Jenny Altagracia Polanco de Léon (January 18, 1958 – March 24, 2020) was a Dominican

fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...

. Polanco, whose professional career spanned more than 37 years, was known for

ready-to-wear Ready-to-wear (RTW)also called ''prêt-à-porter'', or off-the-rack or off-the-peg in casual useis the term for garments sold in finished condition in standardized sizes, as distinct from made-to-measure or bespoke clothing tailored to a partic ...

women's clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

, woven

handbags A handbag, commonly known as a purse in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag used to carry personal items. It has also been called a pocketbook in parts of the U.S. Terminology The term "purse" originally referred to a smal ...

, and other accessories that incorporated Dominican and Caribbean cultural elements into her collections. Her work was showcased throughout the Caribbean, the United States and Europe, including the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, and

Miami Fashion Week Miami Fashion Week (MIAFW) is an annual fashion week held in Miami, Florida, United States. Miami Fashion Week, not to be confused with the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Miami or Miami Swim Week, takes place every year the first week of June. Miami ...

Biography

Polanco was born in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, on January 18, 1958. As a child, she began making clothing and costumes for her

Barbie doll Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchas ...

s. Polanco would later design clothing for herself during college. In 1978, she won

Miss Dominican Republic Miss Dominican Republic () is an annual national beauty pageant that selects the Dominican Republic's official representative to Miss Universe—one of the Big Four International beauty pageants. History Amelia Vega, Miss Universe 2003 win ...

and went on to represent her country as

Miss World 1978 Miss World 1978 was the 28th edition of the Miss World pageant, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, United Kingdom on 16 November 1978. At the end of the event, Mary Stävin of Sweden crowned Silvana Suárez of Argentina as the new Miss W ...

. She earned her degree in

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...

from

Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña The Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (also called UNPHU) is a Private, coeducational, university in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. History The University was established as a private, non profit institution on April 21, 1966, un ...

in Santo Domingo. Polanco then attended

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

in New York City, where she studied patternmaking,

draping Drapery is a general word referring to cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only ref ...

, and

tailoring A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

methods, all of which would be incorporated into her professional collections. Additionally, Polanco was also active in the

creative arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of me ...

, including

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

and

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, though fashion remained the major focus of her work. Polanco's professional career in fashion and the creative arts spanned more than 37 years. She described her own style as "a fluid dialogue between classic avant-garde style and the Caribbean." She often incorporated design elements common in the Dominican Republic and surrounding region into her work, including detailing made from coral,

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

nacre Nacre ( , ), also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

, and

larimar Larimar is the tradename for a rare blue variety of the silicate mineral pectolite found only in Dominican Republic, around the city of Barahona. Its coloration varies from bluish white, light-blue, light-green, green-blue, turquoise blue, turq ...

, a blue

pectolite Pectolite is a white to gray mineral, Na Ca2 Si3 O8(O H), a sodium calcium hydroxide inosilicate. It crystallizes in the triclinic system typically occurring in radiated or fibrous crystalline masses. It has a Mohs hardness of 4.5 to 5 and a spec ...

found only in the Dominican Republic. Polanco was also known for utilizing signature colors, especially

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...

and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, into her fashions. She used Caribbean amber, found in her country, to craft

buttons A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole. In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, o ...

and jewelry. Her most recent 2020 spring collection featured both

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

and bright colors, as well as

floral design Floral design or flower arrangement is the art of using plant material and flowers to create an eye-catching and balanced composition or display. Evidence of refined floral design is found as far back as the culture of ancient Egypt. Floral desi ...

s. Polanco owned several

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

s in the Dominican Republic. She also aided the arts and emerging designers in her country by opening an

arts and crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

store called Project. On March 4, 2020, Polanco returned to the Dominican Republic following a trip to

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. She developed

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

symptoms five days after returning from Spain and was soon quarantined after testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. Polanco was admitted to a Santo Domingo hospital on March 18, 2020, after experiencing breathing difficulties. Polanco died from complications of

at the hospital in Santo Domingo on March 24, 2020, at the age of 62. Polanco was the first public figure to die from the pandemic in the Dominican Republic, as well as the country's sixth COVID-19 victim at the time. Her death was announced by the Dominican Minister of Public Health, Rafael Sánchez Cárdenas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polanco, Jenny 1958 births 2020 deaths Dominican Republic fashion designers Miss World 1978 delegates Dominican Republic women fashion designers Jewellery designers Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña alumni Parsons School of Design alumni People from Santo Domingo Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Dominican Republic