“I don't ever want to be trendy,” Carolina Herrera once told Vogue. She needn’t worry: Since launching her first collection in 1981 at the behest of legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, the Venezuelan-born designer has achieved fashion icon status and won several CFDA honors (including the 2008 Lifetime Achievement award) for her timeless, sophisticated clothing, handbags, accessories, and bridal gowns. Herrera's standout eveningwear — bold, lavish dresses and sweeping ball gown skirts paired with crisp white cotton shirts — counts Penelope Cruz, Amy Adams, Renée Zellweger, and other A-listers among its fans. In the 2000s Herrera founded CH Carolina Herrera, a lifestyle brand featuring stylish ready-to-wear essentials, shoes, bags, and sunglasses for women, men, and children; 212, her collection of distinctive scents, has received several fragrance industry honors for its refined elegance.