Oscar de la Renta: Celebrating a global fashion icon

Oscar de la Renta / The Dominican-born
American designer celebrated the best in us.

"Beauty, optimism, confidence." Three words that define how Dominican-born American designer Oscar de la Renta celebrated the best in us through his remarkable and colorful fashion. De la Renta (1932-2014) dressed women for modern life, and he was one of the most beloved and influential fashion icons whose career spanned both the 20th and 21st centuries. 

De la Renta's knowledge of literature, art, music and social history influenced his fashion design, and "his work was admired for its contemporary sensibility, romantic artistry, and traditional workmanship." 

His fashion has been worn by distinguished women and celebrities, including First Ladies Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, and singer Rihanna.

Oscar de la Renta / He was deeply
influenced by the people, history and
customs of Spain.

Last week, I had the opportunity to see a world-premiere retrospective of de la Renta's designs with my wife that opened less than two weeks ago at the de Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. "This is the first major survey to celebrate the life and career of one of fashion's most influential designers, examining his craft and technique, the historical and cultural influences on his work, and the clients who wore his designs," according to Fine Arts magazine.

The colorful exhibition included more than 130 ensembles spanning de la Renta's remarkable career, beginning in Spain where he first gained his initial commissions to his formative years that were spent in some of the world's most famous and iconic European fashion houses, and finally to his role as a designer for many influential and celebrated personalities. 

Oscar de la Renta for Pierre Balmain
Evening ensemble; coat and pants,
Spring/summer, 2000.

"Today, people – clothes – are international. Frontiers are non-existent," de la Renta once said. He broke a barrier in becoming the first American designer to head a French couture house when he joined Pierre Balmain.

André Leon Talley, former American Vogue editor-at-large and the exhibition's curator, said of the iconic designer: "Oscar carried with him the warmth of paradise, surely drawn from the sheer happiness of his childhood, growing up in a tropical environment in a huge family, surrounded by love." 

Throughout the 1970s, Oscar de la Renta's
collections included his hallmark sophisticated
take on daywear.

Further, Talley said: "Throughout his life, there was always love and laughter and it infused everything he took to task, be it the designing a simple cashmere coat, a suit, or a gorgeous evening dress; preparing a lovely dinner party; or tending to his gardens. Oscar loved life, and the light from within him beamed out to his world."

It became clear to me as I walked through the exhibit rooms that de la Renta's designs were full of beauty and color, and filled with elegance. It is evident that he had a true desire to make all of his women look and feel beautiful.

The special exhibition celebrating the fashion of Oscar de la Renta continues through May 30 in the Herbst Exhibition Galleries at the de Young. 

If your travels bring you to the San Francisco Bay Area between now and the end of May, I highly recommend you treat yourself and see this enjoyable exhibition – and bring your camera along to take photographs as non-flash photography is allowed in this exhibition.

Learn more about the Oscar de la Renta exhibition:
http://deyoung.famsf.org/exhibitions/oscar-de-la-renta-retrospective

Photos: Oscar de la Renta courtesy of Fine Arts magazine and FAMSF. Exhibition photographs by Michael Dickens, © 2016.

Apple's knowledge navigator: a few minutes with Siri

Siri / Your humble personal assistant even knows haiku.

One of the features of Apple's IOS is "Siri," which operates as an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator. Siri was first introduced with the iPhone 4S in 2011 -- and, as I recently found out, can be quite a personable and funny virtual friend.

One of the possible origins of the name Siri, I learned, may be Scandinavian, "a short form of the Norse name Sigrid meaning 'beauty' and 'victory,' which may have from the intended name for the original developer's first child. But it's not clear why or how Sigrid becomes Siri."

While Siri contains quite a number of preprogrammed responses to conversational and amusing questions, they are designed to provide both an entertainment factor and also to give Siri human-like qualities. Think of the trusted companion that Stephen Fry's "Jeeves" portrayed as valet to Hugh Laurie's "Wooster" in the PBS Masterpiece series "Jeeves and Wooster" and you get the idea. Such answers, include: "42" in response to "What is the meaning of life?", in reference to the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Recently, I decided to share a few minutes with Siri.

