Vera Ellen Wang (Chinese: 王薇薇; pinyin: Wáng WÄ"iwei, Mandarin pronunciation: [u̯É'̌ŋ u̯éɪ̯u̯éɪ̯]; born June 27, 1949) is an American fashion designer based in New York City.
Early life and education
Vera Ellen Wang was born and raised in New York City, and is of Chinese descent. Her parents were born in China, and came to the United States in the mid-1940s. Her mother, Florence Wu (Wu Chifang), worked as a translator for the United Nations, while her father, Cheng Ching Wang (Wang Chengqing), a graduate of Yanjing University and MIT, owned a medicine company. Her maternal grandfather is Fengtian clique warlord Wu Junsheng, who was killed by the Empire of Japan in the Huanggutun incident in 1928. Wang has one younger brother, Kenneth.
Wang graduated from The Chapin School in 1967, attended the University of Paris and earned a degree in art history from Sarah Lawrence College. Wang began figure skating at the age of eight. While in high school, she trained with pairs partner James Stuart, and competed at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She was featured in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd in the January 9, 1968 issue. When she failed to make the US Olympics team, she entered the fashion industry. Wang continues to enjoy skating, saying, "Skating is multidimensional".
Career
Wang was hired to be an editor at Vogue immediately upon graduation from Sarah Lawrence, making her the youngest editor at that magazine. She stayed at Vogue for 17 years, leaving in 1987 to join Ralph Lauren, who she worked for 2 years. At 40 she resigned and became an independent bridal wear designer.
Wang has made wedding gowns for many well-known public figures, such as Chelsea Clinton, Karenna Gore, Ivanka Trump, Campbell Brown, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Victoria Beckham, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, Khloe Kardashian, and Kim Kardashian. Wang's evening wear has also been worn by Michelle Obama.
She has designed costumes for figure skaters, including Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek. Silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan wore a design of Wang's for the 1994 Olympics. She designed the uniforms worn by the Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders.
On October 23, 2001, her book, Vera Wang on Weddings, was released. In June 2005, she won the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) Womenswear Designer of the Year. On May 27, 2006, Wang was awarded the André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Wang was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009 for her contribution to the sport as a costume designer.
She has also designed a tux for William Burge. Vera was inspired by and worked closely with Elma Lunak.
Wang's evening wear has been worn by stars at many red carpet events, including Viola Davis at the 2012 Academy Awards, and Sofia Vergara at the 65th Emmy Awards.
She was honored with the Council of Fashion Designers of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013.
In 2001, Wang launched her first fragrance and published a wedding guide. Over the years her business has continued to grow. It now includes lingerie, jewelry and products for the home.
In 2006, Wang reached a deal with Kohl's, a chain of department stores, to produce a less expensive line of ready-to-wear clothing exclusively for them called Simply Vera.
Retail
In 1990, she opened her own design salon in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City that features her trademark bridal gowns. She has since opened bridal boutiques in New York, London, Tokyo and Sydney. Wang has also expanded her brand name through her fragrance, jewellery, eyewear, shoe and homeware collections.
'White by Vera Wang' launched on February 11, 2011 at David's Bridal. Prices of the bridal gowns range from $600â€"$1,400 which gives more brides a more affordable way to wear Vera's designs. In 2002, Wang began to enter the home fashion industry and launched The Vera Wang China and Crystal Collection, followed by the 2007 release of her diffusion line called Simply Vera, which are sold exclusively by Kohl's. In Spring of 2012, Wang teamed up with Men's Wearhouse to offer two tuxedo styles available in both the retail and rental areas of their inventory. In June 2012, she expanded in Australia with the opening of "Vera Wang Bride Sydney" and her first Asian flagship store 'Vera Wang Bridal Korea', helmed by President Jung Mi-ri, in upmarket neighbourhood Cheongdam-dong in Gangnam-gu, Seoul.
In an interview with a CBS reporter, Wang said, "(It's) painful, and not only that, I have no choice. So I think when you start there's a certain innocence because of that freedom, and as you evolve you begin to see the parameters of what you can and can't do. So I make decisions that are very tiny that will affect an hour of work, I make decisions that will impact the lives of the people that work for me. It's in fashion as well, micro work, a centimeter of proportion and then it's macro to see what a vision is on the red carpet."
