Carolina Herrera NYFW Final Show: Venezuelan Designer Steps Down After 37 Years

After her show at the Museum of Modern Art during NYFW F/W 2018, Venezuelan fashion icon, Carolina Herrera, will step down and wave her last goodbye from the runway after 37 years being the creative director of her namesake label. Herrera is handing her position to 31-year-old Wes Gordon, who has been her creative consultant for almost a year, to become as of Feb. 13 as global brand ambassador.

“Just don’t say I am retiring,” the 79-year-old said in an interview to The New York Times. “I am not retiring! I am moving forward.” As reported by the publication, the living legend designer is planning to spend more time at home with her husband, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Carolina Herrera revealed the decision has being wandering on her mind for about two years, because being a designer is an intense job. “There’s a collection every six weeks,” she said. “They would say, ‘Can you go to the store opening in Dubai?’ ‘No, I have a show,’” adding that “fashion has changed a lot. What they like now is ugliness. 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. Add something new and you have a great look. Consistency is important.”

“There’s something refreshing about working within a framework of a brand,” Wes Gordon said after learning about his new job. "Also not having to worry about orders and whether you could pay for your production.

Herrera is known for an exceptional personal style and impeccable and composed women, so it's expected that her successor represents and understands her vision. But even though Gordon joined the house as creative consultant last March, he is not new to the fashion scene, in fact Wes is an experienced fashion designer that introduced his own self named line of women's wear in 2009 and was a two-time finalist for the Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund. Gordon’s uptown aesthetic designs were selling in powerhouse department stores like Harrods, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Kirna Zabête.