Oscar de la Renta makes the kind of clothes that inspire fashion folks to say things like, “Every girl should have one piece by Oscar in her closet.” And they don’t mean “girl” in the technical, prepubescent sense of the word. No, “girl” in this context means, basically, every female on the planet.

Now, most women do not have the kind of lifestyle that requires any Oscar de la Renta in their wardrobe. But his 2007 resortwear collection presented yesterday at the Morgan Library illustrated why this belief holds universal appeal on Planet Fashion. Playing to his strengths, Mr. de la Renta showed clean, classic silhouettes with flounces in all the right places, bolero jackets, and a simplified color palette: elegant and fashionable but eminently wearable, too.

The collection should also relieve skeptics who doubt de la Renta’s formidable and deft cross-generational touch. Every stylish woman, whether she has the lifestyle or the means, should want some Oscar in her wardrobe.

Mr. de la Renta, after 40 years in the business, is still playing near the top of his game. Yesterday, he presented the kind of clothes one could easily imagine in any of the warm-weather destinations favored by the jet set in the last months of the year.

Color and pattern were key: navy and white polka dots for a suit that may seem tailor made for the grande dames but would be edgy on the right young woman; a sand-color safari dress with full, half-length sleeves that was a thoroughly modern, if not particularly groundbreaking, update of Yves Saint Laurent’s original; and, most exquisitely, the soft-red and white floral bubble dress re-embroidered with trapunto stitching.

For evening, Mr. de la Renta favors floor length, and he’s at his best when he keeps it simple. Buyers will surely pass over a striped, red-and-white see-through corset dress in favor of a goddess-like orange crepe de chine silk gown that could easily find a place in fashionable wardrobes uptown and downtown.

It’s not just that the clothes are flawlessly executed, poised, and urbane. It’s that he consistently strikes the right balance of mature charm and youthful exuberance. One need only look at the attendees at yesterday’s presentation: Vogue, predictably, had a contingent there,but so did Teen Vogue; society swans Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer and Tinsley Mortimer were present, of course, but so was Rachel Zoe, the influential Los Angeles stylist who dresses ubiquitously photographed young starlets like Mischa Barton and Nicole Richie.

The setting was the newly renovated Morgan Library, a step up from the designer’s showroom where resort has been shown traditionally, conveying the increasing importance of this once-insignificant season – though, characteristically, eschewing the kind of overthe-top spectacles recently presented by Chanel and Dior.

Everything about Mr. de la Renta’s show said, very politely, very discreetly, “I’m a pro.” While most designers only appear for the post-show bow (because they are in a last-minute frenzy backstage), Mr. de la Renta, tanned and elegantly coiffed as always, mingled with buyers, editors, and socialites in the minutes before; the expression “cool as a cucumber” may have been invented for this man.