Carolina Herrera opens first Palm Beach store on Worth Avenue

Some of the best Palm Beach weather of the season was on display Tuesday night as the Carolina Herrera fashion house opened its first store on the island.

The fashion label founded by the eponymous Venezuelan-born designer now resides in 2,200 square feet in the Esplanade at 150 Worth Ave., facing the iconic landmark shopping street in the space formerly occupied by Louis Vuitton.

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"Since the founding of the company in 1981, Herrera and Palm Beach have paired so beautifully," said Wes Gordon, creative director of Carolina Herrera. "We've had amazing retail partners here always. We have amazing clients who live here."

The store had its soft opening in November and was due to have its grand opening as well, but the event was postponed because of torrential rain that night, Gordon said. This time, the weather was ideal: crisp air, clear skies. The store had a ribbon-cutting and cocktails, attended by the label's grand dame herself.

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Gordon, who took the label's reins when Herrera retired from the business about five years ago, said the company also took into account Palm Beach's "extraordinary evolution" over the past few years, with an influx of new residents and visitors.

"All of these things have combined to make this the right moment for us to finally have our own store in Palm Beach," Gordon said.

Herrera is known as one of the pre-eminent fashion designers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her creations have been worn by socialites and celebrities around the world, including Caroline Kennedy, who famously wore a Carolina Herrera dress for her 1986 wedding to Edwin Schlossberg. Kennedy's mother, Jacqueline Onassis, also wore a Herrera dress, and was notably a fan of the designer's early work.

The Palm Beach store is the label's first in more than a decade, Gordon said. It joins the flagship location on Madison Avenue in New York City, and another store in Highland Park Village in Dallas. A sister label, CH, has a location at the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens.

The Worth Avenue store features an array of the brand's signature items, including ready-to-wear pieces, accessories, fragrances, cosmetics, handbags, shoes and jewelry. "The beauty of having our own retail space is, as it's true for any brand, it's an opportunity to show the whole world of Carolina Herrera," Gordon said.

The label's new book, "Color Mania," also is available at the store, with photography by Elizaveta Porodina and words and styling by Gordon, who signed select copies of the book in Palm Beach this week. The book was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, with furloughed ballerinas and models who were sidelined by shutdowns modeling Herrera pieces, then photographed via video call by Porodina. The work has continued over the past few years, and the effect is otherworldly, Gordon said.

"What I love about Elizaveta is she paints with her camera," he said. "And she shares my love of color."

When Gordon joined Carolina Herrera as creative director, one of his first projects was a redesign of the Madison Avenue store.

"It was, in many ways, a laboratory to start figuring out our design architectural codes," Gordon said. "I really thought of it as creating kind of a Palazzo Herrera."

That store is three stories, with casement windows, double doors, a grand curving staircase, black-and-white hexagonal tile floors and blush pink Venetian plaster — he searched through about 40 tones before finding the perfect color, he said.

"Coming to Palm Beach, it was about taking some of those elements and incorporating them in a way that still felt very true to our setting," Gordon said.

Gordon worked with architect Mao Hughes and designer David Lucido to create the perfect blend of Carolina Herrera and Palm Beach for Worth Avenue. While the walls of the Palm Beach store are the same blush pink as the Madison Avenue location, Gordon said he wanted a different texture, so sand was mixed into the plaster. The layout is accentuated by limestone columns, and the tile floor features the same hexagonal design from New York City.

More Palm Beach touches include rattan features, and an emphasis on the brand's pink tones over red. The fitting rooms on either side of the showroom feature light fixtures reminiscent of shells, a nod to the store's near-beachfront location.

"I wanted it to really feel like the courtyard of a palazzo, make it feel like a Mizner space," Gordon said, referring to architect Addison Mizner, who is credited with introducing the Mediterranean Revival style to Palm Beach that is featured along much of Worth Avenue.

"I wanted it to feel as if it was an untouched original part of Palm Beach, but that still was married with all the codes of Herrera," he added.

Gordon spent a year consulting and working with Herrera before she had her final show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in February of 2018. The next day, he was creative director, and she stepped out of the spotlight.

"She has become a dear friend, but has not gone back to the office since that day," Gordon said. "She's completely uninvolved in all things related to the brand."

Her presence at Tuesday night's event marked the first time she has been involved with anything related to the company since her final show, he said. While she attends the brand's runway shows and will sit in the front row, those occasions are her first time seeing each collection.

"She came down here because she loves Palm Beach, and we invited her to be here for the new store," Gordon said.

Having that level of trust bestowed by someone who built a fashion house from scratch is amazing, Gordon said. "I'm in awe of her to be able to do that, because I couldn't think of anything more difficult than having spent four decades building a business that carries your name," he said. "It's a huge part of your identity and who you are. To have I think the brilliance to know that if you're going to step away, you have to do it completely ... it takes such strength and courage."

The label's spirit is very much in line with the style for which Palm Beach women are known, he said.

"We're not a brand for basics. I like to say that the Herrera woman is in head-to-toe hot pink or yellow or orange, on a sidewalk where everyone else is in gray or black," Gordon said. "She dresses for herself, she dresses to be noticed, she dresses to be remembered and she dresses to be happy."

Herrera customers aren't afraid of color and prints, he said.

"They have fun with their wardrobe," Gordon said. "They treat their wardrobe as an extension of their personality, as a way to amplify who they are on the inside."

Gordon has visited Palm Beach for years and has long admired Worth Avenue for its architecture and opportunity.

"Every store on Worth Avenue is so beautifully done," he said.

The opening of the Palm Beach store will set the stage for future openings of Carolina Herrera locations, with Gordon saying Worth Avenue is "the first of many" to debut over the next 18 months. While each store will have characteristics of the Madison Avenue flagship, they will also feature local details, as in Palm Beach, Gordon said.

"Every time you do something new, every time you renovate your house, every time you redecorate, it's a chance to further refine and play and define your aesthetic," he said.

As a man who designs for women, Gordon said he finds inspiration in the women around him, including clients and his colleagues and collaborators in the fashion world.

"I love going to our stores, whether it's our own stores or wholesale partners, and just really spending time with our customers," Gordon said. "They're fabulous and they're fun and they love clothes, and I'm so excited to be able to do that now more regularly in Palm Beach."

Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@pbdailynews.com. Subscribe today to support our journalism.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Carolina Herrera opens first Palm Beach store on Worth Avenue