At Carolina Herrera, Wes Gordon Shows the Power of Restraint for Fall 2024

Ana Colón

12 February 2024 at 1:11 pm·5-min read

<p>Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images</p> — Photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images

High above Manhattan (41 floors, to be precise) Wes Gordon staged a Fall 2024 runway show for Carolina Herrera that showed a surprising degree of restraint — surprising because Gordon has been a true showman since joining the house in 2018, turning out gown after vibrant gown for ladies who lunch, celebrities with a red carpet on their calendar and Meghan Markle. There are gowns in the new collection, but that's not what the designer wants you to pay attention to.

"This season, more than ever, I wanted to push forward and just really focus on craft and fit, the make and the flourishes," he told Fashionista backstage. "When there were these dramatic moments, they were done in a way that was not frivolous, not superfluous. It was very precise, letting the color speak and the print speak."

He admitted he's "certainly not a minimalist designer" — and that this collection isn't minimalist — but that he has an appreciation for pragmatism, like with "a dress that looks like a dress, and its energy and its exclamation point comes from the incredible embroidery or the texture of the jacquard. That, to me, is modern."

Fall 2024 pares a lot back: The fit is closer to the body, the lines are drawn straighter (think A-line skirts, straight-leg trousers, boxy Bermuda shorts), the prints riffing on a single flower (a peony). There are flashes of volume, in the form of a ballgown skirt that grows outward from a cinched waist, a puff sleeve on a blouse, a boxy shoulder on a jacket. Embellishments are used sparingly, for maximum impact — like in a serious of gold and silver embroidered pieces that pop in the evening section. Gordon described these moments as "architectural and dramatic."

Some of the more shapely jackets, encrusted with pearls and paired with slim bottoms, felt akin to the wardrobe of a torero, and the ruffled tops and skirts to flamenco dresses — especially with Rosalía on the soundtrack (and with Carolina Herrera being owned by Puig, which is based in Spain). That wasn't what Gordon had in mind when designing the collection, though.

"It was about boldness and power and cut and craft," he clarified, "the idea of dressing powerfully and making this a collection that can take our woman everywhere she needs to go. You saw a wide breadth here, from more casual to office, to cocktail to gala. That's really important."

Carolina Herrera has never been a house concerned with trends, but Fall 2024 aligns with a sentiment we've been seeing throughout New York this season, of not just a fatigue, but of a decided stance against flash-in-the-pan trends — or clothes, for that matter. Gordon is first and foremost a maker, an eternal student of the atelier. And his reverence for craft is on its fullest display here.

Take one of the stand-out looks for him from the collection: the black peplum jacket with the slip skirt. "It's the ones that look the simplest, that are inevitably the most difficult to do," he said. "We have these pieces that are much more visually dynamic, but achieving a shape like that can only be done with the most amazing tailors and multiple fittings and a real obsession about make. Those were the pieces that really kept me up at night… To make a jacket that speaks loudly and proudly only through silhouette is something that I was excited to do."

Keep scrolling to see the full Carolina Herrera Fall 2024 collection.