Remembering

Francisco Costa, women's creative director for Calvin Klein Collection: “I’m really upset. I started my career with him and worked there six years. He taught me a lot. It was always very family-like. It’s very tender to think that he left in such a way. We are going to miss him. He was a father to me in a way. He really embraced everyone in the studio, not just me. I’m sorry I didn’t get to spend more time with him. He was a man of beauty. He surrounded himself with beauty; he surrounded himself with the best. I don’t think there’s another person today who understands living, the sort of fine line between old and new, in a sense. He embraced the sensibility of the old with the great style of how we live today. He lived, full-on. Everything was important to him. The scent, the color, the way he set a table, the way he entertained, the way he greeted people. Also his kindness, his charity. With kids, schools, he always gave back. I also love the fact that he was a fighter. Oscar had a fantastic sense of humor. He could be quite tough. Not mean, but quite twisted. Which is wonderful to think that he still had that sense of humor. He could fight and instigate. He was that kind of man. I was very pleased to have been part of his world.”