Once an avid devotee of the great couture houses, haute chic socialite Carolina Herrera has herself become New York's most sought after couturier.

From the ateliers of New York and Paris, a very elegant woman has emerged to create a stunning range of designs that equal those once made for her by the great couture houses. Carolina Herrera imbues her collections with the Latin feel for femininity, elegance and beauty that is her own personal trademark. "My look - The Carolina Herrera Look - is for the modern woman of today", says this Venezuelan beauty. "It is classic but in a modern way, at the same time it's very elegant with very simple lines".

Carolina, the socialite and wife of wealthy landowner Reinaldo Herrera belongs to an elite group of wealthy Latin American families. Once easily spotted visiting the great design houses of Paris, she is now herself contributing to the world of fashion with her 'Carolina Herrera Collection' and although she launched her first collection only 22 years ago, it would appear that Carolina was being unwittingly prepared for her professional destiny right from the start.

"I was brought up in Caracas and also in Europe. I never wanted to be a fashion designer, not even when I was a child - when you are a little girl everyday changes, no? One day you think you are going to be a great actress, the next day perhaps you are going to be an opera singer and on another day you are not going to be anything at all. But I do come from a family where all the women are very elegant and I think that helps one's eye. My grandmother, my mother, all my family in fact used to be dressed in Parisian couture. And when I was very young, thirteen or so I remember going with my grandmother to a Balenciaga show on one of our trips to Paris. I believe that for a fashion designer it is very important to be born with an eye for fashion, and I think that I liked [fashion] very much ever since I was a child".