Carolina Herrera 'Refined Irreverence' celebrates 35 years of Mrs. Herrera's timeless elegance

Picture this…a crisp white shirt.  Elegant jewelry.  Polished.  Carolina Herrera is the epitome of high fashion.  Thanks to the talent of SCAD’s Director of Fashion Exhibitions, Rafael Gomes, you can experience ninety-nine of Carolina Herrera’s beautiful ensembles, many from her personal collection.  Thirty-five years of creative brilliance can be seen at Savannah College of Art and Design’s SCAD-FASH Museum of Fashion and Film.  

The exhibit is brilliantly divided into groups showing stages of Mrs. Herrera’s design esthetic.  Two gowns in the early collection are from her first runway show in1981. Gomes stated “She was too superstitious to consider keeping pieces for an archive early on in her career” so many of the early pieces in this presentation are from her personal collection.  

The next grouping is a collection of pieces that offer a more casual, pastel color pallet set in a room which suggests her office.  The display is made even more special  by prints of her personal pictures accenting the space.  You can feel her inspiration and creativity everywhere you look.  

A wall of Mrs. Herrera’s signature white blouses, hanging in frames as artwork, lead us toward the all white room.  The bridal gowns included in this area begin with a strapless confection of silk gazar, laden with pixelated foam embroidery, and as you meander to an ivory silk chiffon with tiny pleats and antique crystal embroidered straps, worn by daughter Carolina Herrera de Baez at her 2004 wedding, you can identify the timelessness of each.  Two completely different dresses still distinctly Carolina Herrera, once again showing her talent for attention to detail.   The only significant piece missing from this display was the iconic dress worn by Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the dress that took Carolina Herrera from a well-kept secret of elite fashion insiders to the instant attention by the entire fashion world.  

It is only fitting that the next exhibit be red carpet.  Carolina Herrera’s name was often the answer to “Who are you wearing?” The white Mikado strapless column gown with bow and train detail worn by Renee Zellweger at the 2004 Academy Awards in Hollywood is a stark contrast to the custom black leather gown decorated with jeweled serpent head on loan from Lady Gaga, which she wore to the Trevor Project’s 2011 Trevor Hero Awards, Los Angeles.  

The show is an instant success.  Gomes says that “Mrs. Herrera was pleasantly surprised when she saw our display of her collection” .  “She was supposed to be here for only an hour, but she stayed beyond that.  She enjoyed spending time, talking with SCAD students.”  You can only wonder if she was meeting the next Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Rucci or with any luck, the next Carolina Herrera !