Wes Gordon: "Design for the woman who lives every minute as if she were in the best party in the world"

Wes Gordon is happy.Although, as he recognizes, the most correct grammatically and conceptually it would be to say that he is happy.He has just had a baby and when he greets through Zoom, he is just a week to celebrate the first physical parade in 18 months of Carolina Herrera, the signature of which he is creative director and commemorates his 40th anniversary precisely with the collection that isabout to present.Three years ago, Gordon replaced the founder of the teaching in one of the apparently more organic transitions that are remembered in the fashion industry.I was 30 years old, and the opportunity felt like the risk of disaster.Because Mrs. Herrera - he calls her everyone in the brand - built this project in her image and likeness, incarnation of the New York elegance dressed in moles, flight skirts and white shirts.But Gordon has managed to evolve the brand without revolutionizing it, also contributing to her personal seal: the joy of living.A quality that is almost sedicious in a luxury industry where today's irony and the most uncomfortable and intellectual aesthetics triumph."It is a good guy who embodies the fun point of the Upper East Side, and that is what we were looking for," José Manuel Albesa explained in an interview.The president of Puig Markets, Markets and Operations - the Spanish company that owns Carolina Herrera since 1995 - finished off his description: "It is a designer nothing dramatic, with a spirit of construction and happy".The keyword to successfully overcome any crisis of the 40 and the one most used by the American designer during this interview: "I am an incorrigible optimist".

How does a 40th anniversary collection propose so that no retrospective exhibition does not seem?

The starting point of this was something magical.A few months ago he wrote me through Instagram a stranger telling me that his brother, who worked for the firm in the early eighties, had died.Cleaning his house, old notebooks full of drawings and tissue samples had been found.He sent them to me and one of them specifically documented the 1983 spring-summer collection, which is one of my favorites of all time.So I decided to use these sketches as a source of inspiration.

It is a collection presented only two years after the brand's foundation.

Yes, but he has everything I love from this house: sleeves, flaps, drama, moles, colors, prints.You can see that then Mrs. Herrera had established the DNA of her brand.In addition, I love it because, in a way, it validates my work: many of those designs could be introduced into my collections without squeaking.

This type of anniversaries forces to take stock.What is the most important legacy that Carolina Herrera has left?

She opened her brand at a time when most of the great American designers were men.And he did the 40th and being the mother of four children.Today, all these things are more common, but at that time it had to be very brave to launch.Many of the great firms of that time have disappeared and yet Carolina Herrera Pervive.

But what owes fashion to the designer?

I think that in a more abstract way, Mrs. Herrera invented modern elegance, that concept that she herself represents: the merger between European and American fashion.The spirit and sensitivity of haute couture, but with American pragmatism.No one except she could have articulated that speech in the eighties, because she was a haute couture client, she knew how she should be an atelier, but at the same time she was a mother of four children who lived in New York and who had dinner at Downtown.

Although obviously I did not invent the moles and the white shirt, it did their own.

If people close their eyes and think about it, do it with a white cotton shirt and a flight skirt.And they imagine it in the office or in a big party with jewels and heel shoes.That shirt is now a fundamental element of our closet and enters the category of American universal basic along with the jeans.

As for you, what is your main contribution to the brand in these four years as creative director, what you feel most proud?

I feel very happy and lucky to be the creative director of a house that I love and respect.Not all designers have that luck.Some are in charge of brands whose creative speech do not share.It is a great challenge and sometimes generates a friction that is more than palpable.My work has never consisted of changing everything, throwing everything in the trash;On the contrary, my mission is to emphasize certain codes above other.

What are those codes?

The essence that I want to celebrate is the one that transmits the portrait of Mrs. Herrera signed by Andy Warhol who presides over the New York offices: that woman who is always the center of attention and who lives every minute of each day as if she were in themore incredible of parties.Because I think that elegance can go hand in hand, it does not have to be formal or stretched.

He says that her clothes is for a woman who is always the center of the party.And the rest of the women?

