“I want women to really look like women from today..."
“I want women to really look like women from today. It's not from the past and not from the future, because I don't know what happens in the future. It is the women of today (who) I think is a seductive woman.”Carolina Herrera
Carolina Herrera: A Revolutionary On Her Own Right
By: Boyd Davis Photo below: Carolina Herrera on the runway, Fall 2007. Photo by Giovanni Pucci
DALLAS, Apr 17, 2001/ FW/ Socialite turned designer, Carolina Herrera designs for her crowd. Prior to becoming a fashion designer, she was on the International Best Dressed List for a decade. With her inherent taste and personal style, Carolina Herrera fuses it on her creations. The Carolina Herrera woman is feminine, at ease with herself and elegant.
Born in Venezuela (1939), Carolina Herrera symbolized the South American upperclass - a wealthy husband, 4 children and a member of the jetset. Her "late-blooming" fashion career was a result of her stature in life, national culture and her generation's definition of what a woman's role should be. She had to be a wife and mother first before anything else. When her children were grown and relieved of the responsibility of motherhood, becoming a fashion designer was a natural course of action for her. In fact, it could be said that it was a natural evolution of her talent and taste.
She launched her first couture collection in 1981, introduced her fur collection in 1984, and her CH collections (more affordable Carolina Herrera line) in 1986. Her bridal line was launched in 1987 after she designed Caroline Kennedy's wedding gown and her perfume lines followed in 1988. She had also expanded her lines to include menswear and jewelry.
Carolina Herrera's decision to launch a fashion career was a path less travelled by women of her stature in her native Venezuela. In fact, it is almost revolutionary, considering the very conservative view of the Venezuela's upper class. Carolina Herrera is part of the upper class who do not "work." A fashion designer is a "job" not a station in life. And considering the generation she is from, it was a courageous step.
Carolina Herrera should be hailed for both her contribution to fashion and her contribution to woman's liberation which she did her way!
Photo images taken from http://www.neimanmarcus.com/
