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A CLASSIC LINE

Spotlight

The painter John Singer Sargent would have been intrigued by this trio. A mother, two daughters—three 2 lst-century swans. "We are a very close family," says Caracas-born designer Carolina Herrera, who this fall celebrates her 22nd year in fashion. With a new fragrance— aptly named Carolina—just launched and CH boutiques throughout Spain, with others about to open in Paris and London, Herrera is being called a tycoon. The idea seems to amuse her. "A tycoon? I wish I could!" she replies with a hearty laugh. She attributes a great part of her current success to the injection of energy and style from her two daughters. Carolina Jr., 34, who lives in Spain, supervises the fragrances, and has just made a film, Maletilla, following the lives of young bullfighters. Recently married, Patricia Lansing, 29, has joined her mother's New York design team (after working as a fashion editor at V.F.). "They have very modern minds," says their mother. "I always used to say, 'Come and see what I'm doing.' I needed that fresh young eye."

Herrera herself remains that rare creaturecalm, well bred, famously discreet, in a business known for hysteria and hype.

"I don't believe too much in trends," she says firmly. "Trends ruin fashion. Fashion is for the eye—not for the intellect."

FRANCESCA STANFILL