Fashion world bids farewell to designer Oscar de la Renta

By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) – The fashion world mourned the loss of one of its greatest designers on Monday at the private funeral of Oscar de la Renta, who died of cancer last month at 82. The tall Dominican-born de la Renta dressed New York socialites, Hollywood stars and American first ladies during a career that spanned five decades. Young women in black dresses checked in impeccably dressed guests at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Designers Valentino and Diane von Furstenberg were among the first to arrive, followed by director Mike Nichols and his journalist wife Diane Sawyer, designers Tommy Hilfiger and Donna Karan, Chelsea Clinton, journalist Barbara Walters, photographer Annie Leibovitz and actor Hugh Jackman.