Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic Casa de Campo (Spanish for "Country House") is a Ponderosa-style tropical seaside resort in La Romana on the southeast coast of the Dominican Republic. It was developed in 1975 by Gulf+Western on of its Central Romana sugar mill's land. The first to enjoy the luxuries of this enclave were friends of Charles Bluhdorn, Gulf+Western's founder and CEO, who built the retreat. One of Bluhdorn's Dominican friends, Oscar de la Renta, was hired to do interior design for Casa De Campo. After Bluhdorn's death, the Cuban-American Fanjul family (the world's top sugar barons), bought Casa and
Oscar de la Renta Madrid. For extra money, he drew clothes for newspapers and fashion houses. After Francesca Lodge, the wife of John Davis Lodge, the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, saw some of his dress sketches, she commissioned de la Renta to design a gown for her daughter. The dress appeared on the cover of "Life" magazine that fall. He quickly became interested in the world of fashion design and began sketching for leading Spanish fashion houses, which soon led to an apprenticeship with Spain's most renowned couturier, Cristóbal Balenciaga. He considered Cristóbal Balenciaga his mentor. In 1961, de la Renta left Spain to