CAROLINA HERRERA MANTATTAN ATELIER

Carolina Herrera is renowned for exceptional personal style and dressing First Ladies from Jacqueline Onassis to Michelle Obama.

This Venezuelan-American fashion designer has opened the doors of her New York studio for Vogue. Step inside Carolina’s design studio on Seventh Avenue in New York City’s Garment District to find sketches in the library where each collection is carefully archived. 

All of the prints are developed from scratch in-house and the lady explains it as a very amusing process. A rack of vibrantly colored dresses are displayed in the showroom. Mrs. Herrera expresses that “Everything has windows because for me, light is so important” as the showroom is captured well illuminated at midday. Do not miss the black and white stripes theme upholstery spread all over the atelier.

The Empire State Building can be seen from the rooftop gardens where the team gets together to eat lunch. Mrs. H states, “I think everyone wants to come and work here because of the gardens. It’s very rare to have lunch on Seventh Avenue outside!”

Spools of fabric  are seen stacked up in the atelier. Various fabrics are paired for the resort 2014 collection. Also the collection of pens are arranged according to the next season’s color palette. Employed with the designer since a decade, pattern maker Francois Bouchet also enjoys working with young people, because they take risks. Her collection of back issues of Vogue is worth flaunting. In the designer’s own words, “Many times I go through the pages of old Vogues.You know fashion is a repetition of ideas, so whatever you see in these books comes back.”

She is also an ardent admirer of clovers as it is noticed that pressed clovers are collaged on the desk in the design studio. The designer also shows her library of prints from past collections comprising of the birds, clovers and mushrooms too. Its interesting to understand how designers blend their life and work.

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