Born: 27 June 1948, United States
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: 王薇薇, Wáng Wēiwēi
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
Vera Wang is synonymous with wedding dresses, but she didn’t debut her first line until age 40. When asked about this fact, she told the Harvard Business Review,
Is that old? Perhaps I would have preferred to start off at 20 or 30, but I don’t think I would have been anywhere near equipped to know what it takes to be in business. Even at 40, I wasn’t entirely sure I should be doing it. It wasn’t an era for start-ups. I’d always felt I should learn and earn, and I’d already had two incredible careers working for others—at Condé Nast and then Ralph Lauren—the best in the industry. Still, I didn’t feel very qualified or secure. I never thought I deserved to found a company. I’d been on the artistic side—pictures and styling and Vogue and responsible for the design of 18 lines of accessories at Ralph. To think I could start, and run, and sustain a business? I knew how hard it was. My father was the reason I did it. When I got engaged, at 39, I was a little beyond the age of most brides and on a quest for a dress. I looked everywhere, from department stores to Chanel couture. My father identified that as an opportunity. He didn’t work in the garment industry, but he was a businessman, and he saw that bridal came with lower risks: It had low inventory, few fabrics at that time, and, since people will always want to get married, a steady stream of customers, though they don’t usually repeat. I didn’t know anything about dress design. I didn’t feel ready. And when I left Ralph, a lot of doors that had been open to me slammed shut, whether it was a fabric manufacturer or a party I wanted to go to, because I was now so small. Harsh. But my DNA was to find something I felt passionate about, to make a difference, and to work, so that’s what I did.
At the time, she’d been working in the industry for years. Born in 1949, Wang worked at Vogue as fashion editor and Ralph Lauren as a designer before striking out on her own. Even then, she initially only sold other designers’ dresses in her boutique before adding her own to the sales floor. “I brought in all different kinds of clothes and designers. But then I put in one dress of mine to see if it would sell. And then two. And then three. And then five. And eventually it became completely me,” she later said. Over the coming decades, her dresses gained popularity, thanks in part to celebrities and television shows highlighting her work. While she may always be most recognized for her wedding dresses, Wang has expanded far beyond that, into everyday clothing, beauty products, jewelry, and homewares carried by major retailers. In her 70s at the time of writing, Wang has shown no sign of slowing down more than 30 years after she opened that first shop.