Contents [hide]
1 Personal life
2 Career
3 Filmography
3.1 Movies
4 Books
5 References
6 External links
[edit]Personal life
Vera Ellen Wang was born and raised in New York City and is of Chinese 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 Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd in the January 9, 1968 issue.[2] When she failed to make the US Olympics team, she entered the fashion industry.[3]
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. Becker's niece is actress Emmy Rossum.
[edit]Career
Wang was a senior fashion editor for Vogue 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.[4]
Detail of a wedding dress designed by Vera Wang
Wang has made wedding gowns for many well-known public figures, such as Chelsea Clinton, Karenna Gore,[5] Ivanka Trump and news reporter Campbell Brown.[6] 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,[7] along with various other celebrities. Kim Kardashian wore a total of three Vera Wang gowns for her marriage.
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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[4]
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.[11][12]
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.[13]
[edit]Filmography
No comments:
Post a Comment