Dutch fashion designer Edgar Vos, who dressed stars and royals, dies at age 78

Dutch fashion designer Edgar Vos dies at age 78

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Edgar Vos, the designer known as “the emperor of Dutch fashion” who created clothing tailored for all figures and most budgets, has died, associates said Thursday. He was 78.

Vos died of a heart attack while on vacation in Florida, said Tom Smit, the managing director of his chain of boutiques. He died Wednesday in a Fort Lauderdale hospital, a day after being admitted suffering suspected pneumonia.

Vos built a chain of 15 stores across the Netherlands, where he sold designer clothes cut to bring out the best from all figures. Smit said Vos made “fashionable but also wearable clothes. He made you happy wearing his clothing.”

Vos once told Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool he had never been a radical designer.

“My designs have always been ladylike,” he said. “I have never had an experimental period. Fashion is not a free art form — you always have to deal with two breasts and two buttocks.”

His clients included Dutch singers and actresses and Princess Christina, the sister of Dutch Queen Beatrix. But his designs had worldwide appeal and he had a loyal overseas clientele.

Born in the Netherlands East Indies — now Indonesia — Vos studied fashion at Amsterdam’s prestigious art school, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, and then went to France to gain work experience.

In the 1970s he built up his empire of stores and showed his clothes with fellow Amsterdam-based Dutch designers such as Frans Molenaar. He staged his last catwalk show in 2000.

Vos is survived by his partner Geert Eijsbouts. Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.