It’s, quite frankly, impossible to peruse Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia’s Oscar de la Renta Fall-Winter 2021 collection without dreaming of delightfully warm weather and outdoor activities with free-flowing rosé. The creative directors unveiled the 25-piece lineup on Tuesday, March 2. Although it’s technically the label’s fall offering, shoppers will be able to find the lavish, botanical designs in-store at the end of July—a breath of relief for those who want to get their freshly sanitized hands on the line as soon as possible. The collection comprises elegant daywear like cocktail dresses, flowing maxis adorned with feminine bow details, and vacation-ready crocheted numbers. And in proper ODLR form, there is also a small selection of gowns worthy of the red carpet (virtual or not).
If you have yet to see the fashion house’s collection, I invite you to look at the opening minidress (the first slide of the gallery at the bottom of this article) embroidered with floral appliqués, and modeled by Candice Swanepoel. Did you gasp, too? Garcia and Kim brought the cocktail dress to life in collaboration with Tricia Paoluccio, founder of the New York City-based company Modern Pressed Flower. “Oscar always does florals in his collection. So we still make sure we have some sort of flower every season, but this season we really loved this pressed flower story,” Kim told Elle. Per a V Magazine report, the fashion duo started pressing flowers a “year before we went into lockdown” and aimed to bring the line to life for September, before realizing the process of pressing flowers took much longer than anticipated. That’s precisely when they hired Paoluccio to help.
Kim and Garcia paid close attention to the coronavirus pandemic and shoppers’ wants and needs in developing the FW21 collection. Still, one thing was for sure: elevated loungewear wasn’t going to make the cut. “Not everything can be sweatpants. I’m sorry,” Garcia told Harper’s Bazaar. “How boring would it be if all we see is sweatpants from now till the pandemic is over?” They did, however, aim to create pieces that will help people ease their way back into normal life, and make them excited to do so, too. “Overall, we kind of shifted our fabrics more towards cotton than silk to make it less like event looking,” Garcia told Elle. it’s more like a casual, your backyard party looking.”
Nevertheless, there’s room in this world for red-carpet-worthy silhouettes like Look 25 from the Oscar de la Renta FW21 lookbook: a tulle ball gown, ablaze with crystalized bows, featuring an open back and high neck. According to a press release provided to GRAZIA, the piece took 120 hours to create—and it shows. We’re willing to bet that celebrities are already eyeing the piece to scoop up for a very special occasion.
Experience the 25-piece collection in its entirety below.
