Carolina Herrera (placeholder)

When Carolina Herrera turned 40, she decided to do something new. What could be novel for an aristocratic woman who had been everywhere and met everyone? Well, work. For although she had run houses and was raising four daughters and managing a marriage—activities that, taken together, were the equivalent of presiding over a small company—Herrera had never set foot in an office or cashed a paycheck except during a brief stint doing p.r. for Pucci. At times, however, she had collaborated on her wardrobe with couturiers in her native Caracas; she knew her sense of color and texture was first-rate. The best career choice, she decided: fabric designer. But Count Rudi Crespi, the famed fashion publicist who had introduced such Italian designers as Valentino and Fendi to America, thought she could do more. “He saw some clothes Carolina had made,” recalls his widow, Consuelo Crespi. “He told her, ‘You must be a fashion designer.”’