Legendary Venezuelan-born designer Carolina Herrera became an American citizen on Friday, WWD reports. Immediately following her naturalization oath ceremony, the designer, who has lived in the U.S. for 28 years, said, “I have been here for many years, and I love this country very much. I love New York and everything about America. It was very emotional for me.”

The ceremony, held at the U.S. District Court Southern District, didn’t go down quite like Herrera imagined it would, however. “I thought there would be people there waving little American flags and at the end everyone would sing ‘America the Beautiful,’ but it was very businesslike,” she said.

Herrera has been studying for her naturalization exam for the past month, quizzing clueless staffers as she also prepared for NY fashion week. “I was constantly testing people in my office. I told them, ‘With this test, you would never become a citizen,’” she said. “Now I know more than they do.”