Fashion designer Carolina Herrera is the picture of modern elegance, frequently spotted in her always-classic uniform of crisp white shirt and bold earrings, but how does she dress up her home? AD special projects editor Hal Rubenstein catches up with Herrera, whose star-studded list of clients includes First Lady Michelle Obama, to talk guilty pleasures, favorite possessions, and hotel room must-haves.
Hal Rubenstein: What’s your favorite room in your house? What is a prized item—a piece of furniture or art—in that room?
Carolina Herrera: I adore my dining room, because it is done like a garden pavilion, with lots of white columns and plenty of sunlight streaming in these marvelous big windows, reflecting on the painted floor. Though we are in Manhattan, it feels like an old Italian villa built in the 1700s. The highlight of the room for me is my set of 18th-century retour d’Egypte chairs.
HR: How do you indulge yourself when you are home?
CH: My home was designed for me, so all of it is a wonderful indulgence. However, I always have breakfast alone in my bedroom. And I do like watching smart, suspenseful shows on television, like The Americans and the long-running English crime drama Midsomer Murders.
HR: What great work of art do you wish you owned?
CH: The head of Nefertiti that is in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin. It would be a little bit difficult to make room for, but she is beautiful!
HR: If you were to start decorating your house again from scratch, what would you change?
CH: Nothing! I would repeat exactly what I have. I love it!
HR: If the ties of work and family didn’t have to be considered, where would you live?
CH: Neither work nor family are issues. I live in New York because it is the capital of the world. But I must go to Europe from time to time to caress my eyes.
HR: Is there anything you always take with you when traveling?
CH: A silver-framed Madonna and child that was given to me as a wedding present.
HR: What do you do to personalize a hotel room?
CH: Way too much! I rearrange the furniture to my liking. I don’t want a TV in the sitting room, or that coffee machine and everything that goes with it, so they get removed. I like small vases everywhere, but I don’t want floral arrangements. I know it sounds like a lot, but I have been doing this a long time.
HR: What’s the ideal number of people you enjoy entertaining in your home?
CH: Between eight and 12. And what I like is that they arrive at the time they are invited and stay as long as they want to.
HR: What is never welcome in your house?
CH: Boring people.
HR: What would I never guess would be in your home?
CH: If I told you it would no longer be a mystery. And a woman must always have a little mystery.
