Education and Training

Brief biography from childhoog until now

Vera Wang is a Chinese-American, with Shanghai parents.

She graduated with a degree in art history from Sarah Lawrence College.

She started figure skating since 8 years old, and join competitions.

in 1968 she was featured in "Sports Illustrated" magazine, but she was not good enough for Olympics.

Vera then stopped competing in figure skating and turned to fashion.

Vera started as a senior fashion editor for Vogue in 1970, and then worked as a design director at Ralph Lauren. She also made many wedding gown designs for people, as well as evening wear.

In 1989 she got married to Arthur Beckett, CEO of a IT company, and later they adopted 2 daughters.

In 1990, she opened her first shop that sold her bridal gowns, and later opened more bridal boutiques globally. She also started selling perfume, jewelry, spectacles and sunglasses, shoes and other things. .

In 2012 she divorced her husband.

Vera Wang attended the Chapin School in Manhattan, New York City.

It was an all girls school that taught up to grade 12, and she graduated in 1967.

She then went to the University of Paris, a private liberal arts college, and achieved a degree in art history from Sarah Lawrence College at Bronxville, New York.

While she was in college, Vera had a 1-year exchange programme to Sorbonne College in France, learning French fashion and culture.

After graduating, she worked in Vouge as an assistant, working very hard and performing very well, quickly getting promoted. She became the youngest senior fashion editor in Vouge in the 1970s. She stayed in Vogue for 15 years, gaining important contacts and network within the fashion industry.

She then worked in Ralph Lauren as a designer, learning hoe to make clothes, starting a completely new job, because she had a passion for designing clothes.

The first wedding dress she designed was made for herself, when she wanted a simple, elegant, and sexy wedding dress but could not find it anywhere. She did not change her ideas and custom-made a wedding dress for $10,000. This gave her inspiration to start her own wedding boutique, and she opened one in 1990.

With her network of celebrity friends and figure skating friends, she soon built a name for herself and made it big.

Vera Wang specialised in wedding dresses, creating elegant wedding dresses for more mature women, as well as classic and sexy designs that was both modern and sophisticated.

She influenced fashion by making special, custom-made dresses popular, such as evening wear and even Olympics figure skating costumes. Many celebrities also wanted her to design for their red-carpet events.

Her start in the Fashion Industry

What was her major influence on Fashion?

Personal Information

Name of Designer: Vera Ellen Wang

Where is she from: New York City, New York. United States of America

Date of birth: 27 June 1949

Job: Fashion Designer (Wedding dresses)

Vera Wang

by Viki

Designed costumes for Olympic figure skaters
Designed costumes for Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleaders
Released a book “Vera Wang on Weddings” in 2001
Won the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Womenswear Designer of the Year award in 2005
Won the André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2006
Joined the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2009
Won the Leadership in the Arts Award by the Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association in 2010
Won the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013