The Warholian Questionnaire: Carolina Herrera

Christie's
Jun 25, 2013 4:23PM

Herrera may be best known for her clean lines, her elegant silhouettes, her celebrity clientele (Renée Zellweger, Amy Adams, and the late great Jackie-O among them), and a kind of effortless aura of uptown chic. But jet-setting between New York and Caracas in the 1970s, the then-budding Venezuelan-American fashion designer was known as something of a fixture in what is now the iconic Studio 54. She watched Halston shows with Bianca Jagger; she danced with Andy Warhol at Studio—and cleverly scored a portrait session with him at the Factory. Here, Herrera uses our Warholian Questionnaire to reflect on that bygone time and Warhol’s eternal legacy.

 What was your first Warholian moment and when did you first encounter him?

I don’t remember when. It must have been in the seventies at a party that Ahmet and Mica Ertegun gave for Bobby Short.

What are your latest cultural obsessions?

Poetry

What would you consider Warhol’s most memorable quote or anthem?

One night at a party at Regine’s, Andy was taking pictures right and left and my husband Reinaldo said to him “give me your camera and I will take a picture of you” and Andy answered “But I have no film. I like to see the faces and the ridiculous vanity of people. GOSH! GEE! OH!”

If you could collaborate with Andy on a project, what would it be?

Go shopping with him. He had an extraordinary eye.

Dream night out on the town: you, Warhol, and…?

Catherine Guinness and Steve Rubell

Whose portrait would Andy most want to do now?

Madame Peng Liyuan – The Chinese President’s wife

What’s the best party you’ve ever attended or threw?

I have gone to many great parties, but the most amusing I ever threw was a New Years dinner dance where Taki Theodoracopulos and Reinaldo invited everyone they met the night before. I cannot tell you who showed up for the dance.

Warhol once said: “I have a social disease. I have to go out every night. If I stay home one night I start spreading rumors to my dogs.” Warhol—introvert or extrovert? 

Andy was the most introverted extrovert I have ever met!

When I say Studio 54, you think: 

Fantasy made reality

Last party tune you downloaded: 

A little bit of loving by Mambo No. 5

Find our how Herrera traded an accessory for a Warhol portrait!

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