“I was looking at 1990s New York imagery,” Wes Gordon said during a preview, where his mood board was papered with photos of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, Gwyneth Paltrow, and other style icons of that era.
“It’s not minimalism so much as it’s wardrobe. To me, clean is too often boring and soulless. It’s the idea of still looking feminine, energetic, confident and witty in a cut that’s more linear,” he said of his spring 2024 Carolina Herrera collection.
Showing downtown on the ground floor of the Renzo Piano-designed Whitney Museum set the mood for a more streamlined interpretation of the house’s romantic codes.
“The polished gray concrete, big walls of glass, there’s a sleekness to the venue,” he said of the backdrop for his cosmopolitan uniform.
Removing superfluous seaming, he played up pragmatic pieces, opening with a black pencil skirt and white cotton shirt à la Carolina and Carolyn, with kitten-heel slingbacks.
Elongated silk blazers tied to the side over slips captured ’90s ease, as did a strapless black silk top and wide-leg pants set that was simply chic.
HotPants are everywhere this week, even at Herrera, and Gordon’s came in a lavender floral knit with a matching cardigan. He dipped into the transparent trend, too, showing a shimmering black embroidered lace pencil skirt and black briefs, with a prim lilac twin set and flat shoes.
Of course, party dresses are a huge part of the Herrera business, and this season, he traded embellishments for form, as on a black and lavender stripe micro pleated tulle ballgown that fanned out like a beach umbrella, and bustier dresses with micro pleated tulle cage skirts.
Column gowns, and pencil skirt and bustier sets were also options for evening.
The idea of paring back might seem incongruous with a house built on ruffles and roses, but Herrera herself has a uniform, and a certain sharpness and discipline, and still does: she was seated in the front row, not a hair out of place.
And speaking of discipline, Gordon ended with the same crisp cotton shirt he started with, only in black with a silver pencil skirt covered in floral arranged paillette embroidery.
Silver has shined on the runways in New York, a nod, perhaps, to Beyoncé being crazy in love with chrome.
Herrera, like seemingly nearly every other fashion brand in the business, made a custom bodysuit for the superstar to wear onstage during the “Renaissance World Tour” this summer.
“It was so incredible to do that, and they were great to work with,” Gordon said.
We may not have the red carpet, but at least we had that.