Hillary Clinton honours Oscar de la Renta

Hillary Clinton used a ceremony honouring Oscar de la Renta to celebrate the contributions of immigrants like the Dominican-born fashion designer.

Speaking at a US Postal Service ceremony dedicating a series of 11 stamps honouring de la Renta, Clinton said the designer was an immigrant, “and aren’t we proud and grateful that he was?”

“Let there be many, many more immigrants with the love of America that Oscar de la Renta exemplified every single day,” she added.

De la Renta, who died in 2014 at age 82, dressed every first lady from Jacqueline Kennedy to Michelle Obama. First daughter Ivanka Trump carried on the tradition by wearing his company’s designs during last month’s daytime inauguration festivities.

Clinton did not directly address her presidential election loss to Ivanka’s father, Donald Trump, but she alluded to the president obliquely in remarks praising immigrants and the US Constitution.

She said de la Renta was “a fitting person to be chosen by our Postal Service — mentioned, by the way, in the Constitution, something we should all read and reread in today’s times.”

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who joined Clinton, Vogue editor Anna Wintour and others at the ceremony at New York’s Grand Central Terminal, also praised de la Renta as a proud Dominican immigrant.

“Our country is great because we welcome people from around the world. They come here to work hard and build a better future for their families, no matter where they come from,” said Bloomberg, a political independent who endorsed Clinton, a Democrat, for president. —AP