It’s rare that the founding designer of a fashion house gets to have a first-hand experience of their legacy living on. But for Carolina Herrera, it’s an everyday occurrence. For the last eight years, the 87-year-old has watched her successor, Wes Gordon, take the helm of her eponymous label, staying true to core house codes and preserving brand signatures while also thoughtfully updating the designs for a new generation of Good Girls. Not only has Herrera been able to witness the evolution of her brand up close, but this season in particular, she got to celebrate 45 years of it alongside a crowd of admirers.
“This is a very special collection because it was 45 years of Herrera. Forty-five years of making women feel their most beautiful, empowered, confident, and glamorous,” Gordon tells TZR. “The team and I approached this one with a sense of playfulness and joy.”
Over the past several seasons, Gordon has walked the line between the more conservative, eveningwear-loving clientele — using high necklines, structural silhouettes, and inoffensive hemlines — and the younger, quiet luxury-seeking customer who still wants to make a statement in their wardrobe. Although he’s arguably already mastered that balancing act, this latest collection for Spring/Summer 2027 is perhaps his best blend of the two camps.
“I think the Carolina woman, it’s not about an age, it’s not about a region, it’s not about a size, it’s about a spirit,” Gordon explains. “And she’s fabulous, she’s fantastic. She’s in the middle of the party; she’s wearing the pink dress that people remember three years later. She’s Carolina herself, and it’s an attitude, and it’s a belief in getting dressed and in something beautiful and having fun.”
This sentiment was proven in real time, too. In the front row, 59-year-old actor and model Pamela Anderson nodded enthusiastically to a number of looks as they walked by, while 28-year-old influencer and Dairy Boy founder Paige Paul snapped pictures of other outfits, mouthing the word “Chic” repeatedly.
The runway continued with a bang: a polka dot drop-waist trumpet skirt layered over a simple black tank top set the stage for the collection, and each look got louder in the best way. Grid-printed tweed jackets were given some extra zest with variously sized yellow beads acting as the outerwear’s piping; frayed ribbon poked out of crosswoven daytime dresses and mimicked the appearance of free-flowing confetti, and bright pink-and-green floral garden prints served as the centerpiece for blouse-and-midi-skirt sets.
Unexpected pops of color and cheeky details on the clothes were especially serotonin-boosting. Bursts of cherry reds came through in oversized earrings, silver buttons were placed strategically over the front pockets of a button-down, a lacy green floor-length dress was completely see-through (a look Paul seemed to take a specific liking to), and a miscellaneous array of animals functioned as kitschy adornments.
“We had big frog brooches as a wink to a restaurant called Le Grenouille, which was Mrs. Herrera’s favorite; that means ‘the frog,’” says Gordon. “We had earrings that were black-and-white cookies — just a sense of playfulness.”
Beyond the homage to the aforementioned French cuisine institution (also a go-to spot for Salvador Dalí, Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, and more pop culture icons before its permanent closure in 2024), Gordon also paid tribute to other famous emblems of New York City. A sunshine-yellow mini slip dress with a black lace hem had an outline of Manhattan’s skyline printed across the front, complete with a New Yorker logo (an official partnership with the publication), making the garment the ultimate special issue: “The artwork is actually the cover from the day of Carolina’s first show.”
“This was our first time being back in New York for spring after a few seasons away,” says Gordon. “We were in Madrid, we were in Mexico City, we were in Rio. So it was a real embrace of this amazing city, the city in which Mrs. Herrera founded the house in 1981.”
To directly honor Herrera’s legacy, Gordon also reached out to the Warhol Foundation, asking to use Andy Warhol’s 1979 portrait of Herrera as a print. The painting’s vivid pink eyeshadow and dramatic red lip feature across a mini shift dress and a handful of vintage-style bead-embroidered bags, with each piece further emphasized by rhinestones, oversized crystals, and sequins.
“The world needs more joy, the world needs more beauty,” says Gordon. “These are not bad words; these are good things. That really came through for me.”
Below, see more highlights from Carolina Herrera Spring/Summer 2027.
Courtesy of Carolina HerreraCourtesy of Carolina HerreraCourtesy of Carolina HerreraCourtesy of Carolina HerreraCourtesy of Carolina HerreraCourtesy of Carolina Herrera
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