We’ve reached the end of another week. But before we clock out for the weekend, we’re giving credit where it’s due. Vera Wang is the latest champion in our Winner of the Week series.
Does Vera Wang age? Of course she does. We all do. Anti-aging is a myth. But so is “dressing your age,” which is why we’re in love with the way the skater-turned-designer continues to wear exactly what she wants.
At 75, Wang is indisputably the queen of bridal-wear and still an active creative player in her business empire, despite having recently sold her namesake luxury brand, which touts $700 million in annual retail sales. She’s also one of America’s richest self-made women.
Like Martha Stewart and Betsey Johnson (or even Anna Wintour, who got her current job over Wang, necessitating Vera’s career shift), she remains the face of her products, her own best representative. In an industry that is constantly on the hunt for newer, younger, next, it’s beautiful to see her still seeking the spotlight, still fashioning herself with a designer’s eye, indifferent to judgment. Wang started her company at 40 years old—she’s never been on anyone else’s timeline.
Take her revealing look at the BAFTAs (ensemble by Vera Wang, jacket by Loewe). The short, jet-black hair, the way her top and her sunglasses are almost the same shape. We’re looking at her outfit and it’s almost looking back. Edgy. Stark. Cool.
And while there, she casually dined on caviar and her own brand of vodka.
The night before, she stepped out for a dinner in honor of the nominees sporting long, winter-white hair and a chain of diamonds around her neck.
Forget approachable; her style (and attitude) at a recent documentary screening screams “don’t mess with me.”
She has always been the sparkly girly ice princess and she will always be the sparkly girly ice princess and her look at the 2024 Met Gala said that’s that on that.
One elbow out and a little lean back? Ain’t broke, don’t fix. She is true to herself, pose and all.
There’s never been a reinvention. No “New Coke” of Vera Wang. The words that define her dresses—elegant, romantic, a hint of fairytale—always have, and always will. There is no heyday for the brand; a “Vera Wang” reference is never dated. Her work has evolved with the times but never deviated far from what we’ve come to expect, nor has what the Vera Wang gown represents in the popular imagination; the only thing that’s different, then, is that Wang herself is older. Maybe that’s why it’s what people tend to talk about.
“I’m confronted with a bit of a moment now where so much has been said about my aging. I just hope that it doesn’t supersede my work,” Wang told Elle a year ago. To be clear: it’s not anyone’s age that impresses us; in the case of Wang, it’s her perseverance. Her continual commitment to the styles she likes, even if they make her an outlier among her peer group.
Or, to just let the woman speak for herself: “I’m not an ageist—I remember mothers-of-the-bride saying they couldn’t possibly wear a sleeveless dress, or wear a tight dress. We’ve come so far and it’s not just about feminism, it’s really about freedom and creativity. Fashion should bring that to people’s lives,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “You should be able to express yourself the way you want to. It’s your body, your life and your world. That’s why I don’t think fashion is frivolous. It enables every single individual to express themselves—how great is that?”
Vera, it’s so great.
The post Vera Wang, 75, and Her Immortal Confidence Win the Week appeared first on Glamour.
