Vera Wang - Honorees - The Gordon Parks Foundation

Vera Wang, a native New Yorker, has created a unique aspirational world that alludes to sensuality and youthful sophistication. By age 23, Vera was the youngest ever VOGUE fashion editor and stylist where she remained for 16 years before moving to Ralph Lauren as a design director. In 1990, Vera Wang opened her first flagship store on Manhattan’s famed Madison Avenue, introducing fashion to the bridal industry with revolutionary designs and refined detailing. Since then, she has expanded her collections to include ready-to-wear footwear, eyewear, fragrance, flowers, china and crystal, silver and gifts, bedding, fine papers, and her first book, Vera Wang on Weddings. In 2005, the Council of Fashion Designers awarded Vera “Womenswear Designer of the Year.” 2010 marked Vera Wang’s 20th Anniversary as a brand, a celebration of two decades spent at the forefront of fashion.

Quote

"Everything Gordon Parks embodied has inspired me and influenced my work, and my life. But it's also artists and activists like Gordon Parks that have paved the way for all of us to uphold the gifts of freedom of thought and self-expression."

Photo courtesy of Patrick McMullan Company

Photo courtesy of Patrick McMullan Company

Photo courtesy of Patrick McMullan Company

Photo courtesy of Patrick McMullan Company