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The Muse

Daughter of a fashion icon and an inspiration to her mother, Carolina Herrera, Jr. talks about the success and stimulus behind her company’s signature fragrance as it turns 20.

By Idy Fernandez

The scent of freshly baked cookies or that of a well-loved security blanket are the aromas most of us remember from childhood. But when you’re the daughter of an international fashion icon, the fragrance of your childhood may be a tad more sophisticated.
“My mother used to mix the essential oils of [pure jasmine and tuberose] to create her own scent,” recalls Carolina Herrera, Jr., the third of designer Carolina Herrera’s four children. “Any time I smell this it reminds me of her and my childhood in Venezuela.”
Staying true to the brand’s concepts of timelessness and class, the fragrance line is not debuting a new scent on the eve of its 20th anniversary.
Instead, Herrera, Jr. and her mother are hoping the brand’s original and signature fragrance, Carolina Herrera Eau de Parfum, which is based on those essential jasmine and tuberose oils, will stand on its own.
“When we work on a new fragrance, we always hope for success and especially that 20 years after its launch people are still buying it,” says Herrera, Jr., who has been at the helm of her mother’s fragrance line since the two launched it in the summer of 1997. “We achieved this with the Carolina Herrera Eau de Parfum.”
Soon after Carolina Herrera, came the fragrances 212 and 212 Men, named after New York City’s area code and meant to capture the cosmopolitan essence of the city.
“It required evoking the spirit of New York, a spirit I missed so much... I thought it would be a great idea to translate that world I adored into a language of aromas,” says Herrera, Jr., who with her parents moved to New York at the age of 12.
Soon after high school, she attended Vassar College with the intention of becoming a doctor and worked at a lab at Rockefeller University of New York. She quickly realized her creative spirit didn’t fit in a world of test tubes and formulas.
Then came a stint as a production assistant along with a move to Los Angeles, and finally work on a documentary in Spain, where she met and married ex-bullfighter Miguel Baez, also known as “El Litri,” while chronicling the lives of children who dreamt of becoming bullfighters.
In the midst of it all, Herrera, Jr. has become both her mother’s most trusted advisor and muse. Together the Venezuelan pair has been behind the inauguration of six other limited edition fragrances and a lifestyle clothing line, CH Carolina Herrera, launched in 2001.
Do the worlds of fashion and fragrance ever collide?
Though Herrera, Jr. assures us that the lines have individual lives, both are a representation of her mother’s personal style and values.
“They are different businesses, but they both reflect and respect the true values of Carolina Herrera: elegance, sophistication and timelessness. In this sense, yes, there’s a relationship,” says Herrera, Jr., who is now matriarch to her own brood of two children—a daughter, Olimpia de la Concepcion, and son Miguel. “[The line’s philosophy] has always been to create a fragrance that will become a personal and invisible accessory.”

Smell of Success

Carolina herrera and Carolina, Jr. have had careers full of firsts, their best and their unforgettable moments.

1981
After having great success with her first collection, she launches Carolina Herrera, Ltd.

1987
The fragrance Carolina Herrera debuts and becomes one of the top five sellers in the U.S.

1991
The counterpart for the fragrance Carolina Herrera for Men debuts.

1994
The debut of Fiore marks the first time Carolina Herrera and daughter collaborate. Herrera named her daughter her muse.

1997
As a mother daughter creation, 212 debuts and is named after New York’s area code.

2000
First Carolina Herrera flagship store opens in Madison Ave. with a four-story floor landmark building. She is now recognized for her clothes, accessories and bags.

2001
The fragrance CHIC debuts, as does her fashion second line CH Carolina Herrera.

2003
Carolina, another fragrance, is born. This new scent becomes an iconic perfume.

2004
After the success 212 had, 212 Sexy comes out. Also she is awarded the Women’s Wear designer of the Year.

2005
Herrera Aqua appears on the scene as the innovation from Carolina Herrera.

2006
The fragrance 212 Men comes out. Also a Carolina Herrera boutique opens in the exclusive Melrose place in Los Angeles.