“We look at traditional fabrics, that’s the starting point for each collection,” said Oscar de la Renta designer Peter Copping just before The Colleagues luncheon benefiting Children’s Institute, Inc., on Tuesday, April 26, held at the Beverly Wilshire. During the annual fundraiser, Copping presented his fall 2016 collection for the house of de la Renta, a series of day and evening looks inspired by the famed 1973 Battle of Versailles fashion competition pitting American designers against French couturiers. “Oscar’s work was much more minimal then, compared to what the French were doing,” said Copping. “So for this fall collection, I wanted to take the patterns of 18th-century prints but print them on an entirely new fabric texture.” Unlike the intricate looks worn to court at Versailles, Copping said he wanted to create dresses that seemed to float on the body. “Women today don’t want heavy clothes,” he added. Continuing to develop that idea, Copping, at work on his next resort collection, said he had just returned from more fabric research in Europe where members of his team traveled to Como in Italy, as well as Lyon and also parts of Scotland where he sources tweeds. “If you don’t get out there and support the mills, you won’t have the options we do now,” he warns.

By Elizabeth Varnell

Pictured: Oscar de la Renta designer Peter Copping and Mary Martin at The Colleagues luncheon benefiting Children’s Institute, Inc. held in Beverly Hills.
Photo by Alex Berliner