Vera Wang
Encyclopedia
Vera Ellen Wang is a Chinese American
fashion designer based in New York City
and former figure skater. She is known for her wide clientele of couture bridesmaid gowns and wedding gown collections.
descent. Her parents were born in Shanghai, China, and came to the United States in the mid-1940s. Her mother worked as a translator for the United Nations
, while her father owned a medicine
company. She has one younger brother, Kenneth. After graduating from The Chapin School
in 1967, she attended the University of Paris
and earned a degree in art history
from Sarah Lawrence College
.
While in high school, Wang trained as a figure skater
with pairs partner James Stuart, and competed at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She was featured in Sports Illustrateds Faces in the Crowd
in the January 9, 1968 issue. When she failed to make the US Olympics
team, she entered the fashion industry.
She married Arthur Becker in 1989. They reside in Manhattan with their two daughters: Cecilia (born 1990), who currently attends the University of Pennsylvania
, and Josephine (born 1993), who currently attends The Chapin School. Becker is the CEO of an information technology services company called NaviSite
.
for sixteen years. In 1985, she left Vogue after being turned down for the editor-in-chief position currently filled by Anna Wintour
and joined Ralph Lauren
as a design director for two years. In 1990, she opened her own design salon in the Carlyle Hotel
in New York
that features her trademark bridal gowns.
Wang has made wedding gowns for many well-known public figures, such as Chelsea Clinton
, Karenna Gore, Ivanka Trump
and news reporter Campbell Brown
. She has made wedding gowns for celebrities ranging from artists such as Alicia Keys
, Mariah Carey
, Victoria Beckham
, Avril Lavigne
, Jennifer Lopez
to actresses such as Jennifer Garner
, Sharon Stone
, Sarah Michelle Gellar
, Hilary Duff
, Uma Thurman
, Holly Hunter
, Kate Hudson
, along with various other celebrities. Kim Kardashian
wore a total of three Vera Wang gowns for her wedding to NBA player Kris Humphries.
She has designed costumes for figure skaters, including Nancy Kerrigan
, Michelle Kwan
and Evan Lysacek
. Silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan wore a unique design of Vera's for the 1994 Olympics. She designed the two-piece uniforms currently worn by the Philadelphia Eagles
cheerleaders.
Wang's works have often been referenced in popular culture. 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. In the film Sex and the City, Vera Wang was featured amongst the bridal gowns Carrie Bradshaw
wore in her Vogue photo shoot. In the film Bride Wars
, Anne Hathaway
and Kate Hudson
both wore custom-made Vera Wang gowns. Vera Wang's design was referenced in the NBC
television show The West Wing in the episode "The Black Vera Wang
".
Wang has expanded her brand name through her fragrance, jewelry, eyewear, shoe and houseware collections. 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
.
In 2002, Vera 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
.
Wang was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009, and was honored for her contribution to the sport as a costume designer.
Twenty years after opening her first bridal boutique, Wang was awarded the Leadership in the Arts Award by the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association. She accepted the award on April 17, 2010 at Identities, the Harvard association's annual charity fashion show.
(2004) as herself The September Issue
(2009) as herself
, October 2001 (ISBN 9780688162566).
Chinese American
Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...
fashion designer based in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and former figure skater. She is known for her wide clientele of couture bridesmaid gowns and wedding gown collections.
Personal life
Vera Ellen Wang was born and raised in New York City and is of ChineseHan Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
descent. Her parents were born in Shanghai, China, and came to the United States in the mid-1940s. Her mother worked as a translator for the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, while her father owned a medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
company. She has one younger brother, Kenneth. After graduating from The Chapin School
The Chapin School (Manhattan)
The Chapin School is an American all-girls, private day school located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.-History:Founded by Maria Bowen Chapin, the Chapin School originally opened in 1901, at 12 West 47th Street as "Miss Chapin's School for Girls and Kindergarten for Boys and...
in 1967, she attended the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
and earned a degree in art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
from Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a private liberal arts college in the United States, and a leader in progressive education since its founding in 1926. Located just 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan in southern Westchester County, New York, in the city of Yonkers, this coeducational college offers...
