He pulled me aside one evening, and he said, ‘Chelsea, I think I know you well enough now to ask you the following question: Why do you always look like you’re trying so hard to blend in with the background?’ I said, ‘Well, Oscar, because I am,’” Clinton told the fashion crowd. “And he looked at me, rather sternly but with a twinkle in his eye, and he said, ‘I think you’re doing yourself a great disservice. But if you insist on wearing dark colors and standing against the wall, you should at least be dressed beautifully.” She continued, “The very next week, Oscar sent me a beautiful, patterned brown velvet dress. I wore that dress as often as I thought I could get away with, and I smiled a little more brightly, and I always like to think I stood a little further away from the wall. I still have that dress, and I will treasure it always.”
De la Renta, a close friend of the family — Hillary Clinton worked with de la Renta on many occasions and even presented the Founder’s Award to the designer at the very same annual event two years ago — also made Clinton’s wedding dress for her 2010 nuptials. But even more special is the dress he made for Charlotte, Chelsea’s 1-year-old daughter. In fact, she says, it may very well have been the last thing he ever made. “The last conversation I ever had with Oscar was when my husband, Marc, and I called to thank him for Charlotte’s gift, to see how he was doing, see how he was feeling, and tell him we were thinking about him, that we loved him,” she said. “And of course, all Oscar wanted to do was talk about Charlotte, to see how she was doing, find out who she looked like, was she healthy, how was I feeling so soon after giving birth.”
While his clothes are certainly special, it’s the person — the man Chelsea would have chosen as her grandfather if picking families were a possibility — whom she truly honored. “He had a remarkable combination of kind honesty and honest kindness. He believed that in the right light, and yes, the right dress, anyone — even a shy, awkward girl — could shine a little more brightly,” the human rights advocate said. “But most of all, Oscar had a generous spirit, a generous mind, and a truly limitless heart.” In closing, she addressed many of de la Renta’s peers, acquaintances, and admirers and promised that she’s going to make sure her daughter knows how lucky she is to have something so special from him. “I will be sure that she knows she’s even luckier to live in a world that could create someone who was such a creator as Oscar de la Renta and that we are better for the life that he lived and all the love he gave away,” she said. “I miss him every single day.”
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