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With its roots dating back to the daring, liberated 1980’s, Carolina Herrera has been big news with the fashion elite for decades. The Venezuelan-born American designer is known for her classic, clean and sophisticated clothing, and her perfume collection is just as timelessly chic. So it’s no wonder that since the designer’s first fragrance was launched in 1988, each new scent has attracted plenty of attention.

Carolina Herrera was born on the 8th of January 1939 in Venezuela. She was the daughter of an air force officer, so she had a financially comfortable upbringing, but education and discipline were heavily enforced.

From a young child Herrera was interested in fashion and played around mixing together oils to create her own perfumes. At 25 she began working in public relations in Emilio Pucci subsidiary company this is where she met her husband Reinaldo Herrera Guevara.

Throughout the seventies Herrera was socialising in all the top spots from New York to Caracas as well as taking breaks in Cannes, Monaco and Capri. Herrera was a part of the elite social crowd and was gaining recognition as one of world’s best dressed women and an American style icon. Herrera was inspiration for artists such as Andy Warhol and Ahmet Ertegun and in 1980 made best dressed list, being an influencer in the fashion world.

Taking the advice of Vogue editor Diana Vreeland Carolina showed her first collection at the Metropolitan Club in New York. The show of 24 dresses was a success and she moved to New York to start the fashion label. Herrera’s style is sophisticated and chic, shown in all her work from the tuxedos to wool coats. In 1986 Herrera designed Carline Kennedys, the daughter of John. F. Kennedy’s wedding gown after this she went on in 1987 to launch a wedding dress collection. In 1988 Herrera launched her first fragrance which was later followed by a men’s equivalent. The label joined Puig the fragrance business in 1995, but the fashion house remains a family run business with her daughters taking up positions from 1997 to 2003. A Carolina Herrera store was opened in 2000 on Madison Avenue, New York where she released CH Carolina Herrera, a second more affordable ready-to-wear line which included shoes and accessories. Herrera’s hard work was recognised in 2008 when she received the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, awarded by the council of Fashion Designers of America. Today her lines are stocked in 240 stores in 104 countries.