.
While in high school, Wang trained as a figure skater
Figure skating
Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...
with pairs partner James Stuart, and competed at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. She was featured in Sports Illustrateds Faces in the Crowd
Faces in the Crowd
Faces in the Crowd is a long-running segment from Sports Illustrated. Starting in the January 9, 1956 issue, the segment was originally titled These Faces in the Crowd. The predecessor to These Faces... was a segment called Pat on the Back. It differed in that it did not just focus on unknown or...
in the January 9, 1968 issue. When she failed to make the US Olympics
United States at the Olympics
The United States of America has sent athletes to every celebration of the modern Olympic Games, except the 1980 Summer Olympics, which it boycotted.The United States Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee for the United States....
team, she entered the fashion industry.
She married Arthur Becker in 1989. They reside in Manhattan with their two daughters: Cecilia (born 1990), who currently attends the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, and Josephine (born 1993), who currently attends The Chapin School. Becker is the CEO of an information technology services company called NaviSite
NaviSite
NaviSite, a Time Warner Cable Company, is a provider of complex hosting, application management and managed cloud services for enterprises, founded in 1997. NaviSite provides a suite of managed services, including Application Services, Enterprise Hosting, and Managed Cloud Services for enterprises...
.
Career
Wang was a senior fashion editor for VogueVogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
for sixteen years. In 1985, she left Vogue after being turned down for the editor-in-chief position currently filled by Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour
Anna Wintour, OBE is the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue, a position she has held since 1988. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and sunglasses, Wintour has become an institution throughout the fashion world, widely praised for her eye for fashion trends and her support for...
and joined Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
as a design director for two years. In 1990, she opened her own design salon in the Carlyle Hotel
Carlyle Hotel
The Carlyle Hotel, known formally as The Carlyle, is a combination luxury and residential hotel located at 35 East 76th Street on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue, in the Upper East Side area of New York City...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
that features her trademark bridal gowns.
Wang has made wedding gowns for many well-known public figures, such as Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Victoria Clinton is a television journalist, currently serving as Special Correspondent for NBC News, and philanthropist, working through the Clinton Global Initiative. She is the only child of former U.S...
, Karenna Gore, Ivanka Trump
Ivanka Trump
Ivanka Marie Trump is an American businesswoman, socialite, heiress, and fashion model. The daughter of Ivana and Donald Trump, she is Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions at The Trump Organization...
and news reporter Campbell Brown
Campbell Brown
Campbell Brown is an American television news reporter and anchor. She previously hosted an eponymous primetime show on CNN and was formerly co-anchor of NBC's Weekend Today...
. She has made wedding gowns for celebrities ranging from artists such as Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
, Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
, Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model, actress, fashion designer and businesswoman. In the late 1990s, Beckham rose to fame with the all-female pop group Spice Girls and was dubbed Posh Spice by the July 1996 issue of the British pop music magazine Top of the Pops...
, Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne
Avril Ramona Lavigne is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more...
, Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...
to actresses such as Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Garner
Jennifer Anne Affleck , better known as Jennifer Garner, is an American actress and film producer. Garner gained recognition on television for her performance as CIA agent Sydney Bristow in the thriller drama series Alias, which aired on ABC for five seasons from 2001 to 2006...
, Sharon Stone
Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct...
, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
, Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...
, Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
, Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter
Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...
, Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...
, along with various other celebrities. Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian
Kimberly Noel "Kim" Kardashian is an American socialite, television personality, model, actress and businesswoman. She is known for the E! reality series that she shares with her family—Keeping Up with the Kardashians, and its spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York...
wore a total of three Vera Wang gowns for her wedding to NBA player Kris Humphries.
She has designed costumes for figure skaters, including Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Ann Kerrigan is a two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist and 1993 U.S. champion.-Early life and skating career:...
