Neighbor:

Vera Wang - Designer

By Emily J Weitz

Vera Wang never wanted the wedding dress to be the item that catapulted her into superstardom, but the fates were relentless. Even though designing wedding gowns is only a small part of what Vera does today, it was when she found a niche in the enormous wedding dress market that her name became known in every household. She remains the designer that brides around the world turn to for their big day. In fact, if you happen to be in Bergdorf Goodman on a day when Vera is making an appearance, you may be flooded with hundreds of brides-to-be begging for Vera's insight on how to orchestrate the perfect wedding. To these gushing girls, Vera offers little advice. She thought she herself would never marry, and finds the wedding dress business to be quite separate from the fashion world. So how did this designer gain unparalleled fame in an arena where she wasn't even looking for it? This is how it all began.

Vera is a native Upper East Sider and a Hamptons regular. Born the daughter of a wealthy Chinese businessman, she has been familiar with Madison Avenue since she was a little girl. She went to Chapin, and in her downtime she was a blossoming figure skater. In fact, Vera showed great promise in the world of figure skating. She competed in the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but when she didn't make the U.S. Olympic team, she decided to turn to her other great love -- fashion.

Vera headed off to Sarah Lawrence for college, where she majored in Art History. When she graduated, she was ready to go straight to design school. She knew it was her calling, but her father refused to finance it. He said it was impractical and that she should get a degree in business or law. But Vera was determined to make it in the design world and so she set about it on her own. From her college summers spent working at the Yves-Saint Laurent boutique on Madison Avenue, Vera had made some connections in the fashion industry. One of these connections, Frances Stein, the then fashion director of Vogue, suggested that Vera come in for an interview. She landed the job, becoming the youngest fashion editor in the magazine's history at the age of 23. Vera ended up spending sixteen years moving up through the ranks. When she realized that her career there might plateau, Vera accepted an offer from designer Geoffrey Beene. She had always admired the intimacy he has with his work and respected him as an artist. However, before she even began, Ralph Lauren swept her up with an offer that far exceeded what Beene was willing to pay. She took it and was able to design for Lauren's reputable line. At Ralph Lauren, she was working mostly with accessories, but also had some projects in lingerie and sportswear, at a time when the exercise movement was just being born.

While at Ralph Lauren, Vera married Arthur Becker, a computer executive. For the first time, she was thinking about starting a family and letting her career take a backseat to her personal life.

Ironically, it was at this point that her father finally decided it was time for her to start her own business. After decades of hassling him to support this endeavor, Vera finally had an investor to finance her own design career. There was one minor stipulation, though. Her father, businessman that he was, had found the hole in the market that he wanted his daughter to fill -- featuring the amazing wedding gowns she would soon be famous for.

But Vera Wang, who today is the most formidable name to ever grace a white dress, was very reluctant to do this at first. "I mean, that I should end up in bridal," she once said, "I might as well have been doing scuba equipment."

But her father was right. Where the majority of wedding dresses up until this point had been princess gowns and frilly affairs, Vera used her natural sophistication to design the perfectly elegant dress. She rationalized it to herself that she was not a bridal designer, but a fashion designer who just happened to work in shades of white. She opened her first salon in the Carlyle Hotel in New York in 1990. And her line was an immediate hit. Her revolutionary outlook on bridal wear attracted such celebrities as Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez and Sharon Stone.

Once she had established enough business to return to what she really loved, Vera was able to start designing other lines. She returned to her figure skating roots by designing beautiful costumes for Olympic skaters like Nancy Kerrigan. To this day, she designs for her friend, Michelle Kwan. Vera then branched out into eveningwear, sportswear, and now fragrances, flatware and china. Hers has become a brand name associated with elegant sophistication, and it all stemmed from something she never thought she would do.

In her personal life, Vera and her husband Arthur Becker adopted two little girls. Now, the girls are teenagers and Vera finds inspiration in the modern way that they dress. She loves collaborating with them on outfits and also likes to advise them on the benefits of modern, unpredictable looks.

Vera has never abandoned her Upper East Side roots, in her elegant designs or her postal address. She does venture from her Park Avenue apartment to pass the time at her family's Southampton residence on Gin Lane and has been involved in a variety of local charity events supporting the East End, like last year's Southampton Hospital Summer Party.

Perhaps the reason Vera has been able to climb to the top of the fashion world is that she remains grounded in what consumers are really looking for. She's never strayed from her love of the hunt. Unlike many fashionistas who have their wardrobes delivered to their doors, Vera still loves the experience of shopping. She explained to New York Magazine earlier this year that, "as a designer, as a consumer, and as a woman who adores clothes -- I try to wear all these hats at once. Everything has to scream 'special.' If you're selling a product that's expensive, by God, it had better look it."

When you slip into one of her designs, you feel like the picture of elegance.