Designers Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, who have served as co-creative directors at Oscar de la Renta for nearly a decade, are leaving the brand.
Puck’s Lauren Sherman was first to report the news, and employees were notified on Wednesday afternoon.
As Fashionista reports, the design partners have headed up the label since 2016, but are now planning to focus solely on their own brand, Monse. According to Sherman via Puck, Oscar de la Renta’s Fall 2026 show set for New York Fashion Week in February will be the pair’s final outing for the venerable label. The duo is also set to create a pre-fall collection for the ODLR 60th anniversary celebration in December of this year.
It’s the end of an era, in many ways.
Both Kim and Garcia have been with ODLR from early on in their careers.. Kim started with the company in 2003 while she was still in college, and Garcia came on several years later as an intern at the company. They became co-creative directors in 2016, after starting Monse, so the Oscar de la Renta legacy runs deep for the two.
“I think we’re broadening the customer base, but it was a customer Oscar always had,” Kim told Fashionista in a 2017 interview shortly after the pair made their creative directorial debut. Garcia added that their goal was to incorporate “Oscarisms,” updating them and “giving them a little bit of a new life, so that we don’t alienate the very healthy customer base Oscar currently has.” Fans in the fashion world would say they’ve been successful in that endeavor.
Now the only question is, who will take their place? Theirs are big shoes to fill.
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