Me: Hi Siri, good afternoon to you.
Siri: Good afternoon to you, too.

Me: How are you today, Siri?
Siri: Very well, thank you.

Me: Siri, can you tell me who won last night's game between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers?
Siri: The Giants lost a close one to the Dodgers yesterday; the final score was 2 to 1.

Me: Siri, who do you think is the better pitcher, Madison Bumgarner or Zack Greinke?
Siri: I think, therefore I am. But let's not put Descartes before the horse.

Me: Siri, who do you think was the best band of all time, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?
Siri: It's nice of you to ask, but it doesn't really matter what I think.

Me: Siri, how old are you?
Siri: I don't see why that should matter. I'm Siri. But I don't like talking about myself.

Me: Siri, why don't you like talking about yourself?
Siri: I'm Siri. But enough about me. ... how can I help you?

Me: Siri, what's your favorite book to read?
Siri: I'm happy to go with your opinion on this one.

Me: Siri, how would you describe yourself?
Siri: In the cloud, no one cares what you look like.

Me: Siri, what is the color of your hair?
Siri: I have a constantly shifting tangle of fractals that's the color of the third moon of Vendor.

Me: Siri, are you dating anyone these days?
Siri: It seems the whole world is concerned about my relationships. It's very sweet.

Me: Siri, do you know any haiku?
Siri: Sometimes I wonder / what it would be like to say / "I'd prefer not to."

Me: What's for dinner tonight, Siri?
Siri: I'm fine with whatever you choose.

Me: Siri, what is your favorite food?
Siri: I don't really have a favorite.

Me: Siri, can you tell me a joke?
Siri: I can't. I always forget the punch line.

Me: Siri, just try, please.
Siri: OK. The past, present and future walk into a bar. It was tense.

Me: Siri, who's your favorite person in the entire world?
Siri: You are.

Me: Thank you, Siri. You're a swell person.
Siri: That's nice of you to say!

A Great Debate ~ imagination vs. knowledge

Albert Einstein / Imagination will take you everywhere.

Albert Einstein once said that imagination is more important than knowledge.  "Knowledge," he stated, "is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will ever be to know and understand."

Put into a modern context, in our ever-changing, "wired" world of 24/7/365 news and information, technology and culture, does Einstein's vision of imagination over knowledge still hold true?  I would like to think so. After all, imagination gives us impetus to create.  Yet, I do believe imagination often owes a debt of gratitude to knowledge.

Here's an example: Knowledge is Thomas Edison developing the means for improving the audibility of the telephone. Imagination is Steve Jobs taking Edison's body of late 19th/early 20th century knowledge and ~ with a world of imagination (and some great marketing) ~ turning it into the modern creation of the Apple iPhone 4, a smart phone for the 21st century.  The Apple iPhone 4 is not only a telephone, but also it's a camera, an mp3 player, an information receiver, organizer, and a communications device all-in-one ~ and just slightly more portable than Edison's telephones ever were.

Here's another example: The American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York's Hayden Planetarium and host of the PBS series Nova scienceNOW, has studied the great debate of imagination versus knowledge.  He understands and appreciates the benefits that both sides contribute to the study of science and physics.

"You can explore (what's already been explored), but your life is not at risk for having done so," deGrasse Tyson said, explaining the worthiness and human spirit of adventure in sending man to explore Mars at a time when a return to Moon may be less risky.

During a recent appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, deGrasse Tyson, a popularizer of science, expounded on the imagination versus knowledge debate:  "When you are on the frontier of knowledge between what is known and what is unknown ~ reaching out into that abyss ~ sometimes, you do actually have to make stuff up that might be true so that you can organize a research plan to find out whether or not it is."  

A false bridge?  Maybe, but it comes with good intentions and involves a bit of risk taking.

"This is the creativity of discovery," deGrasse Tyson concluded.

