Couturier Ozcar G: The Toast of Palm Beach Socialites

As a teenager in Cuba, couturier Ozcar Garcia-Lopez, known as Ozcar G., could never have imagined that within a year of opening his showroom in Coral Gables, his best clients would include Palm Beach’s most prominent, jet-setting, society women. Sixteen at last count. Quite a coup for the 39-year old who only arrived in South Florida in 2004.

The dashing Ozcar G. grew up in Havana watching his grandmother whip up glamorous dresses for her clients despite the severe lack of all types of basic sewing materials. He always had an eye for dressing well, insisting on choosing his own clothes from as early as a precocious age four. He began taking apart old clothing, including hats, to see how each piece was cut and sewn together and started designing and making his own clothes. Ozcar G. left Cuba in 2000, under contract to a clothing manufacturer in Mexico City to design clothing and supervise collections that were made for high-end designers.

A move to Miami in 2004 with several of his couture creations in hand immediately landed him a job at Yoly Munoz Couture, one of Miami’s most popular fashion designers. Three years later, he went out on his own to launch his Coral Gables showroom.

Even with his astounding success, Ozcar G. remains humble and has a delicious sense of humor. Not one bit jaded, his face lights up when talks about his work. We caught up with him in between fittings.

DAISY: Do you ever have to pinch yourself when you’re at yet another glamorous black tie ball among Palm Beach society and celebrities like Isabella Rossellini and Donald and Melania Trump, when just 12 years ago you were, like everyone in Cuba, suffering through dire hardships?

OZCAR G: Yes I do! But it made me so much more industrious! (laughs) Everything was prohibited or not available so you had to pull things out of thin air. Once I needed boning for a bustier so I got a sheet of X-ray film from a friend, cut it into strips, and folded them over several times to make the boning. We’d have to wait until someone traveled out of the country to order thread and sewing needles. If a needle lost its point, I’d use a fine nail file to sharpen it then pass it through candle wax to smooth it out. Absurd! I’m very grateful every day.

DAISY: Where did your first dreams of fashion begin?

OZCAR G: I’d devour every frame of Hollywood films, which came from France because Castro had banned American movies. I loved Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner. I’d study the beautiful sets, the furniture, the curtains. I’d never seen anything like that because everything in Cuba is so destroyed inside and out.

DAISY: How old were you when you got paying clients?

OZCAR G: I was 14. It was more of a tip than full payment, but it was my passion! A friend would get a dress and I’d alter it, or completely redesign the dress by changing the neckline, eliminating sleeves, take in a full skirt. I learned the most from a neighbor who was a gifted seamstress. She taught me all the fine details that make a difference. I studied dance, music and singing but I was sewing wedding gowns, mother of the bride and bridesmaid dresses. I was also working in the music industry as an artistic director and doing costuming for the musical production company Adolfo Guzman.

DAISY: What was a fashionably significant moment for you after leaving Cuba?

OZCAR G: I was 27 years old the first time I was in a fabric store in Mexico City. It was a shock! My head was spinning! A dream come true: buttons, crystals, silks, lace. I got a headache from the mental tsunami! I escaped from a horrible Communist dictatorship where there was n-o-t-h-i-n-g. From 6 PM to 8 AM no electricity, no water in your house because Castro decided we had to preserve energy. No transportation, no air conditioning. In the middle of that nightmare I survived by dreaming of gorgeous silks, jewels, furs, beading! And there it all was for me to use!

DAISY: What brought you to Miami in 2004?

OZCAR G: I missed my sister who lived here and I was alone in Mexico. I started working for Yoly Munoz Couture immediately and learned a lot from her. Yoly Munoz was doing real haute couture in Miami — custom-made gowns with hand-finished details like beading, zippers, embroidery. It was the doctorate of my fashion education. Yoly was so thrilled with my designs that for a fashion charity gala produced in Dominican Republic, where several designers participated, the ten dresses she showed on the runway were my designs. I’m so grateful for that.

DAISY: Why did you decide to go out on your own?

