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Oscar de la Renta Names Peter Copping as Creative Director

Peter Copping in 2013.Credit...Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Oscar de la Renta, the king of the ladies who lunch, has appointed a crown prince. On Monday, the house announced it had named Peter Copping as creative director, putting to rest a month of rumors about the move, and putting into place a succession plan for the brand.

“We have spent a considerable time determining how best to bring a new and important creative voice into our company,” said Alex Bolen, chief executive of Oscar de la Renta (and the designer’s stepson-in-law), announcing the news. “Peter will bring a fresh perspective to our brand, continuing the evolution of our business.”

Mr. Copping, the 48-year-old former artistic director of Nina Ricci, who officially left that brand at the beginning of October, will be responsible for all product categories, including ready-to-wear, accessories, bridal and home décor. He will report to Mr. de la Renta and Mr. Bolen.

His appointment makes him one of the few designers in the modern fashion industry to have actually been anointed as an heir apparent by a sitting creator, and it comes at time when a number of established designers are facing issues of succession, including Giorgio Armani (age 80) and Ralph Lauren (74). As a result, it will be one of the most closely watched creative moves in recent years.

Though Yves Saint Laurent worked with Christian Dior before briefly taking over the house at the designer’s untimely death, and Karl Lagerfeld was hired by founder Gaby Aghion at Chloé, the modern fashion world is not known for its smooth passing of design power. Indeed, according to Mr. de la Renta, this was an impetus for the decision to identify Mr. Copping and put him in place.

“Our industry has not always done the best job when it comes to changes in design leadership,” Mr. de la Renta said in the announcement. “My hope is that, in leading this selection and actively participating in the transition, I can ensure the right design future for our company and brand.”

Hubert de Givenchy, for example, was critical of the state of his brand after he sold it to LVMH and retired in 1995. In 2009, Tom Ford, speaking to The Advocate of his time as creative director of Yves Saint Laurent (which had been bought by then-PPR, now Kering), said of the house’s founders, “Yves and his partner, Pierre Bergé, were so difficult and so evil and made my life such misery.”

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Oscar de la Renta with Karlie Kloss, left, and Daria Strokous at the end of his spring 2015 show.Credit...Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

Mr. de la Renta, who is 82, and whose health has been precarious (he had cancer in 2006, and at his women’s wear show in September looked frail), had been thinking about naming a successor for the last few years. In 2013, John Galliano, the former Christian Dior artistic director, had a very well-publicized three-week stint in the de la Renta atelier, and though the resulting collection looked a bit like an uncomfortable amalgam of Mr. Galliano’s dramatic bias-cut styles and Mr. de la Renta’s more classic work, the house seriously considered hiring Mr. Galliano full time. In the end, however, they could not reach an agreement, reportedly in part because Mr. Galliano wanted to bring a number of former colleagues with him.

Mr. Copping comes with less baggage. According to Mr. Bolen, he and Mr. de la Renta had “followed closely Peter’s work over the last few years.” Serious talks began a few months ago.

Mr. Copping’s appointment makes sense in many ways. They share a similar decorative, feminine sensibility, as well as an adult understanding of silhouette, though Mr. Copping has a lighter hand. Like Mr. de la Renta, who trained with Balenciaga, founded his own label in 1965, and spent nine years as the designer of Balmain couture, Mr. Copping is used to working with traditional European ateliers, and within the strictures of a brand established by someone else. Before Nina Ricci, he spent 12 years working with Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.

Ikram Goldman, the owner of the boutique Ikram in Chicago, which carries both Oscar de la Renta and Nina Ricci, applauded the appointment. “I think Peter is the most logical designer to take over as head designer of Oscar de la Renta in that he will respect the DNA and integrity of the house while mixing in some of his sensational European spirit (flair, touch, soul),” she said. “Peter is one of the most romantic designers. You can tell he loves women, which is why I think it’s a natural fit.”

In addition, though he is British and has lived in France for the last 20 years, Mr. Copping understands the American market. The United States was Nina Ricci’s biggest geographic sector by revenue, and under Mr. Copping, Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman were among Ricci’s two biggest accounts.

Mr. Bolen said, “Many of our vendor partners — the fabric mills, the embroiderers, the knit factories — already know Peter well.”

Still, as a private company with annual sales of $150 million, and 14 fully owned stores, de la Renta is a bigger challenge. (Nina Ricci, which is owned by the Spanish group Puig, has one stand alone store.) And Mr. Copping’s background makes him an anomaly in the American fashion world, where designers more often start in New York and move to Europe (see: Marc Jacobs and Vuitton, Michael Kors and Céline, Alexander Wang and Balenciaga) than vice versa.

Presumably, Mr. Copping’s global experience was part of the appeal for Oscar de la Renta, which has lagged behind many of its peers in moving into markets like China, not to mention e-commerce and accessories. Indeed, when it comes to shoes and bags, Mr. Bolen said, “growth of those categories is central to our expansion plans.”

Mr. Copping starts work Nov. 3rd. His first collection for Oscar de la Renta will be shown during New York Fashion Week in Feb. 2015.

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