Carolina Herrera Goes Sexy for Resort 2024 in Rio

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Carolina Herrera may be a house known for sticking to the classics, but every so often, it'll surprise you — like when it announced that the Resort 2024 collection by Wes Gordon would debut not with a lookbook, or even a presentation in its home base in New York City, but rather via a full-fledged runway production... in Rio de Janeiro.

"The company's grown tremendously over the past few years, and we're at a moment where we had a conversation about doing a destination show for the first time," Gordon told Fashionista in an interview ahead of the show. "It was such a clear choice for me. Herrera has an extraordinary Latin heritage, which we're very proud of, so I knew it needed to be something South America. Brazil has been a market that's growing tremendously for us with beauty and fragrance... Having an opportunity to be in a place that really celebrates all of those components and all things Herrera was quite exciting."

There's an obvious commercial element at play: Brazil is one of the largest economies in Latin America, with a strong (and growing) e-commerce sector. In January, retail sales were up 3.8% in January, per its government statistics agency, IBGE — a new record. (The textiles, clothing and footwear sector grew 27.9% that month.)

Carolina Herrera isn't the first foreign house to stage a show in Rio; Louis Vuitton famously debuted Resort 2017 at the Niterói Contemporary Art Museum back in 2016. And we're at a moment where Brazil's homegrown brands are bigger than ever. (Think of the ubiquity of Farm Rio, PatBo and Larroude.) Still, there are challenges that come with planning a fashion show in any city, let alone one almost 5,000 miles away from your home base.

"We had to send the clothes about six weeks early," Gordon said. "This is quite a Herculean effort by the Herrera atelier and pattern makers and seamstresses. We're using all local talent — hairdressers, makeup artists, producers, music, models. We're basically recreating an atelier there, where we will be doing our fittings, our castings, everything."

It was Gordon's first time in Rio. So, in the lead-up to the show, he drew from his "very outsider's idea" of the city — that "it's incredibly romantic and beautiful and colorful and joyful" — to guide the direction of Resort 2024. The thesis, as he put it, is "this idea of being fabulous and being effortless at the same time."

That translates to his now-signature lively and bold approach to color ("very tonal and warm... almost creating this beautiful sunset over the water with the color card"), mixed with the polka dots and floral prints that are baked into the DNA of the brand, across silhouettes that are more body-hugging and exposed that what we might expect from Herrera, but never overwrought.

<p>Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera</p>

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera

<p>Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera</p>

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera

"It's very much a deep dive into Herrera-isms — the polka dots, the floral prints, the cotton shirting... challenging the notion of what's dressy and what's casual and playing with that. But because we're in Rio and because of this energy of Brazil, I wanted everything to have a lightness to it, to have an ease, to be closer to the body, to be very modern and fresh and young and sensual," Gordon said. "The silhouette went much closer to the body. The construction was simplified. We came off of a fall season that was very grand, sculptural and beautiful. But for resort, I was stripping away in the fittings."

The classic white button-down becomes a cropped "camp shirt," for instance, the long ballgown skirt now crochet. There are also raffia embroideries, open backs, fringe hems and even bikinis. Gordon also wove in a few more direct references to the country the brand is visiting, through floral prints featuring Brazilian orchids and black-and-white tulle layers inspired by the legendary boardwalk of Copacabana by Roberto Burle Marx.

<p>Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera</p>

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera

This season, the designer's also trying his hand at menswear for the first time (in his career, and at Herrera), with a handful of looks that can be styled on anyone.

"I wouldn't say we're launching Herrera menswear — it's really just playing," he said. "It's a whole new frontier for us, this idea of doing a destination show and making our pre-collection into something bigger, so I took advantage a little bit of the fact that we didn't have an existing framework or parameters. I like making clothes. I like making product. Anything new to make is fun and an adventure, whether it's working on our jewelry or our sunglasses. Because we're blazing a new trail here at Herrera with this collection, it was just something to try. But it's certainly not an official category launch. We'll see what even comes of it."

These looks are simply "more cool clothes that I had the privilege of being able to make and watch come to life," he continued.

<p>Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera</p>

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera

<p>Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera</p>

Photo: Courtesy of Carolina Herrera

Like all Carolina Herrera collections, Resort 2024 aims to offer the customer "her superhero cape — the pieces that make her feel like the amplified version of herself and stand out and have fun," per Gordon. "What's most important to always remember is that our customer's not coming to us to be a wallflower. The Herrera woman doesn't shop to blend it or not be noticed. These are not shy clothes... It's not a minimalist, monochromatic uniform approach to dressing. It's very colorful and bold and and dramatic."

On Thursday, when it was finally show time, Mother Nature intervened: Because of a sudden downpour, the presentation was rained out; guests watched from the adjoining greenhouse where the after party was held as models walked, some barefoot, holding their heels. Good thing the Carolina girl loves drama!

See all the looks from Carolina Herrera Resort 2024, below.

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