FashionFame

Turning out refined day looks and evening-wear since 1981, the house of Herrera specializes in classic shapes such as lean trousers, pencil skirts, A-line ball dresses, and nipped-waist jackets, stitched up in luxurious taffeta and mink, soigné silk faille and jacquard. In recent seasons, Oscar regulars like have splashed this label with a starry dash of Hollywood Boulevard.

Carolina Herrera is recognized for her chic uniform of crisp white shirts and tailored black trousers. Born in 1939 to a family of Venezuelan aristocrats, Herrera landed on International Best-Dressed List time and was named to its Hall of Fame in 1980. Propelled by friends Count Rudi Crespi and Diana Vreeland, the same year, Herrera designed her first line of ready-to-wear as a test and she aced it.

Backed by Venezuelan publishing prince Armando de Armas, the mother of four founded her company and began her new career in earnest in New York. She was titled as the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year in 2004, and in 2008 the organization bestowed her with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.