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Oscar de la Renta: Designer, Crooner

Oscar

Photo: Getty Images

Picture, if you will, the Dominican Republic, specifically, the island of Hispaniola. Turquoise water laps at white sand, palm trees flutter in the breeze. Julio Iglesias, his 64-year-old body oiled and clad only in a bright banana hammock, lounges on the beach. Nearby in his abandoned studio, the designer Oscar de la Renta, Julio’s closest friend and next-door neighbor, croons “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” into a recording microphone for his first, self-titled album, This is the picture De la Renta paints for us in today’s Wall Street Journal. (Well, except for the banana hammock.) You heard that right, ladies! Everyone’s favorite inaugural-ball gown designer has recorded an album. Sadly, it was released privately, but the folks at the Journal have made several mp3s available on their site, and we strongly recommend the Elvis cover. It’s very charming in, um, an outsider-art kind of way? Seriously, we don’t know why iTunes is missing out on this: Oscar could become the best-selling artist for menopausals since Andrea Bocelli!

Why is This Man Still Fashionable? [WSJ]

Oscar de la Renta: Designer, Crooner