New York Fashion Week day two saw first lady favourite Carolina Herrera signal the end of an era by stepping down from her four-decade-old label, while Tory Burch showcased breezy optimism in a sea of carnations for a post-#MeToo world.
The Venezuelan-born 79-year-old Herrera said she had appointed US designer Wes Gordon to take over as creative director after she takes the bow at her autumn-winter 2018 fashion show at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan on Monday.
But if she’s waving goodbye to the runway, she insisted in an interview with The New York Times that she was not retiring. Instead she will become a global brand ambassador for her fashion label, which has a reported $1.4 billion (Dh5.1 billion) in annual sales.
“I am so pleased Wes is now part of the Herrera House — he’s the right one for this position to further build on our great momentum,” she said in a statement.
Gordon, who studied in London, and from 2010 to 2016 presented his eponymous womenswear collection in New York, has been creative consultant at Carolina Herrera for a year.
Herrera founded her namesake fashion house in 1981, going on to dress first ladies from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, as well as Hollywood actresses like Renee Zellweger, not to mention generations of society women.
“Fashion has changed a lot,” Herrera told The New York Times.
“Women dress in a very strange way. Like clowns. There is a lot of pressure to change all the time. But it’s better to wear what suits you.”
