Who

The fashion stalwart may be best known for her wedding dresses, but she's branched out into fragrances, eyewear, shoes, home furnishings, and more.

Backstory

Vera grew up in a family of immense wealth: Her Chinese-born father, Cheng-Ching ("C.C.") Wang built a fortune in the pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and packaged goods industries as the co-founder of U.S. Summit, a company that Vera's brother oversees to this day; her mother, Florence, was the daughter of a Chinese warlord and a former translator at the United Nations, who took Vera with her on many a shopping trip. Vera attended Chapin, was a competitive figure skater (she narrowly missed a shot at the making the Olympic pairs team in 1968), and went to college at Sarah Lawrence, studying at the Sorbonne in Paris her junior year. When her dad wouldn't pay for grad school in design, she took a job as a sittings assistant at Vogue instead, working at the magazine for 17 years and ending up European editor.

After coming to the conclusion that she'd probably never be Vogue's editor-in-chief, Wang left the mag in the mid-'80s to take a job designing accessories and at-home wear for Ralph Lauren. A couple of years later, she convinced her father—who had long turned down her requests for capital—to finance a line of her own. He had one proviso: It had to be bridal wear. She reluctantly agreed, and it turned out to be a fortuitous decision. Bridal wear lacked a high-end brand name at the time and Wang redefined the industry during the '90s, replacing the once de rigueur frilly, poufy-sleeved dresses with sophisticated, intricate gowns. A decade later, with help from her (now deceased) right-hand Chet Hazzard and licensing chief Laura Lee Miller, the Vera Wang brand has expanded to countless other markets.

Of note

Wang's early buzz as a designer was a result of her pricey, custom bridal dresses, and she remains the brand of choice for many of the fussiest brides. Jessica Simpson, Mariah Carey, Karenna Gore, Sharon Stone, Melania Trump, and Jennifer Lopez (on two occasions) have all worn her down the aisle.

By 2000, she'd moved into the fragrance business with a scent for women to wear on their wedding day. She soon moved into dishes, flatware, stationery, and lingerie. Wang didn't expand into the financially riskier ready-to-wear category until 2002, but by all accounts it's much closer to her heart these days than bridal wear, which she seems to have grown bored with. However, it's the bridal and accessories categories, which gross more than $200 million a year, that keep her beloved fashion line full of asymmetrical, avant-garde duds afloat. The line has hardly generated praise from critics: in February 2007 Cathy Horyn excoriated Wang, concluding that she "lacks imagination" and "spends too much time looking at other designers' work, and with envy." (The negative review led to (false) rumors that Horyn might be forever banned from her shows; the critic was a bit more complimentary following Wang's Spring 2008 show.)

But while she isn't earning raves for the ready-to-wear, her brand extension continues to roll on. She recently stamped her name on a line of supremely unglamorous Serta mattresses and created a lower-priced SimplyVera line for Kohl's, which turned into one of the retailer's most successful new launches. Wang also designed the honeymoon suite at the Hawaiian resort, Halekulani, and says she's now pursuing other such hotel projects.

In print

Wang's first book, Vera Wang on Weddings, was published by HarperCollins in 2001.

Personal

After decades of being, as she describes it, a "fashion nun," Wang tied the knot just a few months shy of her 40th birthday. Her husband is Arthur Becker, a former Bear Stearns broker-turned-computer executive. After unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant, the couple adopted two Eurasian kids in the early '90s, Cecilia and Josephine.

Habitat

In July 2007, the family purchased the 740 Park duplex where Vera's parents once lived. They sold their previous apartment, a six-bedroom spread at 778 Park, for $33 million in October 2007 to Yonina Rennert, the daughter of Ira Rennert. (Deborah Grubman brokered the deal.) Wang's new neighbors at 740 Park include Israel Englander, Dave Ganek, Steve Schwarzman, John Thain, Kent Swig, Alex Kuczynski, and David Koch.

No joke

Her brother, Kenneth Wang, once dated Anna Wintour.