, Michelle Kwan
Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wingshan Kwan is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Olympic medalist, a five-time World champion and a nine-time U.S...
and Evan Lysacek
Evan Lysacek
Evan Frank Lysacek is an American figure skater. He is the 2010 Olympic champion, the 2009 World champion, the 2005 & 2007 Four Continents champion, the 2007 & 2008 U.S. national champion, and the 2009/2010 Grand Prix Final champion....
. Silver medalist Nancy Kerrigan wore a unique design of Vera's for the 1994 Olympics. She designed the two-piece uniforms currently worn by the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
cheerleaders.
Wang's works have often been referenced in popular culture. In the Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
TV series, Charlotte York found Wang's wedding dress to be the perfect wedding dress, and wore it for her wedding to Trey MacDougal. In the film Sex and the City, Vera Wang was featured amongst the bridal gowns Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie Preston is the fictional narrator and lead character of the HBO sitcom/drama Sex and the City, portrayed by actress Sarah Jessica Parker. She is a semi-autobiographical character created by Candace Bushnell, who published the book Sex and the City, based on her own columns in the New York...
wore in her Vogue photo shoot. In the film Bride Wars
Bride Wars
Bride Wars is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Gary Winick and written by Greg DePaul, June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson....
, Anne Hathaway
Anne Hathaway (actress)
Anne Jacqueline Hathaway is an American actress. After several stage roles, she appeared in the 1999 television series Get Real. She played Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries...
and Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...
both wore custom-made Vera Wang gowns. Vera Wang's design was referenced in the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
television show The West Wing in the episode "The Black Vera Wang
The Black Vera Wang
"The Black Vera Wang" is episode 63 of The West Wing. The title refers to a black dress by the designer Vera Wang.-Plot:While C. J. Cregg gets used to being tailed by Secret Service Special Agent Simon Donovan , the President must deal with a terrorist threat on a military installation...
".
Wang has expanded her brand name through her fragrance, jewelry, eyewear, shoe and houseware collections. 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
André Leon Talley
André Leon Talley is the former American editor-at-large for Vogue magazine, listed as Contributing Editor in the April 2010 masthead. Talley has been a front-row regular at fashion shows in New York, Paris, London and Milan for more than 25 years...
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design
Savannah College of Art and Design
SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, is a private, accredited and degree-granting university with locations in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia, Hong Kong, and Lacoste, France.-History:...
.
In 2002, Vera 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
Diffusion line
A diffusion line is a modestly priced line of merchandise created by a high-end designer that retails at more moderate prices. These ranges are separate from a fashion house's "signature line" or principal artistic line that typically retails at much higher prices.Diffusion products may be on sale...
called Simply Vera, which are sold exclusively by Kohl's
Kohl's
Kohl's Corporation is an American department store chain headquartered in the Milwaukee suburb of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, operating , 1,089 stores in 49 states. In 1998, it entered the S&P 500 list, and is also listed in the Fortune 500...
.
Wang was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009, and was honored for her contribution to the sport as a costume designer.
Twenty years after opening her first bridal boutique, Wang was awarded the Leadership in the Arts Award by the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association. She accepted the award on April 17, 2010 at Identities, the Harvard association's annual charity fashion show.
Movies
First Daughter (2004 film)
First Daughter is a 2004 American romantic comedy released by 20th Century Fox. It stars Katie Holmes as Samantha MacKenzie, daughter of the President of the United States, who enrolls at a college and develops a relationship with another student at the college played by Marc Blucas...
(2004) as herself
The September Issue
The September Issue is a 2009 American documentary film about the behind-the-scenes drama that follows editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and her staff during the production of the September 2007 issue of American Vogue magazine. The film is directed by R.J. Cutler and produced by Eliza Hindmarch and...
(2009) as herself
Books
- Vera Wang,
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, October 2001 (ISBN 9780688162566).