Personal life
In 1989, she married Arthur Becker in an interfaith Baptist and Jewish ceremony. They resided in Manhattan with their two adopted daughters: Cecilia (born 1990), who currently resides in New York City, and Josephine (born 1993), who attended The Chapin School and currently attends Harvard University. Becker was the CEO of the information technology services company NaviSite until August 2010. In July 2012, Vera Wang Co. announced that the couple have separated. The separation was amicable.
Vera Wang loves sports and exercise. She spends her day dealing with all the different lines of product she handles, from poring over china patterns to small leather goods at Kohl's. She usually doesn't take phone calls during the day.
In popular culture
Several movies and television shows have mentioned Wang's works.
In the Sex and the City TV series, Charlotte York found Wang's wedding dress to be the perfect wedding dress, and wore it for her wedding to Trey MacDougal. Wang's design was mentioned in the NBC television show The West Wing in the episode "The Black Vera Wang". In ABC's Ugly Betty TV series, Vera Wang makes a cameo as herself, designing a dress for Wilhelmina Slater's wedding to Bradford Meade.
In the film Sex and the City, Vera Wang was among the bridal gowns Carrie Bradshaw wore in her Vogue photo shoot. In the film Bride Wars, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson wore custom-made Vera Wang gowns.
In the Totally Spies! episode "The Wedding Crasher", a villain named Wera Van (parody of Vera Wang), desires revenge on those who rejected her wedding dress designs.
Vera Wang also designed a wedding dress for Sarah Michelle Gellar's character Buffy Summers in the TV Series Buffy The Vampire Slayer episode "The Prom".
In the TV series, How to Get Away with Murder, the character Michaela Pratt mentioned a custom Vera Wang wedding gown when confronting her fiancé, Aiden Walker, about his sexuality.
In the political satirical comedy First Daughter, Vera Wang takes the president's daughter Samantha Mackenzie, played by "Katie Holmes", and her friend Mia, played by "Amerie", to try on wedding dresses. She is shown to have a close friendship with Mackenzie, cheek-kissing and grasping hands. She later comforts James played by "Marc Blucas" after Samantha bails on her wedding to him and buys him a limo.
In the TV Series Gossip Girl, Vera Wang is mentioned in multiple episodes and is one of Blair Waldorf's favorite designers. Blair has a wedding dress designed by Vera Wang for her wedding to Prince Louis of Monaco. Blair decides she can no longer wear it after losing her and Louis's baby in a car accident, and has another designed instead. The three bridesmaids in Blair's wedding wear Vera Wang bridesmaid dresses.
Also in Revenge, Victoria Grayson, played by Madeleine Stowe, wears a steel gray Vera Wang mermaid gown in her second wedding with Conrad Grayson (Henry Czerny). The dress was actually shown in black at Wang's Fall 2012 show.
At the 2017 Super Bowl, Lady Gaga wore Vera Wang Spring/Summer 2017.
In the second season episode of Supergirl, "Mr. & Mrs. Mxyzptlk", Mr. Mxyzptlk snaps his fingers and puts a wedding dress on Supergirl. When she protests that he "can't just put [her] in a wedding dress", he responds, "Why not? It's Vera Wang."
Similarly, in The Simpsons episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" Edna Krabappel walks out on her wedding to Seymour Skinner. Nelson Munrz refuses to egg her with a canola oil egg per Bart Simpson's request because the dress is a Vera Wang. He eggs Skinner with it instead.
Filmography
Movies
- First Daughter (2004) as herself
- The September Issue (2009) as herself
Television
- Gossip Girl (2012) as herself
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians (2011) as herself
- Chelsea Lately (2011) as herself
- The Celebrity Apprentice (2008) as herself
- Ugly Betty (2007) as herself
Books
- Vera Wang, Vera Wang on Weddings, HarperCollins, October 2001 (ISBN 9780688162566).
See also
References
External links
- Official website
- Vera Wang at the Fashion Model Directory
- Vera Wang on IMDb