She is the daughter of renowned designer Carolina Herrera, the brains behind the brand’s 212 fragrance, and a well-traveled woman of the world. Stylishly svelte and refreshingly humble, Carolina Herrera Baez readily describes herself in eclectic terms. “I have a bit of South America in me, and of course, New York, and Madrid is my home.”

Incidentally, Baez finds herself here in Dallas for the CH runway show at Fashion at the Park, and a lovely conversation reveals that there is no shortage of words for this woman. Rightly so! With the opening of the CH store in NorthPark Center and the very recent, and very grand, unveiling of the new Carolina Herrera boutique in Highland Park Village, there is quite a bountiful buzz surrounding this celebrated brand.

Properly, Baez is quick to differentiate between her mother’s signature line and the CH brand. Referencing the versatility of CH, Baez states, “I think we have more, because it’s more available. It’s in more places, and the price point is different. There’s more variety than the prêt-a-porter line. What goes down the runway is in small variations, but in this line, you have more variety. I think of it as lifestyle clothing.” Baez clearly has a very specific idea of the CH customer. “She is the Carolina Herrera customer and more, maybe those women who love a Carolina Herrera dress but can’t spend $5000 on a dress. The CH customer is not afraid to mix, she likes trends, but she’s not a trend freak.”

So, just who, exactly, are the women who will readily fawn over her mother’s designs? “The Carolina Herrera customer is a woman who knows what she likes. She is not really a ‘fashion trend’ person, and she won’t be exactly copying looks out of VOGUE. She’s really sure of herself, she’s feminine and sensual, but not in an old fashioned way.” As to others’ perception of her as the inspiration behind her mother’s brand, Baez refutes this idea. “People always think that, but I have three sisters, and she’s always had four girls telling her what we like and what we don’t like.” Specifically in regard to CH, she maintains, “There’s no way I can be an inspiration for the shop; there’s too much here, and it’s too varied.” “Here, we tried to do a place that felt like home; that felt like maybe two generations could come together and that she could find something and that I could find something.” Modestly, she states, “I don’t feel like I’ve been an inspiration for so many things. For a collection, you can have inspiration; it’s one theme throughout. For something like a lifestyle label, it’s more difficult.”

According to Baez, the inspiration behind the CH Spring/Summer collection was not drawn specifically from one defined source. On this point, she elaborates enthusiastically. “I think there’s lots…there’s the nautical,” Baez points out, “and the black, which is more for nighttime.” She also mentions a beautiful silk ruffled dress done in black, and also in fuschia, for a sophisticated evening look. A stellar piece, for her, is a blue and white sundress, because, as she says, “I love light colors for the summer, and not flimsy sundresses, but great A-line dresses. Also, there are really beautiful pinstripe blazers, which I think is so summer.”

The options are endless when it comes to building a summer wardrobe with these pieces, and the classic aesthetic and the versatility of this collection render it utterly timeless. “All of the clothes are feminine, they’re beautiful, and they fit well. I love the fact that you can mix, that’s the beauty of it. I’m a huge advocate of that. It’s too easy to dress head to toe, go into one store, and to say ‘I want that look’. That’s not style, that’s looking in a magazine and going and copying it.”

In reference to her own personal definition, Baez states, “Style is not being scared to buy two dollar shirts with no label on them and mixing them with a CH skirt. Buy your clothes, and then you make them you. You wear them, they don’t wear you.” And, she adds emphatically, “I hate trends. I never buy into trends because I’d feel like everybody else walking down the street.”

Would such a stylishly self-assured woman as Baez ever look to go into the design studio herself? Carefully, Baez offers, “I don’t want to say never, and I don’t want to say yes. Right now, I live in Madrid, my mother is in New York, and I love what I do. I love working with the perfume. Right now, everything’s perfect as it is.”

In terms of Baez’s beginnings in the fragrance side of the business, it was not the orchestrated occurrence one might expect. “It was just a coincidence; I was free.” With her other sisters scattered about North and South America, it seemed only logical that Baez should engage in the new project. “I was working in New York, and my mother asked me to give her some ideas of what it could be, and that’s how the collaboration started. I guess my idea had to do with my life, which, at the time, was New York. It sort of developed into this idea of Manhattan; 212, New York energy, two generations together.”

Even while the past evolved organically and the future exists as a question mark, there’s clearly no mistake where priorities lie for Baez. “My family’s always number one. That comes first.” Thoughtfully, she adds, “I think I inherited that from my mother. As long as my family’s okay and I can work, I love working.”