OZCAR G: I resigned in 2007 because I wanted recognition. I’d suggested a line called Yoly Munoz by Ozcar G. but she refused. I understood but creatively I needed to grow. At that time, I met Rick Pedraza, who is now my partner and showroom manager. He encouraged me to move on. It took me almost a year to create 120 evening gowns and cocktail dresses — the collection for my new showroom. I had two seamstresses helping me and I went back to my roots at the sewing machine, 24 hours a day, every day! Rick, whose career was in banking as a loan manager, was my financial and emotional support and that’s why I was able to do this. Many clients from Yoly Munoz followed me to my showroom.

DAISY: How did the glamorous Palm Beach social ladies discover you?

OZCAR G: All word of mouth. My first client was a New York socialite who lives in Palm Beach during the season and travels the world. She was a regular client of the haute couture houses in Paris who was weary of being told she was buying a one-of-a-kind dress, then showed up a major event and saw another woman in the same dress.

DAISY: What happened after she wore your dress?

OZCAR G: It was such a hit at a Mar-a-Lago gala. All her friends familiar with the Paris collections commented they had not seen anything like it! She came back and bought six more dresses from me. My satisfaction is that these women who can buy anything from any couturier in the world come to me so I can create a gown for them. That’s what makes me happy!

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These clients are a small, elite percentage whose idea of shopping involves going “wheels up” to Europe to be fitted at haute couture fashion houses in Paris. So why, if they can afford to dress from any designer in the world, do they choose to go to Ozcar G.? We asked three of his Palm Beach clients to explain:

WHAT MAKES OZCAR G.’s GOWNS SO DIFFERENT FROM OTHER DESIGNERS?

Hayden Hosford: He creates one-of-a-kind dresses, so you never see others in the same dress you’re wearing. He has fantastic fabrics, breathtaking designs and unique craftsmanship. He has, without a doubt, a great couture talent and a strong identity.

Vicki Kellogg: Ozcar’s gowns are unique. He fits the dress to your body, unlike Carolina Herrera, Valentino or the other Oscar. I have never had garments fit so perfectly!!! A fitting with Ozcar takes under five minutes and it is always perfect after the first fitting!!

Anka Palitz: Ozcar’s gowns are individually custom-designed to fit your body and are one-of-a-kind, so you don’t see them on anyone else.

HOW DOES OZCAR G. COMPARE TO CAROLINA HERRERA, VALENTINO OR OSCAR DE LA RENTA?

Hayden Hosford: His prices are more reasonable for one of the kind dresses, His fit is way better than the other designers. I appeared to have cleavage in his gowns because of the way he fits my dresses and the handwork on them is just extraordinary, real couture! Unlike the rest of the designers.

Vicki Kellogg: Ozcar’s gowns are the same quality of Valentino and others, however, these designers never do the actual fitting nor are you able to have a style consultation with them.

Anka Palitz: His creativity is limitless and his designs are amazingly beautiful, glamorous and the same quality as the very high-end designers. You always get his undivided attention, which does not happen with the others and his dresses are about half the price of de la Renta or Herrera.

WHERE HAVE YOU WORN YOUR FAVORITE OZCAR G. GOWN?

Hayden Hosford: I wore his apple green silk cocktail dress last June when I had a private dinner with Princess Anne and other 36 guests at Buckingham palace. Everybody is always very impressed with every piece of Ozcar’s. All the photographers always ask me who designs my dresses. I’ve worn his gowns to most of the Mar-A-Lago balls and private parties. Ozcar has earned a very high reputation amongst its members.

Vicki Kellogg: All of them are my favorites!! Each dress makes an impressive statement! I was a co-chair of the Career Transition for Dancers Luncheon where I wore my beautiful and unique “hat dress” a lacy strapless luncheon dress. I have worn other gowns of Ozcar’s to the Kravis Center, Tree of Life, and Cleveland Clinic Galas.

Anka Palitz: I’ve worn his gowns to New York and Palm Beach social events and galas and to the opening of American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.

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For more information: Ozcar G. Couture 305-677-2857
245 University Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33134

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OZCAR G. PORTRAITS BY: YOBE PHOTOGRAPHY