Oscar De La Renta Snaps Back at Cathy Horyn via Online Ad

Everyone knows that fashionistas can be catty, and Oscar De La Renta opted to respond to Cathy Horyn’s negative comments about his style credentials in a very public way.

In her Times column, Horyn called Oscar “far more a hot dog than an eminence grise of American fashion,” and Mr. De La Renta was none too pleased.

As a result, Oscar penned “An Open Letter to Cathy Horyn from Oscar De La Renta,” and published it as a full page ad in WWD.

The text reads,

Dear Cathy,

This year I celebrated my 80th birthday. With pride, I can say that for more than 50 of those years I have been privileged to work in a profession that I deeply love, one that has given me tremendous pleasure. I have always considered that my role as a designer and as a great admirer of women has always been to make a woman look and feel her very best.

I respect and accept criticism because in many ways it does help us develop; I try to make my work better each time. What I do not accept is when criticism is personal. If you have the right to call me a hot dog why do I not have the right to call you a stale 3-day old hamburger? My advice to you is to abstain from personal criticism. Professionals criticize the clothes, not the people.”

Cathy shot back, "I used the term in a professional context, as someone showing off his tricks, like a surfer… I thought an ad was a little over-the-top."