How Creative Director Wes Gordon Heralds A New Carolina HerrERA

How do you reimagine a legacy brand when the founder is sitting front row? Designer Wes Gordon has the answer

At first blush, Wes Gordon’s interpretation of Carolina Herrera’s namesake brand might seem like an abstract, prismatic rendering of the past. One that is told in the same notes of florals, bows, Herrera reds and of course, statement sleeves. But look deeper and the 35-year-old’s story with the iconic house is imbued with his millennial, forward-looking spirit and iterated in empowering explosions of new dimensions, textures, and more saturated colours than ever before.

Take, for example, the ballerina pink corset gown cascading in a surreal 200-metre train of gathered tulle that he custom-made for Tessa Thompson at this year’s Met Gala. Or the unforgettable sculpted roses of Herrera red silk that twirled into Karlie Kloss’ bold-shouldered, show-stopping gown at last year’s event. And then there was the superhero rainbow cape he created for Emmy Award-winning writer, producer, and actress Lena Waithe in 2018 for the same occasion.

“My goal is that our collection has a wide enough spectrum so that every type of woman can come in and find a piece that really speaks to her,” Wes says in an exclusive interview with Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, reflecting on the future of the brand.

When Wes inherited Carolina Herrera from the house’s namesake in 2018, he handed her a symbolic bouquet of roses on the catwalk as the legendary designer took her last bow. A picturesque handover that underlined that the budding creative was not only bestowed a fully evolved reality but most importantly, he inherited the founder’s living wisdom and had her full confidence.

“I love your collection. It’s so 2021. That’s why you are here,” Herrera told Wes in a tête-à-tête conversation last year in celebration of the heritage brand’s fourth decade in fashion.

The designer acknowledges that it is a very interesting situation he finds himself in, running a house while the founder is still very much alive. Particularly in New York, where luxury fashion brands have generally struggled to maintain relevance past the era of their founders. “But this has been such a beautiful and fluid transition, and I credit Mrs. Herrera entirely for that. She, with incredible courage and self-awareness, said ‘I am not coming back the day after I take my final bow’ and left it to me to sink or swim,” recounts Wes.

The Chicago-born, Central Saint Martins grad who interned at Oscar de la Renta and Tom Ford, has also propelled Carolina Herrera into a new era with his own community. Katy Perry, Gwyneth Paltrow and Meghan Markle, whom he met as a young, struggling designer in New York while she was in the process of making a name for herself as an actress, have all worn his designs for the house.

Indeed, Wes’s name too will live on in history, having dressed Kamala Harris in a white suit when she made her first speech as Vice President-elect and as the first Black and South East Asian Vice President of the United States on November 7, 2020.

The designer has also wholeheartedly dedicated himself to the Herrera legacy through the brand’s new beauty line. Andy Warhol and his electric, red-lipped rendering of Carolina Herrera – one of the most famous in Pop Art history – served as one facet of inspiration. The “new cast of faces” that represents women today, he explains, served as the other.

“We started with lipstick, and it just goes back to Warhol, who is just such an incredibly iconic part of the House and of course, our founder [Carolina] who is our foundation,” he muses.

Carolina Herrera, who grew up in Caracas and whose love for fashion was sparked by her Paris-based grandmother and exposure to brands like Balenciaga at a young age, is still a treasure trove of stories, and adventures to live by. In her face-to-face with Wes she reminds him first and foremost: “You have to train your eye to look for beauty.”

“Fashion is so much more than a garment. It’s how you live, it’s how you interact with the world, it’s how you present yourself.

Wes Gordon

And that’s the sort of ethos echoed by Wes in his expansion of her business of today. Personalised and customisable, the beauty line packaging itself is stunning to behold, with magnetic tassels of various colours that attach to the bottom and can be hung from a tote or handbag or dangled from a chain with one’s initials, a flower or a heart.

“Fashion is so much more than a garment. It’s how you live, it’s how you interact with the world, it’s how you present yourself, it’s how you set your table, it’s spending time with your family. It’s all of the things that make life personal and unique, and hopefully, beautiful,” says Wes.

In rapidly evolving times and tasked with growing the Herrera name globally, converting every woman to a wearer of Carolina Herrera is top of the designer’s agenda. “It’s about showing every woman who is not currently wearing Herrera, or is not thinking of Herrera as the first place she should look for something – whether it’s an easy cotton dress or sweater or a gown for a milestone occasion – that there is something here for her,” says Wes. “Until that Herrera piece is at the top of the wish list for every woman, we still have work to do,” he states.

Following in the footsteps of a living legend has perhaps proved difficult for many pillar fashion houses, but in the case of Carolina Herrera, the Venezuelan-born aesthete has given Wes room to evolve the house in his own way. Today, she proudly sits front row, watching the collection unfold with the rest of the fashion world.

The two have maintained a relationship and have grown to become dear friends over the years. Pre-pandemic they were having one or two brunches a month and they have now resumed their old schedule of seeing each other on a regular basis. His friendship with the founder of the brand he now tells the sartorial story for is one that Wes is deeply grateful for.

“You know, it’s a beautiful friendship. And it occupies a special place in my heart,” says the designer with a wistful smile.

Interview by Jessica Michault

Lead Image Supplied By Carolina Herrera

From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia September 2022 issue.