At Carolina Herrera’s 45th Anniversary Show, Glamour and an Indomitable Love of New York City Take the Runway
Led by creative director Wes Gordon, the Spring 2027 collection references the history of the House while asking what its iconic looks could look like today and tomorrow
Every September sees Lincoln Center awash in Carolina Herrera. Next Tuesday, its gowns will shimmer on the scarlet steps of the Metropolitan Opera for its opening night and fall gala. Ten days later, their beaded tulle, silk taffeta, and organza will all but fill David H. Koch Theater, donned by doyennes of the New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala. This Fashion Week, creative director Wes Gordon offered a season opener of his own from the theater’s bronze-paneled grand promenade with a runway show commemorating Carolina Herrera’s 45th anniversary.
For the past 45 years, Carolina Herrera has been inextricable from the fabric of New York society. Her debut collection enshrined the Venezuelan-born designer’s name as a defining force of modern American fashion; shown at the Upper East Side’s genteel Metropolitan Club, it brought together Vogue editor-turned-Met Museum fashion curator Diana Vreeland, C.Z. Guest, and Lee Radziwill with the likes of Studio 54’s Steve Rubell, Andy Warhol, and Bianca Jagger. The legendary supermodel (and darling of the disco scene) Iman walked the runway, and buyers at Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue leapt at the opportunity to carry the nascent label—its transcendence of uptown and downtown divides immediately apparent.
Gordon, however, wouldn’t necessarily classify the collection that debuted on Monday as a retrospective. “There are references to the history of the House, of course, but the intention was never to revisit the past literally,” he told Galerie following the landmark runway show. “It’s about taking the ideas that have always defined Carolina Herrera and asking what they look like today or could look like tomorrow.”
This year’s runway brought together Fran Lebowitz, Pamela Anderson, Connor Ives, and Valentina Ferrer with nearly 30,000 yellow tulips and 63 looks dreamt up by Gordon to dress the Herrera woman for wherever her glamorous life takes her. One could imagine, for example, Look 33, a blush pink powder silk organza set whose ruffled hems evoke a crown of orchids at the center of a spring fashion editorial. A Herrera lady who lunches could be seen for a stroll along Avenue Montaigne in Paris wearing Look 14, a brilliant white cotton poplin day dress with a drop waist and halter neck, after settling into her suite at the Plaza Athénée. And a prima ballerina may very well don Look 56, the collection’s stunner of a silver floral lace column gown that glitters like the theater’s own Swarovski chandeliers—and be named among the best dressed at the ballet’s spring gala.
“Art,” Gordon asserts, “has always been part of the world of Herrera.” That is perhaps most apparent through the lens of this season’s partnership with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. As legend has it, Mrs. Herrera—a friend and muse to Warhol—traded the artist a Van Cleef & Arpels handbag in exchange for a portrait he was inspired to paint after taking a series of polaroids of her.
“Mrs. Herrera surrounded herself with artists and photographers, and Andy was her friend, so there’s a very personal history behind this portrait,” says Gordon. “It’s an image I’ve loved for years because it captures so much of her. The red lip, the jewelry, the hair, the incredible color, but above all this extraordinary confidence. She’s looking straight at you.”
The portrait is realized on a tailored wool mini dress through a mix of embroidery, threadwork, and appliqué. It also appears, fittingly, on a handbag. The collection marks the first time that the image has ever been licensed, and proceeds from the collaboration will support the Foundation.
It may not be a retrospective, but the collection inspires a certain spirit of reflection, even within Gordon. “Being appointed by Mrs. Herrera is one of the greatest privileges of my career, and I’ve always felt an enormous responsibility to what she created,” he says. “But I also think the responsibility of a creative director is not simply to protect something. You have to understand what the House was, what it is, and what it should be. I think that clarity actually gives you tremendous freedom.”