8 Of Carolina Herrera's Favorite Fashion And Home Staples

In 1981, when Carolina Herrera was a well-heeled socialite—albeit one who'd been immortalized by Andy Warhol and named to the International Best-Dressed List Hall of Fame— she sent 31 looks down a runway at New York's Metropolitan Club to the adulation of a crowd that included Diana Vreeland, Jacqueline de Ribes, and Nan Kempner. The clothes had a crisp, architectural allure: statement sleeves and sharp power suits, satin column gowns shimmering beneath overcoats of ivory fur.

Featured in the opening pages of the recently released "Carolina Herrera: 35 Years of Fashion" (Rizzoli, $75), the creations retain a lasting appeal that reveal Herrera's signature: exactingly tailored, wearable apparel dripping with glamour. "Fashion is a dream," Herrera says, "but that dream doesn't become a reality if it's not worn by a human being."

It's a philosophy she's parlayed into a global luxury brand that has transformed with the times but never abandoned its central ethos. "I still want women to look beautiful and elegant," says Herrera. For her, the concept of chic is ineffable: "It's very difficult to define style. It's not just what you're wearing, it's also the way you live, the way you arrange your house, the books you read. If you go with your instinct and your heart, it doesn't matter what people say."