Background

Mrs. Herrera was born as María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño on January 8, 1939, in Caracas, Venezuela, to Guillermo Pacanins Acevedo, an air force officer, and his wife, María Cristina Niño Passios. She was one of the four children of her parents. She had a comfortable childhood, with a governess on hand and luxurious surroundings. Her mother and grandmother introduced her to the world of fashion, taking her to fashion shows in Paris and buying her outfits from reputed fashion houses. As a child, she loved to sew clothes for her dolls but with age she became less interested in needlework. Later, she learned horse-riding and also became an avid reader.

Career

Having been regularly featured on international best-dressed lists, Mrs. Herrera decided she wanted to start a fashion related venture. Under the influence and encouragement of Count Rudi Crespi and Diana Vreeland, Carolina Herrera started designing. In the autumn of 1980, she had created 20 dresses, which she showed in a friends Park Avenue apartment. Inviting buyers, friends and acquaintances, the designs were immediately popular resulting in buyers wanting to purchase the entire line.

In Caracas, she met Armando de Armas, a publishing tycoon, who offered to fund her and within months, a design atelier and showroom, Carolina Herrera Ltd., was opened in New York. In April 1981, her first full collection was showcased at the New York's Metropolitan Club. Her business started quite small with just a dozen employees but soon grew rapidly and the socialites who knew her became some of her first devoted customers. Women like Estee Lauder, a cosmetics tycoon, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the former First Lady, became her clients.

In the late 1980s, Spanish fragrance company ‘Puig’ licensed the name of ‘Carolina Herrera’ to develop and market a line of perfumes. In 1991, she created a top-selling men's scent, ‘Herrera for Men’, and regularly added new women's products to the line. In 1995, the Spanish fragrance company ‘Puig’ acquired the Carolina Herrera fashion business and appointed her as its Creative Director.

In 2000, she opened her first store in Manhattan, and looked forward to expanding her business further into Europe. One year later, the designer released CH Carolina Herrera, a second, more accessible line comprised of ready-to-wear pieces, shoes and accessories. Within two years, she opened Mrs. Herrera's first collection boutique outside of New York. In 2008, she launched a ready-to-wear brand called CH Carolina Herrera. In 2009, the designer launched her first children's range before opening the first French CH Carolina Herrera store in April 2011 at 10, rue Castiglione, in Paris.

In February 2016, it was reported by WWD that the fragrance side of the business had more than 25,000 points of sale across the globe while the CH brand included 129 freestanding stores. In 2015, the first advert for the brand was released, featuring models Elisabeth Erm and Joséphine Le Tutour. In July 2016 Herrera announced the release of her new women's fragrance to be available for purchase in September, her biggest fragrance launch in 14 years. The scent is called 'Good Girl' and Karlie Kloss is the face of the fragrance. In 2018 Herrera showed her last line for her eponymous brand and handed creative directorship of the brand over to Wes Gordon.

Achievements

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  Carolina Herrera is known for the elegance and intricacy of her clothes and fragrances. For her achievements in fashion designing, Mrs. Herrera received many awards, such as a Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Gold Medal, 1997; Gold Medal for Fine Arts by King Don Juan Carlos I, 2002; award for Womenswear Designer of the Year, 2004; Council of Fashion Designers of America presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award, 2008; and in 2012 she received the Style Awards Designer of the year, and Fashion Group International Superstar Award etc. She has been on the cover of ‘Vogue’ seven times.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Carolina Herrera: 35 Years of Fashion

    (Perennial favorites on red carpets around the world, Herr...)

  • Jeweler: Masters, Mavericks, and Visionaries of Modern Design

    (This stunning, glamorously designed survey highlights the...)

• design

  • Carolina Herrera A/W 2011 NY

    2011

  • Carolina Herrera Spring 2014 Ready-to-Wear

    2014

  • Carolina Herrera's sketch for Michelle Obama

  • Illustration of wedding gown for Jessica Simpson

  • Sketch of Wedding Dress for Kristen Stewart, The Twilight Saga

Connections

In 1957, Carolina Herrera married Guillermo Behrens Tello, a Venezuelan landowner. They were blessed with two daughters, Mercedes and Ana Luisa. The couple divorced in 1964. In 1968, she married Reinaldo Herrera Guevara, a magazine editor and the 5th Marqués of Torre Casa. They have two daughters, Carolina Adriana and Patricia Cristina.

Father:

Guillermo Pacanins Acevedo

Mother:

Maria Cristina Niño Passios

Daughter:

Patricia Cristina Herrera

Daughter:

Ana Luisa Herrera

Daughter:

Mercedes Herrera

Daughter:

Carolina Adriana Herrera

husband:

Reinaldo Herrera Guevara

husband:

Guillermo Behrens Tello

References

• Carolina Herrera: Portrait of a Fashion Icon
• Carolina Herrera: A Woman who broke the rules at the border with Mexico
• Carolina Herrera: International Fashion Designer
• Carolina Herrera: A woman's experience during the 1910 Mexican Revolution eBook: Humberto (Tito) Gutierrez: Books