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Honouring fashion icon Carolina Herrera with Diana Ross

Published:Friday | December 9, 2016 | 12:00 AMDave Rodney
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Dave Rodney
The designs worn by attendees were as dazzling as they were creative. The gown worn by Linda here is inspired by the early 1970s look of the Supremes with motifs of Diana Ross.
Contributed
Fashion icon Carolina Herrera, who was honored on Tuesday for 35 years of sterling contribution to fashion, thinks that a freshly pressed white shirt/ blouse should be in everyone's closet.
Dave Rodney
The diva supreme Diana Ross, thrilled the audience with a catalogue of hits that spanned four decades.
Contributed
Diana Ross
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On Tuesday night, the top-tier of the fashion industry in New York City paused to pay tribute to design icon Carolina Herrera for her thirty-five years of first-class contribution to the industry and for establishing a globally recognised style. At a limited-seating gala event at the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center that was partly planned by Lada Gaga and Nicky Hilton, a big screen video presentation chronicled thirty-five years of the Carolina Herrera excellence. The selection of images, which included editorial photographs by prominent fashion photographers, stylists and editors which generated thunderous applause from the audience.

Glenda Bailey, editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, the old testament of the fashion industry, kicked off the raft of glowing tributes to honour Herrera. A common thread throughout the evening was the designer's distinctive style and signature elegance. "Carolina is impossible to forget, and I can't think of anyone more deserving to be honoured here tonight", Bailey proclaimed from the podium.

The celebration intensified considerably when pop diva Diana Ross took over the stage and delivered a blistering and unforgettable performance that lasted forty minutes. She mesmerised with hits like Can't Hurry Love, I'm Coming Out, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, The Boss and the Theme from "Mahogany". The screams from the audience grew louder as the performance progressed, and the final song, I Will Survive, brought the evening of fashion fused with music to a perfect close. "This is an extraordinary evening, and I don't think anybody has noticed that the diva of all divas is working with tracks and not with a band", Karol Thwaites, a Jamaican in the audience noted. The entire event was presented by American Express, and the Diana Ross performance was underwritten by the Bank of New York Mellon.

Those who wanted to could afterwards join Carolina for a US$25,000 per table dinner to benefit various programmes offered by the Lincoln Center, as well as the Julliard School, a performing arts conservatory based at the same location on Broadway.

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