No jeans No black And definitely no bikinis (but Botox is fine! )
She’s dressed everyone from Jackie O to Meghan. On the eve of her 80th birthday, Carolina Herrera reveals her rules for ageless style...
NOTHINg ages a woman more than pretending she is still young, Carolina Herrera tells me in her lilting Venezuelan accent.
She may be turning 80 in January and still very much the face and personality of the fashion house she created nearly four decades ago, but on the subject of dressing past 50, the designer doesn’t mince her words. ‘A woman must age graciously, and not try to be an age she’s not or she will look ridiculous. I see many women in the street and, from the back, they look very nice with their long hair and their little skirts. But when they turn around — aargh, they’re ancient!’
Her candour is unexpected. After all, this is the woman known as the empress of elegance. Her most famous client was Jackie Onassis, but she dressed another First Lady, Michelle Obama, in baby blue taffeta and lace at the White House, put Nicole Kidman into puff- sleeved floral prints on the red carpet and outfitted Renee Zellweger in crimson silk for a Bridget Jones premiere.
She has also achieved the Double Duch. The Duchess of Sussex caused a stir at Trooping the Colour in June in her pink off-the-shoulder two-piece and looked like a fairytale princess in one of Herrera’s frothy black and white gowns on the cover of Vanity Fair.
The Duchess of Cambridge, meanwhile, favours her beautifully tailored double-breasted wool coats and has them in at least two colours.
The designer is full of praise for the Queen, with whom she has a longstanding friendship. ‘ You cannot compare her to anyone,’ says Carolina. ‘She stands alone, at the very top. She is
an amazing woman — we are lucky to have her.’ We are sitting in her tasteful drawing room in Manhattan, a grand space with yellow and blue damask on the walls, antiques, silverware and oil paintings.
We settle ourselves into squashy sofas and the fashion icon jokes: ‘May I offer you tea, coffee — vodka?’ It’s 2pm.
She is wearing one of her signature looks: a crisp white shirt, paired with chic grey trousers, accessorised with earrings and a chunky necklace.
Sitting next to her, it is hard to believe she is 79. She looks sensational, as if she has stopped the clock. Her face looks fresh and unlined; her blonde hair is perfectly coiffed.
‘I can’t lie about my age because everyone knows how old I am — it’s public knowledge,’ she laughs. ‘I’ve had a little bit of Botox, why not? I believe in keeping the skin clean and fresh.’
Carolina started her namesake label late in life, in her 40s, when she was already the mother of four young daughters and was a well-known socialite.
Born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Venezuela, Mrs Herrera (as everyone calls her) was a classic beauty, who grew up surrounded by well-dressed women.
Her grandmother took her to an early catwalk show by Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga when she was 13. SHE
married her first husband at 18 and had two daughters. They later divorced and she married her second husband, Reinaldo, a TV presenter, and had another two daughters.
The couple recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
‘I don’t think I could have done it without him,’ she admits. ‘ He has been my great supporter. When I was nervous or confused about something, he would always say: “You can do it.” It’s good to have somebody at your back who really believes in you.’
When the family moved to New York, the pair often went to legendary New York nightclub Studio 54, where she partied with Mick and Bianca Jagger.
She met Andy Warhol there and he was so captivated by Herrera’s beauty that he made her the subject of one of his famous silkscreen portraits. ‘Oh, I loved those times at Studio 54,’ she recalls. ‘There was such a mix of interesting people and it was so glamorous and fun. I danced a lot — of course.’
She became friends with Princess Margaret. ‘ My husband and I loved her. She was a fantastic woman. We
waists and lots of movement in the skirts — was an instant success.
‘I didn’t know it was going to be so much work, but because I was brought up with discipline, I knew how to handle it,’ she says. ‘I had my business and then my other life, which was my family. If you cannot do what you do from nine to five, you are doing something wrong.’
For nearly four decades, Mrs herrera has used her sixth sense about what women want to wear, parlaying her ideas into a $1.2 billion empire.
Few women haven’t tried one of her best- selling perfumes, one of which comes in a bottle shaped like a stiletto. And though her ultrafeminine clothes may be beyond the means of many of us, her style often finds an echo on the high Street.
‘All these shops like Zara and h&M that are copying what we do for the masses, I think they’re fabulous because they reach everyone,’ says Mrs herrera. ‘even if you’re older you can shop there, but you have to know what suits you.
‘elegance is a whole combination of things: not only what you are wearing, but how you act. It’s attitude.
‘It doesn’t have anything to do with beauty or money. Some women can spend thousands of pounds and not look elegant at all, and then you see someone else in a nothing-dress and she has it.’
Does she do any high Street shopping? ‘Yes, of course, if I like something in Zara or in h&M or any of those places, I will buy them. I like mixing.’
Cultivating one’s own personal style is crucial after a certain age, she says.
‘I don’t believe in trends because trends make it look like you’re wearing a uniform. Some item of clothing comes out — and suddenly everyone looks the same. everyone’s wearing the quilted black coat, or they’re wearing a certain type of skirt, even if they don’t have the legs for it.
‘With fashion, you have to have individuality and look different from the crowd. I’ve never wanted to look like everyone else. I’ve always wanted to look like me.’
Many women, she says, confuse being ladylike and feminine with weakness: ‘ Nowadays, men and women want to be the same. It’s never going to be the same.
‘I agree that women should have the same work and payment as men because we are very capable, but to be feminine is also an important thing — and you don’t have to compete with men in that respect. Femininity is our power.’
on the eve of her 80th, Mrs herrera may have handed over the creative reins of her company — to her protege, Wes Gordon, who trained at Central Saint Martins in London — but she certainly hasn’t retired.
The septuagenarian is embracing her new role as global ambassador for the company she created.
‘It’s been 37 years that I’ve had this “baby” and I was working on eight collections a year, which became a little bit overpowering.
‘I have my other life — a husband, four children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. I will have more time for them.’
But, she adds defiantly: ‘ I’m not retired. I’m moving forward.’
I see women who from the back look very nice with their long hair and their little skirts. But when they turn around — aargh, they’re ancient!