HERRERA
Carolina

• 1. Carolina Herrera
• 1.1. Early years
• 1.2. Takeover by Puig
• 1.3. Fragrances
• 1.4. Accessories
• 1.5. Eyewear

Carolina Herrera is a Venezuelan American fashion designer. Known for her personal style, she founded her namesake brand in 1980. Herrera has dressed various First Ladies of the United States, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Melania Trump.

Carolina Herrera

Early years

Herrera's mentor Diana Vreeland, then Editor-in-Chief of Vogue suggested that she design a clothing line. Herrera founded her clothing line in 1980, and had samples made in Caracas. She debuted her collection at Manhattan's Metropolitan Club to critical acclaim. A well known Park Avenue boutique, Martha's, agreed to showcase her clothing in their prominent windows. Upon this initial success, she returned to Caracas and raised capital to fund a more formal launch. She debuted her first full collection at the Metropolitan Club in April 1981. The show included supermodel Iman and was the first time the venue permitted a fashion show within its walls.

In 1981, her brand received recognition from several key publications, including Women's Wear Daily and Tatler, with particular early attention to her well-designed sleeves. Herrera presents her Ready-to-Wear Collection semiannually at New York Fashion Week.

A few of her most notable clients have included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who asked her to design the dress for her daughter Caroline's wedding, Diana, Duchess of Cadaval, who asked her to design the dress for her marriage with Prince Charles-Philippe of Orléans, Duke of Anjou, and actress Renée Zellweger.

Takeover by Puig

From 1988, Spanish fragrance company Puig licensed the Carolina Herrera name to develop and market a line of perfumes. In 1995, the firm acquired the Carolina Herrera fashion business, retaining her as Creative Director.

CH, Herrera’s bridge line, was discontinued in 1993 before being replaced in 1994 by the Studio line, which in turn was discontinued in 1996. In 2008, the company launched a ready-to-wear brand called CH Carolina Herrera, a lifestyle line that offers a range of products for women, men and children, with a strong emphasis on accessories and leather goods handcrafted in Spain. The brand is licensed by Sociedad Textil Lonia, a privately owned company from Galicia, Spain. Each label is run as a separate company and has separate offices.

As of 2011, her daughters Carolina Jr. and Patricia Lansing participated in the creative direction and design. As of 2012, there were 18 Carolina Herrera and CH Carolina Herrera boutiques in the world, and her lines were carried in 280 stores in 104 countries. 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.

For their advertising campaigns, the Carolina Herrera and CH Carolina Herrera brands have been working with photographers including Miles Aldridge (1997), Arthur Elgort (1997), Patrick Demarchelier (1997, 2011), Terry Richardson (2004), Mario Sorrenti (2007), Greg Kadel (2014), Mario Testino (2015–2018), Brigitte Lacombe (2023) and François Halard (2024).

In late 2016, the company filed a lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court seeking to block designer Laura Kim – a consultant who had been offered to succeed Carolina Herrera as creative director – from joining Oscar de la Renta. By early 2017, the two brands and Kim reached a settlement, allowing Kim to take up her role as co-creative director with Fernando Garcia.

In 2018, Herrera showed her last line for her eponymous brand and handed creative directorship of the brand over to Wes Gordon.

Fragrances

By 2014, there were 15 core fragrances under the Carolina Herrera, CH and 212 Carolina Herrera brands. In 2016, Herrera released Good Girl, her new women's fragrance and her biggest fragrance launch in 14 years; Karlie Kloss was named the face of the fragrance.

Accessories

From 1994 to 1996, Herrera had a licensed leather goods and scarf line with Swoboda International. The line was subsequently produced in-house.

Eyewear

For the design, production and global distribution of sunglasses and optical frames, Carolina Herrera has been working with licensing partners Indo (1997), De Rigo Vision (2011–2021) and Safilo (since 2022).