Clinton also remembered her first meeting with the designer, at the 1993 Kennedy Center Honors where she wore a burgundy velvet Oscar de la Renta dress. “Oscar goes through the receiving line and as I’m shaking his hand welcoming him to the White House, he says, ‘That’s my dress,’ ” Clinton remembered. Call it the start of one of Washington’s most fruitful friendships. In the years after, the former First Lady and the designer became deeply close, traveling to his house in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, when they could. “We had many long discussions, lots of wild card games with this game called Oh Hell that brought out simply the worst in both my husband and Oscar. They would be screaming at each other, until finally the rest of us went to bed,” she said, laughing. “But it was also a time to just relax and be with people that were generous, and loving, and warm, and kind, and funny. And perceptive. And gave so much to everyone who crossed their paths.”

Clinton, as well as Bloomberg, stressed the importance of remembering that De la Renta was an immigrant to the United States, and one who loved this country and contributed to its success. She closed her remarks with this: “In the corner of these striking stamps, it says USA Forever. Let us remember what is durable and lasting about Oscar’s legacy. Of course, it is the fashion, it is the great worldly success, but it’s also going with him to Washington Heights, going to a nightclub, and watching him dance the salsa with young people who were just starting out their lives in this great city in this blessed country. He knew what they were hoping for. He gave up his heart and his soul to make sure that his example would live on. What 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. Its choice of this immigrant who did so much for our country, his country, truly is what it means when we say USA forever. Who we are, what we stand for, and let there be many, many more immigrants with the love of America that Oscar de la Renta exemplified every single day.”

Here, Vogue.com looks back on the seven Oscar de la Renta dresses commemorated by the USPS.