Oscar de la Renta Dismisses Successor Rumours

17 Apr 2014

IT'S been a busy old week for the New York fashion rumourmill: first Oscar de la Renta's talks with " possible successor" John Galliano had reportedly broken down, then Jason Wu was in the frame, then Prabal Gurung, then Olivier Theyskens was said to be leaving Theory to helm the label. All untrue the house says.

Oscar de la Renta told Financial Times fashion writer Vanessa Friedman (who is now the New York Times's fashion director and chief fashion critic) that there is "no search under way" - although Friedman notes that even this is not definitive, implying a "yet" or indeed an "any more".

Prabal Gurung provided us with a "no comment" yesterday, while Theory and Wu have not yet responded, but the whispers provide the house - if they did not have it already - with an incentive to think about the future.

"The fashion world and its famous founders of houses are notoriously terrible at their own succession planning, in contrast to their corporate side which seems to have it very much in hand," Friedman writes in her blog. "De la Renta himself is 81, and has had various health issues over the years. It's a natural question, and I am sure it has been discussed on 42nd street, the de la Renta headquarters… It would be pretty to think so, anyway."