Reinaldo Herrera, Husband of American Trend Designer Carolina, Useless at 91

Reinaldo Herrera, an arbiter of the social set and worldwide fashion, has died on the age of 91.

Herrera, whose identify and likeness is linked to his dressmaker spouse of 50-plus years Carolina, handed away Tuesday at his house in Manhattan.

Dashing, well-cultured and extremely in-the-know, he was born Reinaldo Herrera Guevara in Caracas, the place his father Don Reinaldo Herrera Uslar was the 4^th Marquis of Torre Casa. After attending highschool as a boarder on the St. Mark’s Faculty in Massachusetts, he then studied at Harvard College and Georgetown College. Herrera labored in Venezuela as a journalist on “Buenos Dias,” a morning information program there.

The Herreras wed in Caracas in 1968. Herrera had inherited the Spanish title of the 5^th Marquis de Torre Casa, following his father’s demise 4 years prior. The Herreras would later relocate to New York, the place he additional established his mark within the media world whereas becoming a member of Vainness Honest, when Tina Brown was on the prime of the masthead. Identified to be charming, mental and curious throughouht his life, Herrera carried on on the Conde Nast-owned journal after Graydon Carter succeeded Brown.

However it was his household that he valued above all else. He and Carolina shared 4 daughters: Carolina and Patricia Herrera Lansing from their marriage and Mercedes Mendoza and Ana Luisa Bruchou from the designer’s first marriage, which resulted in divorce.

Carolina Herrera as soon as mentioned of her husband, “I feel I used to be head over heels in love with Reinaldo, once I was 15 or 16, however then he went to Europe. He has all the time been my nice love.”

Earlier than Carolina Herrera turned a power in vogue together with her personal signature designer label, she was often called “Mrs. Reinaldo Herrera,” as famous by WWD first in 1959 after which once more in 1964. Nonetheless dated that now sounds, the pair have been photographed again and again in all their trendy glory, and as a rule, smiling or laughing – with that indescribable, and generally mischievous, verve. Life, work, household, and journey could be a tough mixture to stability for a lot of daring face names, however Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera appeared to have that components down chilly.

They relocated to the U.S. from Venezuela and have been recognized to run with a trendy crowd that included Nan Kempner, Carroll and Milton Petrie, Mica and Ahmet Ertegun, Chessy Rayner, Aileen Mehle, Estee Lauder, Invoice Blass and different well-heeled New Yorkers. All through the many years, the designer’s identify was all the time accompanied together with her husband’s in WWD studies of their social outings. Earlier than flying to Caracas in 1978 to be with their youngsters for the vacations, the couple hosted some 80 associates together with Truman Capote at a luncheon at Doubles.

“It’s vital to have love in a single’s life, as a result of it makes us extra human and by the way, extra lovely,” the designer mentioned on one other event.

Though he by no means labored in Herrera’s New York-based firm, the designer instructed WWD early on in her vogue profession that he was “the godfather” of all of her collections. A method setter in his personal proper for many years Herrera was one of many choose determination makers for the Worldwide Greatest Dressed Listing, which within the pre-internet period served because the gold customary.  In 2003, following the demise of the checklist’s creator, the style publicist Eleanor Lambert, the checklist was bequeathed to Herrera, Amy Advantageous Collins, Carter, and Aimee Bell – all of whom are actually Vainness Honest alumni. When the IBDL initially went all digital by way of Carter’s AirMail subscribers in 2022, Herrera was nonetheless serving to to name the pictures. He instructed WWD in 2019, “Style is innate. You don’t study style. You study to take a look at issues.”

An inveterate and easy dresser, Herrera really helped to set the bar on his personal too. In what may appear defiantly declasse in 1982, however was really ahead considering, Herrera turned up at his spouse’s vogue present on the New York Public Library in October of 1982 “making his personal surprising countercultural vogue assertion in blue denims and a navy blazer.” He had such elan that he may pull off strolling jauntily together with his fingers within the pockets of a tuxedo jacket.

Collins mentioned Tuesday that Herrera was “the most effective of colleagues with sources galore for any story” that she is perhaps engaged on, and he got here up with excellent story concepts for the journal.

“He had a watch for fashion that we depended upon, when choosing honorees for the Worldwide Greatest-Dressed Listing. I imagine Eleanor selected him as an inheritor to the IBDL, as a result of he embodied exactly the form of clever male magnificence that she admired,” Collins mentioned. “He even ate considered one of his favourite snacks, Fritos, elegantly.”

The legendary photographer Robert Mapplethorpe appreciated his excessive fashion, too, capturing Herrera in a black and white portrait, sporting a pinstripe swimsuit with a black cape over one shoulder in New York in 1977. The 12 months earlier than, Mapplethorpe photographed Herrera laughing with Princess Margaret seated in seashore chairs with an opened bottle of Beefeater gin in entrance of them. He appeared like he lived – having fun with life. Together with his unmistakable fashion, Herrera appeared as himself within the 2017 movie “Agnelli” and within the 2011 documentary “Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Journey.”

The short-witted Herrera all the time appeared to have a twinkle in his eye and a joke on the prepared – or a bit of data he would willingly cross on. Dinner on the Herreras was an evening stuffed with freewheeling dialog about books, motion pictures, journey, artwork, politics and extra – however nonetheless severe which may sound, the discuss was all the time punctuated with roars of laughter. Nothing was ever taken too significantly.

Herrera as soon as demonstrated his guile at Willy Bogner’s “Crystal Desires” extravaganza at The Pierre Lodge in 1982. Mingling amidst the Stunning Folks and looking for a cellphone to name his spouse, after being instructed the bistro didn’t have one, Herrera was given one skinny dime from the money register. “That’s one solution to get a handout,” he quipped to WWD.

Like his spouse, Herrera turned an American citizen later in life. In 2017, he spoke out publicly criticizing the political unrest in Venezuela, after a nephew, Reinaldo Herrera, was kidnapped and killed, and one other nephew Robrto Picon Herrera, a pro-democracy activist, was held in a navy jail.

Predeceased by his sister Carolina and a brother Gonzalo, Herrera is survived by his brother Luis Felipe, his spouse Carolina, and their aforementioned 4 daughters.

A personal funeral mass is deliberate for Friday morning at St. Vincent Ferrer in New York Metropolis. In line with his needs, Herrera might be interred at a later date in Caracas, Venezuela, the place he was born.

Editor’s Word: This text is in improvement.