Carolina Herrera said she was inspired by the watercolors of Jeremiah Goodman, the interiors illustrator to the smart set, whose book, Jeremiah: A Romantic Vision, was published earlier this year. Diana Vreeland, Elsa Peretti, and Pauline de Rothschild were his clients, so you can imagine how lavish Herrera's fabrics were today. And she wasn't content to leave her floral silk failles be; she'd decorated them with artful swaths of jet beads.

She set the refreshing new mood—last season, by contrast, she'd cited Edvard Munch—with the first look: a flower-embroidered white top with billowy black cocktail shorts. Moving on, there were shirtwaist dresses and cocktail styles topped with sporty cardigans; a new perspective on the suit with those shorts again; and one solitary pair of pants, shown with a vibrant floral silk tunic.

But Herrera's heart was in her eveningwear. An overlush gown or two could've benefited from a paring back, but there were stunners aplenty. A pool blue and green polka-dot silk chiffon dress stood out for its simplicity, a corseted gazar number with a ruffle at the knee for its grandeur. But a cream crinkle chiffon top and black dévoré ball skirt with a coral belt best captured the show's lighthearted yet still soigné look.