Carolina Herrera, a fashion designer, reveals the process behind her Spring/Summer 2015.
Self-study activity: Watch this New York Times video and answer the questions below about it. The activity is suitable for Intermediate 2 students.
1 When did Carolina Herrera start to feel the pressure?
2 What does ‘July’ refer to?
3 Where does Ms Herrera do her prints?
4 Why?
5 What’s the Carolina Herrera woman like?
6 How does she feel when the show is ready?
My dream every six months I go to the show and it’s packed with people, everyone is there, and I have to come out and say, could you please come back tomorrow because I’m not ready. It’s a nightmare.
Please welcome, Mrs Carolina Herrera.
I am deeply touched to receive the FIT Couture Council Award…
I still feel the same way that I felt in the second show, not in the first, because in the first you don’t know what’s going to happen. And after that, when you are in real business, then you start feeling the pressure, and I think it’s a very good sign (1) . And there are some many other designers in the world that you have, you have to compete, it’s a challenge.
Can I see it without the belt?
For a second.
Yes, we can sew on a yellow belt, if you want.
You know, sometimes the materials inspire you. This time I had a… the first fitting I did it with a techno pique, which is my new fabric, that I’m using. It gives you a silouetthe that is very feminine and very seductive and it’s very easy to mould it.
The inspiration is always there. I take vacations in July (2). I went to Greece and then I went to England and I went to Italy. Sometimes I say that I find inspiration because maybe I saw a colour that I love or a situation or something that somebody was wearing. The most important is to have your eyes open.
This year it was an absolutely one flower that I got. The tulip, I saw the colour-code of the tulip, and from there was the beginning of the colours of the collection and the prints.
I do my own prints in the house (3). I always have an atelier, it’s not that you have to wait till they come from China or from Italy two days before the show. You can change and you control the whole thing (4).
The final fitting is always different because you see that everything makes sense and goes together.
The most important for a fashion show is to edit. I don’t like to have a collection that looks like a potpourri. All the ideas are altogether, mixed like that.
I need to have a collection that is a family, that it looks like a family, brothers and sisters and they are related.
The set for the new collection is … garden, white and green. The white is perfect for this collection because all the colours will pop out. The stars are going to be the dresses and the clothes that I’m showing.
Okay, are we ready or not? Okay, let’s go.
The Carolina Herrera woman is a global woman. I think they like to be sophisticated and they don’t mind to be called elegant (5). Some girls, they look at the ele… and the word elegance like old-fashioned. I mean, for me elegance has to be there always. That’s why I like the perfect fittings and the perfect dress and the perfect top because I think that’s what every woman likes.
When the show is ready I am never totally satisfied. I always say it should have been better (6). If you think that whatever you do is the best, you’re totally wrong because it’s not.
