Hillary Clinton was very close to Oscar de la Renta. Since her eight years as First Lady and through her time as a Senator and Secretary of State, she not just frequently wore Mr. de la Renta’s designs, but she and President Bill Clinton also developed a close friendship with him and his wife Annette and their family.

When the United States Postal Service launched a collection of Forever stamps commemorating Oscar de la Renta at Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall Thursday morning, Clinton was on hand to honor the late designer and two-time President of the CFDA. And she didn’t disappoint with a heartfelt speech that was at once personal and political.

“I remember as though it were yesterday, standing in my first receiving line at the White House for The Kennedy Center Honors,” she said. “I had bought this dress off the rack and Oscar and Annette were among the guests. So Oscar goes through the receiving line, and as I am shaking his hand and welcoming him to the White House, he said, ‘That’s my dress.’” He called her the next day.

“The most touching and lasting times with Oscar were out of the public eye,” she added, recalling a serious hurricane that struck Central America and the Caribbean, which led her to visit the Dominican Republic, the designer’s native country. “I met Oscar and after touring some of the places that had been hit, and he took me to the Orphanage he had started. No press, no entourage, just Oscar and me, and the wonderful people who took care of those abandoned children. Oscar talked about those children as if every single one of them was his.”

Years spent vacationing with the de la Rentas in Punta Cana also left a lasting impression on the Clintons. “We had many long discussions, and lots of wild card games with his game called Oh Hell that brought out simply the worst in both my husband and Oscars,” she said. “They would be screaming at each other until finally the rest of us went to bed.”

Earlier, Anna Wintour also recalled “glorious visits” at Punta Cana. She called Mr. de la Renta “a guardian to my children, and a mentor to me, part of the fabric of my life. I know Oscar would have loved these stamps. He delighted in color and in pattern, in refinement and in fit.”

Michael Bloomberg described the designer’s “big heart, and always willing to make our city and this country a better place.”

Clinton ended on a political note.

“Oscar de la Renta was an immigrant,” she said, “and aren’t we proud and grateful that he was. 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, the great worldly success. But it’s also going with him to Washington Heights, 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.

“What a fitting honor to be given by our postal service, mentioned by the way in the constitution – something we should all read and reread in today’s times— and its choice of this immigrant, who did so much for our country, his country,” she continued. “[This] truly is what it means when we say USA Forever; it’s who we are and 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.”

And with that, the crowd lept to a standing ovation.