Question:
What do you know about Vera Wang Eye Glasses?
Answer:
That eye for style was there in 1998 when Sharon Stone stunned the
Oscars audience by pairing a white cotton man's shirt with a lavender
Vera Wang skirt. As the designer says of her imaginative approach to
evening dressing: "Hollywood has one standard look: a strapless ball
gown."
When Wang decided to leave Ralph Lauren at age 40 to set up as bridal
designer, it coincided with changes in her personal life: her marriage
to Arthur Becker in 1989, and the search for an appropriate wedding
dress. At that time, she was being courted as a designer by Calvin
Klein.
"Calvin thought I was crazy, saying that when the bridal thing doesn't
work, give me a call," Wang says. And Klein was not entirely wrong. The
financial burden of founding a start-up line without deep-pocket
investment, has been no easy ride. As she told the Women's Wear Daily
CEO conference in New York last week: "My career has been every bit as
much about adversity as it has about fashion." She was referring to her
latest move from fashion designer to entrepreneur.
"If you really know the business, you know how much money it really
takes to use special Duchess satin or lace - $40 million a collection,"
says Wang. Her search for perfection even drove her to invest "four
million dollars that I didn't have" in the "Vera Wang on Weddings" book
published by HarperCollins in 2001.
Wang has built her fashion empire in the traditional American way:
through licenses. Although the company does not release sales figures,
Vera Wang Bridal House, creating wedding and evening wear, has been
bolstered by VEW, the licensing division, reportedly turning over
$300,000 annually. That includes a fragrance with Coty; eyewear, furs,
shoes, fine jewelry and table wares. This year a lingerie line and
paper products have been added to the roster.
