Vera Wang has been designing wedding dresses since around the time she left Vogue in 1990. Since then, she has risen to the top of the industry, designing bridal gowns for Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Avril Lavigne, Jennifer Lopez, Victoria Beckham, Ivanka Trump, Jennifer Garner, Sharon Stone, Uma Thurman, Kate Hudson, and many other red carpet patrons. Her following is well deserved.
Paul Cavaco, a former colleague of Wang’s and Allure’s creative director said, “Vera loves clothes beyond loving clothes; she loves everything that has to do with clothes. This is not a make-believe love here; it’s the real thing.” And it shows in the quality of her designs and the materials that go into them. Taking ideas from czarist Russia, ancient Rome, and most often, traditional Paris couture through her rich fabrics and detailed designs, she still considers herself a true modernist and will always add a modern twist to “break the rules.”
Vera Wang Bridal Gowns
With the sizeable increase in her popularity, came a broader range of bridal gown designs she had the freedom to put out including Vera Wang bridesmaid dresses. Today, brides can find anything from traditional ball-gowns and sweet bows to atypical tulle backed dresses or gowns with dramatic mermaid trains or elaborate beading. She excels in adapting modern touches to long-standing styles, avoiding the extremes of some modern designers or the dated looks that flood the market from others. Arguably, Wang’s largest influence on the industry is her push towards sensuality and romanticism. Her wedding dresses celebrate the body and though most designs seem to lean towards the long and lean, she has designs that can bring out any bride’s figure. She has said “(she) adores the challenge of creating truly modern clothes, where a woman’s personality and sense of self are revealed. I want people to see the dress, but focus on the woman.”
With such an emphasis on design and style, one might think that a Vera Wang bridal gown would have to be very stiff and uncomfortable, something that most wedding gowns are known for anyway. Wang says, “A woman is never sexier than when she is comfortable in her clothes,” and she knows the truth in these words better than most, having competed as an ice skater throughout her youth. This is one of the key values in a Vera Wang wedding dress. Not only is the dress designed to keep the bride comfortable on her big day, Wang says that because of the years she spent skating and dancing, she “can’t design anything without thinking of how a woman’s body will look and move when she’s wearing it.”
Vera Wang
Though she is known for her wedding dress designs, Wang is an expert on all aspects leading up to and surrounding weddings. One look at her website will show you that she does not just consider herself a fashion designer. Through this and her book, Vera Wang on Weddings, released in 2001, Wang gives advice, explanations and ideas of what you can do all the way from the proposal to the honeymoon. She believes each wedding should be an individual event that brings out the personality of the cast involved. The book showcases stunning images of her gowns, taken by Paolo Roversi, as well as pictures from her own and other weddings.
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