Beginning Tuesday, February 13, Carolina Herrera, founder and designer of her namesake label, will take on a new role. Immediately following her fall/winter 2018 show, set to take place on Monday during New York Fashion Week, Herrera will be stepping back from her position at the helm of the brand and installing Wes Gordon as creative director of the storied American brand. Herrera will stay on board with a newly minted title as Global Brand Ambassador.
“I am thrilled with the evolution of the company over the past 37 years,” Herrera said in a press release. “Our success has been tremendous and a true dream. There is still so much opportunity and I look forward to continuing to represent this house and our projects all around the world. 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.”
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But Herrera isn't done just yet. “Just don’t say I’m retiring,” she tells The New York Times. ““I am not retiring! I am moving forward.” She adds, however, that she now won't have to “wake up every day worried about where to put the sleeve, or whether the skirt should be long or short.”
In her 37-year-long career, Herrera has dressed everyone from Caroline Kennedy on her wedding day to countless celebrities on the red carpet (including Renée Zellweger who wore her gowns to the Oscars in 2004, 2008, and 2013), cementing her coiffed aesthetic's popularity with the society pages.
Gordon, who once ran his own namesake label, is a two-time finalist for the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund. He had been acting as a creative consultant for Carolina Herrera since last March, and will present his first collection as creative director next year with resort 2019.