A little over a decade ago, Carolina Herrera gave an interview to the official magazine of New York Fashion Week. In it she was asked about the remodeling of an area in southern Manhattan, which was going to be a great attraction for citizens and tourism. Her response was blunt: “I never move below 59th Street.” That is where the most touristic and emblematic New York begins and the Upper East Side ends, the wealthiest neighborhood in the city and where the designer resides.
With her white shirt, short blonde hair pulled back and pearls, Carolina Herrera, 85, embodies better than anyone the elegance of New York high society. However, María Carolina Josefina Pacanins Niño (her real name until she changed her last name when she married Reinaldo Herrera), was born on January 8, 1939 in Caracas, the bosom of one of the most wealthy and influential families in Caracas. Venezuela.
Carolina Herrera usually gives the image of being uptight and classist, and she also tends to be uncompromising in matters of fashion, style and elegance, which has earned her more than one controversy. The last one she starred in was in 2020 when she stated in an interview with the Daily Mail: “Only classless women wear long hair after 40.” A phrase that infuriated social networks and that now, three years later, became a trend again after his old statements went viral.
She explained : “A woman should age gracefully and not try to be an age she is not, or she will look ridiculous. I see many women on the street and, from the back, they look very pretty with their long hair and their little skirts. But when they turn around… aargh, they’re old!
With that apparent lesson in class and style, Carolina Herrera offended many women around the world, who have long hair and are over 40 years old. But perhaps she was not aware that in addition, with these statements she was disrespecting many of her clients, some of whom were very famous. Actresses, singers, models or members of royalty who brilliantly wore their dresses and contributed to increasing the prestige of the brand.
First of all, Carolina was able to upset her own daughter, Carolina Adriana Herrera, 54 years old, and who has long hair. Sarah Jessica Parker, for example, is one of the style icons of film and television, who usually dresses in Carolina Herrera and has her very long hair at 58 years old. Or Julia Roberts, America’s sweetheart, 56 years old and with long hair. Or Penélope Cruz, one of the most elegant actresses on the red carpet, who is 49 years old and has long hair. Or Belén Rueda, 58 years old, with long blonde hair, and who usually trusts the firm for big events.
But Carolina Herrera also offended Queen Rania of Jordan, 53, or the former first lady of the United States Melania Trump, the country where the Venezuelan lives, who wore her dresses. Not to mention Queen Letizia, 51 years old and with long, well-kept hair, which she usually dresses in Carolina Herrera.
In the interview with the Daily Mail in 2020, the Venezuelan also assures that “Miniskirts are for young girls, as are bikinis.” He says he stopped wearing them when he turned 50, and he doesn’t wear jeans either. “Jeans are also for young people.”
Herrera, 85, marked a position with his statements and generated debate on the networks.Carolina Herrera is already retired as a designer from her firm. She held her last runway show in February 2018 with the fall-winter 2019 collection. But since she created her own brand in 1981, she became one of the most acclaimed designers and her opinions on fashion followed. with special attention. Thus, on previous occasions she has opined that “there is nothing that ages a woman more than dressing young,” or “if you don’t like something, take away the only power it has: your attention.” Also that “elegance is not only beauty, it is also the way of thinking, the way of moving”, that “the invisible accessory for any garment is a perfume” or that “fashion is to please the eye; “shapes and proportions are for the intellect.”
Eight years ago Carolina Herrera stated in an interview with Telva magazine: “You should never say everything you have in your head, you have to have a filter, that is also part of education,” but on this occasion the Venezuelan did not agree. He cut and said what he had in his head…with his hair short.