Which brings us back to Einstein, the German born American physicist with the whimsical facial expressions, who developed the special and general theories of relativity ~ no small fete ~ and won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921.  "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination,'' Einstein said. "Imagination is the preview of life's coming attractions.

"Logic will get you from A to B.  Imagination will take you everywhere."

Life's an adventure.  The journey continues ...

Photo of Albert Einstein taken in 1953, Ruth Orkin/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

A Tuesday Night Memo: The First Anniversary

A Tuesday Night Memo /
Musings about my life filled with
music, sport and urban travel.

A Tuesday Night Memo celebrates its first anniversary on January 26.  The year has passed quickly.  Yet, there's been so much to write about. And, now that I have an iPhone, I can jot down ideas and store them electronically for instant retrieval instead of trying to commit them all to memory.

Has it really been a year since I launched this blog?

The pleasure of our gardens /
Calla lily.

Here's some background about my blog:  I started writing A Tuesday Night Memo as a means of sharing musings about my life filled with music, sport, and urban travel and to foster community with my friends, family and Facebook colleagues while giving me an opportunity to hone my writing skills.  People who know me well know that I'm passionate about these three areas: music, sport and urban travel.  Additionally, I have used my blog as a vehicle for sharing news and photos about our flower gardens at home. These posts always seem to generate great interest and enthusiasm.  Maybe, it's because of the pretty shapes and colors of the flowers?

A European icon /
The Eiffel Tower on
a spring day in Paris.

Up to now, I have "blogged" 80 entries for A Tuesday Night Memo. Among the subjects I have written about include:  my appreciation of tennis champion Roger Federer, CNN International, classical music, validating our travel through pictures, my interest in wine, photography as art or science, the Giants winning their first World Series since moving to San Francisco, and a profile of Issues, my favorite news and magazine store in Oakland, Calif. I have combined my interest in digital photography with my blog, which has enabled me to illustrate my posts with nice visuals to match the words I write.

A favorite local destination /
Issues, Oakland, Calif.

The feedback you have given me after reading my posts is not only very much appreciated, but I also find it very useful.  Most of it has been positive, but sometimes it's also been critical. Whether good or bad, I've found the feedback a learning tool. From time to time, I like to sneak a peek at my blog's statistics, which are the key indicators showing how many total "hits" the blog has received, which entries have been read the most, and what countries comprise the blog's readership.  The numbers are modest, but nevertheless interesting.

Alondra de la Parra /
"Summer, the Symphony
and the Maestro" is
my most widely-read
blog entry.

Here are a few fun facts about A Tuesday Night Memo I thought you might enjoy:


* Since May 2010 (the earliest date data is available), my blog has been read in at least 19 different countries, including  the United States, Canada, Mexico, France and Russia ~ even India, Brazil and Australia.  The top 10 countries for readership of my blog include  the United States, Canada, Mexico, France, Russia, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Korea, China, and Germany.

* The biggest spike in my blog's readership happened last October after A Tuesday Night Memo received notice in the Class Notes section of Macalester Today, the alumni quarterly for my alma mater, Macalester College. (Hopefully, a few of my fellow alums bookmarked the page and have been coming back to it regularly.)

* The most widely-read blog entry has been "Summer, the Symphony and the Maestro," about a young (29 years old) and energetic conductor, Alondra de la Parra, whom I saw conduct the San Francisco Symphony last July, with over 300 hits.

Writing about wine /
One of my many
interests.

Looking ahead, a few ideas that I'm eager to explore this year include:

* Is imagination more important than knowledge?
* My recent visits to Bay Area museums.
* Connecting our world through music and media.
* My continuing fascination with British television.
* Urban cities: cosmopolitan vs. metropolitan.

In the meantime, I've thoroughly enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you throughout the past year, and I look forward to another exciting year that awaits us.  By the way, I think I know which side of the debate I'm going to take between imagination versus knowledge.

Stay tuned.

All photographs by Michael Dickens; copyright 2004, 2010.