In her uniform of a crisp white shirt and a voluminous black skirt, Carolina Herrera exudes the kind of elegance and sophistication that has defined her fashion label for more than 30years.
It is a look that has been sought after by some of the world's leading ladies, including style icon Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and actress Renee Zellweger.
While her design aesthetic centres around refined ladylike looks with aristocratic vibes, the 73-year-old feels that women today place more importance on looking sexy than anything else.
"These days, women don't want to be called elegant," she reflects. "They think it is old-fashioned, but elegance is never old-fashioned. It is glamorous and it has to be effortless."
So far, this definition of fashion has worked for Herrera who, as a socialite, was already featured in best-dressed lists long before she became a designer.
Preferring clothes that are simple, well-cut and fuss-free, her fashion empire encompasses not only the main Carolina Herrera label, but also bridal collections, fragrances as well as the more affordable CH Carolina Herrera label.
Today, her brands are carried in more than 280 stores in 104 markets, including Dubai, Hong Kong and London, and her company boasts an annual turnover estimated at more than US$1 billion (S$1.25billion).
Last month, Herrera opened a CHCarolina Herrera store at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. The 2,024sq ft retail space is the lifestyle brand's first stand-alone boutique in South-east Asia. Prices start from $360 for bags and from $850 for dresses.
"Singapore has always been on the cards for us. I've never been there but I've heard many great things about it. I think Singaporean customers will find our clothes accessible," says the designer in an exclusive interview at her cream-and-black office in New York's Garment District in February, ahead of her store opening.
Next month, she will be in Singapore for the first time to show at Audi Fashion Festival. Herrera will open the five-day runway event with more than 40 looks from both her Carolina Herrera and the CHCarolina Herrera lines.
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FROM HORSES TO FASHION
Up close, the Venezuelan-American designer is slim, polished and dressed impeccably in her signature skirt-and-white-shirt ensemble. Her blonde hair is neatly set into a smooth coif and her simple make-up - just a slick of Bobbi Brown red lipstick and a touch of rouge - is flawless.
She is the perfect embodiment of the Carolina Herrera woman she designs for, always immaculate and with refined tastes.
"The woman who buys my clothes is very secure. She knows exactly what she is looking for," she tells Urban in a distinct Spanish-accented English.
Born the second of four daughters to one of Venezuela's wealthiest families, her mother, Maria Cristina Passios de Nino, was a socialite while her father, Guillermo Pacanins, was the country's minister of foreign affairs.
Growing up in a privileged household, Herrera was not particularly interested in fashion. Her greatest influencers, other than her parents, she recalls, were her tennis and riding instructors whom she saw daily.
"I'm not going to tell you that I was making little dresses for dolls because I wasn't," she says with a laugh.
"They were my mentors because I was more interested in horses than in fashion."
It was not until later in her teens that she started taking note of glamorous women in her hometown of Caracas.
At the age of 13, she attended her first fashion show - Balenciaga's spring/summer collection of 1954 - in Paris with her mother and at 15, had her first couture outfit made by the house of Lanvin.
She got married at 18 to Guillermo Behrens Tello, a Venezuelan landowner, had two daughters and divorced him 10years later. But it was her second marriage to her childhood friend and a member of the Spanish nobility, Reinaldo Herrera, in 1968 that would ultimately alter the course of her life.
The high-profile marriage led to the Herreras being the toast of the Spanish social scene. In 1972, she made her maiden entry into the international best-dressed list of Vanity Fair magazine when the couple attended social events in the United States.
The couple have two daughters, Carolina, 43, and Patricia, 40.
SEXY IS NOT VULGAR
At age 40, Herrera moved to New York together with her husband and four daughters and reinvented herself. Her rise to the top of the fashion world started in 1981, when she launched her Carolina Herrera brand in New York after receiving encouragement from Diana Vreeland, a family friend who was then the editor-in-chief of American Vogue.
"I wanted to design a few fabrics but Diana told me clothes would be much more fun and so I did just that."
Since then, Herrera, who has 12grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, has not looked back.
Today, she sits on the board of directors at The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and has received two CFDA awards - Womenswear Designer Of The Year in 2004 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008. Herrera is also the only designer to have graced the cover of American Vogue seven times.
Her celebrity fans include Eva Longoria, Katie Holmes and Jessica Alba, although she is most closely associated with American actress Renee Zellweger, whose fishtail satin Carolina Herrera gowns have become a staple on the red carpet during award seasons.
"Renee loves fashion and we work together on the designs," she says, explaining her close relationship with the 43-year-old Oscar winner. "She really knows her body and what works."
But not every celebrity impresses the matriarch of the Herrera empire.
When the name Kim Kardashian was suggested, Herrera pauses, then dismisses her without missing a beat.
"I don't know who she is or why she is looked to for style. There is a big difference between being sexy and vulgar and, unfortunately, many like to confuse the two looks."
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WOMEN, NOT CLOWNS
Herrera has spun off her eponymous label of elegant classics into a separate lifestyle brand called CH Carolina Herrera. The label, launched in 2008, offers womenswear, menswear, a children's line as well as an accessories range.
Her third daughter, Carolina, works on the label with her.
The younger Herrera, who is married to Dominican football player Miguel Baez, is in charge of the kids' line while her mother helms everything else. But the raven-haired 43-year-old is generally credited with maintaining the brand's overall youthful vibe.
She also helped her mother launch the Carolina Herrera 212 fragrance in 2003.
The senior Herrera says they work well together. "She is my daughter, so I cannot fire her," she says, laughing.
"What is great is that she complements me. We have the same style but in a different way. Carolina has a very modern eye, which is good for the brand."
With more than 90 CH Carolina Herrera stores worldwide, she is definitely extending her manicured reach across the globe.
"I want to share that sense of elegance and sophisticated dressing with as many people as possible. I believe all women want to look like women and not clowns."
Photos:Tuminah Sapawi, Carolina Herrera, Reuters, AFP, Audi Fashion Festival, Arthgur Elgort
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Photos: Carolina Herrera, Audi Fashion Festival, Arthgur Elgort, Tuminah Sapawi
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