Carolina Herrera is exclusive but inclusive.I want all women to be invited to the party, that when you wear one of my dresses they feel like dancing.And I am inspired by women who are proud of themselves and their way of being, regardless of their age, their size, their sexual orientation or race.

Many powerful women have dressed their designs, from Michelle Obama to Rosalia.Kamala Harris chose a white jacket from Carolina Herrera to give her first speech as the US elected vice president.What do you feel when you know that one of your designs will go down in history?

It is fantastic and, when you watch it on television, somewhat surrealist.But what really excites me is when a woman feels like the superheroin version of herself with my clothes.Our designs should allow you to express yourself as you are, but putting a sign of exclamation in the end.

It is true that we live in the era of individuality, where there are no trends because everything takes.How is such a classic brand positioned against this paradigm shift?

In a world with almost 8.000 million people is more important than ever that each individual celebrates what makes it unique and special.I like the idea that in our collections there is something for everyone and that are not composed of clothing that prescribes at six months, but also speaks high and clear for a long time.

Many luxury brands fly the alleged longevity of their garments when they are questioned about their commitment to sustainability.Your clothes last more, ergo you have to buy less.But in the end the fashion industry is sustained about the need, impulse or desire to consume cyclically.

Our clients are not interested in the tendency of the moment or having something new every season, but they buy as an emotional experience and look for pieces that cause that sentimental reaction.When you fall in love with a garment, like a person, you want it to last forever, and that has nothing to do with face or cheap clothes.

Now the direct relationship with their clients through the Trunk Shows is almost impossible, those tours in which the collection is presented by different cities and shops and that are so important in their commercial strategy.How did that problem solve?

That direct relationship with customers is what makes this house so special.And we couldn't lose it, so we started organizing events by Zoom.It was different, but not necessarily worse.Sometimes, when you have limitations is when the best ideas and the most creative solutions arise.And in Carolina Herrera's team we never accept a no.In addition, the intimacy that is generated despite the digital barrier is incredible, because in the end we were all sitting in our homes and the interaction was very personal.

Although there are one hundred windows on the computer?

Once, I was on my Connecticut farm, where I spent quarantine, and that same morning a horse was born.I turned the camera, I went out and taught it to our guests.Suddenly there were 150 women deciding how we should call the foal.

The fabrics are the starting point of their collections.Most are manufactured exclusively for the brand and its team travels from India to Italy to make them with the different suppliers.Or rather traveling.How have they arranged to continue with this work model during the pandemic?

Behind every dress you see on the catwalk there are hundreds from all over the world involved in its manufacture.Hilatura suppliers, factories workers, employers, model, makeup artist.It is a global community that works together.The fabrics are the ingredients with which we cook and, if they are not of good quality, it is very difficult for the garment to be exciting.During the confinement, I received hundreds of boxes with samples in my farm to be able to examine and choose them, made facetime with the suppliers and in the end we managed.The global spirit of perseverance is something that we must be proud.

¿Es verdad que conservan el último atelier completo de Manhattan?

It is not the only one, but the greatest.Right now I'm sitting in my office and a floor below me are the brightest people you can imagine: patronistas, cutters, seamstress, ironing ... some have been here for 20 years.My greatest honor as a designer is to work with them.The most romantic is that we are in 37 with the seventh, one step away from Times Square, and people walk with their mobiles along this street in the most modern city in the United States without suspecting that on their heads there is a group of artisans doingclothing with the same techniques that were used 100 years ago.

Is it a long time in the workshop?

My favorite part of the entire creative process is the fittings [the tests]: that moment in which you see clothes become a reality before your eyes.Nowadays it is not necessary.

Photo gallery: ‘The Happy 40 of Carolina Herrera’

Styling: Miguel in love.Photography attendees: Diego Bendezu and Conor Monaghan.Digital Assistant: Cassanova Cabrera.Styling Assistant: Ashly Tsao.Makeup: Chichi Saito (Art-Dep).Hairdressing: Thomas Dunkin (Statement).Model: Akiima (Chris Neal).Production: Emily Ullrich and Poly Budilina.