How much is Vera Wang worth?
| Net Worth: | $650 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Fashion Designer |
| Date of Birth: | June 27, 1949 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.61 m |
Vera Wang, a former figure skater turned fashion designer who bills herself as a “arbiter of taste” has made a name for herself as the most well-known designer of bridal attire. She currently has Ivanka Trump, Kim Kardashian, and Victoria Beckham among her premium clientele. Michelle Obama was recently photographed wearing one of Wang’s high-end dinner gowns.
About Vera Wang
Vera Wang, an American with Chinese ancestry, was brought up to the greatest standards of academic and athletic discipline. Wang attended the prestigious Chapin School before attending the Sorbonne in Paris, one of the oldest colleges in the world, thanks to the generosity of her wealthy family.
Vera, a Chinese immigrant’s daughter, was born on June 27, 1949, in New York City. Her early years were spent in the opulent Upper East Side of Manhattan. Her father controlled a pharmaceutical company that supported their opulent lifestyle, while her mother, a warlord’s daughter from China, worked as a translator for the UN.
Vera’s mother, a woman of impeccable taste, played a significant role in educating her about fashion, and the two of them enjoyed spending time together during Paris fashion weeks. “My fashion sense… came early in life.” says Wang.
Before enrolling at Sarah Lawrence College to study art history, Vera had the honor of attending New York’s prestigious Chapin School and the School of American Ballet. Wang spent a year at the Sorbonne in Paris while a student at Sarah Lawrence.
When Vera was six years old, she began ice skating. James Stuart and Wang were trained in pairs skating as Wang started high school. In 1968, Vera participated in the US Figure Skating Championships as a professional.
Vera Wang was a subject of a Faces in the Crowd editorial in Sports Illustrated’s January 9th, 1968 issue. She participated in the US Olympic Team tryouts but was not selected for the team. Vera says, “I looked to fashion to replace it.”
When Vera was taken on at Vogue as Polly Mellen’s assistant in 1972, she was already employed by the fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. Longtime Vogue editor Diana Vreeland had left during this time, and Grace Mirabella was settling in as editor in chief.
Wang stated that Vogue was transitioning from being a magazine that was all about fantasy—green wigs and green-dyed nails, as if anyone went around like that—to one that was all about reality. We were reacting to the demands of working women as well as the growing women’s liberation movement.
During her early years at Vogue, Vera worked frequently seven days a week, pushing herself to the absolute limit. Her efforts paid off, as Wang, who was named fashion editor at age 23, became Vogue’s youngest editor. Vera’s duties as fashion editor included overseeing all of Vogue’s editorial fashion spreads, which are its beating heart.
Vera had little time for romance in the 1970s as she rose through the editorial ranks at Vogue, but she loved the party life that came with the job. She quickly started frequenting Studio 54.
After serving as Senior Fashion Editor at Vogue for sixteen years, Vera ultimately left the publication after Anna Wintour was chosen for the open editor-in-chief job.
Vera obtained a position as an accessories designer at Ralph Lauren after leaving Vogue in order to concentrate on her design career. Vera left the clothing company after nine years as a designer at Ralph Lauren and a passionate relationship with her future husband Arthur Becker in order to concentrate on her nuptials.
Vera ultimately gave up after three months of looking through every department store and wedding shop in New York City because every dress she discovered was made for a young bride. In an epiphanic moment, Wang believed she could fill a gap in the bridal market. Along those lines, Vera spent $10,000 hiring a dressmaker to build her own outfit.
It simply hadn’t changed, Vera told Vogue. “There was no concept of tailoring, nor were the necklines current. A bridal dress and fashion have nothing in common. Additionally, there was no good taste. I came to the realization that I could change and reframe the bridal business as a whole.”
With her father’s financial assistance, Vera started her own clothing brand in 1990. Her initial store was located at the posh Carlyle Hotel on Madison Avenue in New York City. It was then that Vera would use ‘illusion netting,’ a type of fabric that created the appearance of exposed skin, as her hallmark design feature in her gowns.
Vera attributes her success to just helping the bride, rather than just giving her a gorgeous gown. Wang wished to assist the women who were “that are running around looking for special dresses, looking to have everything taken care of because they have busy lives.” From the very beginning, every Vera Wang employee helped the bride with every detail of the wedding, including the bridesmaids’ dresses, jewels, shoes, and haircuts. The first one-stop shop for the modern bride was developed by Wang.
Since Wang had experience working with celebrities during her time at Vogue, it came as no surprise when Mariah Carey chose to wear a wedding dress designed by Vera Wang with a 27-foot train. Karenna Gore, the daughter of former US Vice President Al Gore, wore a Vera Wang wedding gown.
Hollywood is smitten with Vera Wang, as “Sex and the City” amply demonstrates when the show’s protagonist Charlotte York chooses Wang’s gown as the ideal one to wear to her wedding to Trey MacDougal. In the movie “Sex and the City” Carrie Bradshaw dons a Vera Wang for her picture shoot with Vogue.
With the addition of Uma Thurman, Jennifer Lopez, and Chelsea Clinton to Vera’s famous clientele, Wang has advanced her dressmaking abilities by producing couture gowns for society women.. “The couture line evolved because I wanted to get into design and felt this would give me the opportunity to study the technique of dressmaking-even if you’re going to do a slip dress afterward,” she said in Vogue. “Fashion to me has become very disposable; I wanted to get back to craft, to clothes that could last.”
The Vera Wang brand has now moved into retail businesses, offering items that modern women require, like bedding, china, silver, and perfume.
Vera Wang and national retail giant Kohl’s teamed up in July 2012 to introduce their new Princess range, which was created for the fashionable, contemporary young woman. Simply Vera, a sportswear and accessory brand she created with Kohl’s in 2007 that was the largest relationship in the history of the retailer, was followed by the success of this new line.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Vera Wang earns $500 million annually from the Kohl’s partnership, and the Vera Wang Group’s overall sales are anticipated to exceed $1 billion.
Vera has joined together with Men’s Wearhouse to begin developing tuxedos in addition to her women’s clothing lines. The tuxedos have a classic “Mad Men” appearance and are made of high-quality wool. They have a fashionable fitting shape with two button jackets, side vents, and flat-front slacks in black or gray.
With the help of her most recent partnership and her contract with David’s Bridal, where she is creating wedding gowns for brides at prices between $600-$1,400, Vera Wang has successfully cornered the US market for all things fashion-related to weddings.
“Just because you’re from a city ten miles outside of St. Paul,” she told The Wall Street Journal, “it doesn’t mean you don’t read magazines, or the incredible Internet, and what’s going on in the world. I never, ever take a client, or women, for granted.”
She maintains exceptional fitness, and everyone wants to know her secret, including celebs, instagram models, and regular moms. Vera Wang, who is in her 70s, still possesses the body of a person half her age.
She was ranked number 34 on Forbes’ list of the richest self-made women in America in 2018, with earnings of $630 million. Vera Wang returned to the New York Fashion Week runway in 2019 for her Spring/Summer 2020 fashion show, which commemorated the 30th anniversary of her brand, following a two-year hiatus during which she had solely shown her collections through films.
