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Caped Gown

There was a year studying abroad in Paris whe she lived at her parents' apartment on the fashionable rue Spontini, steps from the salon of Yves Saint Laurent. Then there were two summers working at the Yves Saint Laurent store in New York, first as a salesgirl and then as a window dresser.

"I had finished skating and finished college, and there was a very big void in my life. I really didn't want to go to law school or business school. And so my father said, 'Oky, if you think you're such a hotshot and you're talented in fashion, then get a job."

That's exactly what she did. At the age 21 Wang was summer temping at Yves Saint Laurent on Madison Avenue when spotted by Vogue editor Francis Stein. Within a year and a half of her move to Vogue she became one of its youngest editors at the age of 24, picking out accessories and locations for photo shoots. Her 17 years at Vogue immersed her deeply in the fashionable world she dreamed of conquering as a designer. She spent another two years overseeing design and production at Ralph Lauren before marrying Arthur Becker, a Manhattan stockbroker working for Wang's father then, whom she met at a tennis match nine years earlier in Forrest Hills. Wang was 40 when she married in 1989. The wedding was followed by a "grueling infertility" which required her to go to the hospital every other day for sonograms and blood tests. That made it impossible for Wang to devote herself to work. Wang quit.

Just as Wang's decision to leave Ralph Lauren arose from a deeply personal experience, so did her decision to go into business for herself. She wanted her wedding to be a lavish affair, a true piece of theatre. Wang, however, could not find a wedding dress appropriate for a sophisticatd, modern woman like herself. She settled for a $10,000 custom made, hand-beaded duchesse satin gown, and planned a wedding for 400 guests at Pierre Hotel by herself, complete with a 22-piece orchestra, Cristal champagne and caviar. It got full coverage in The New York Times Magazine alongside the weddings of Princess Diana's brother and the president of Chanel.

Wang's long and difficult search for just the right gown was what inspired her to open simultaneously in September 1990 the Vera Wang Bridal House, Ltd. on Madison Avenue and Made to Order salon across the street in the Mark Hotel. Wang washoping to incorporate in her dresses the world of beauty, glamour and grace in which she had grown up.

Wang will be the first to tell you that the going has not been easy. Even now, Wang frets incessantly about the bottom line. But in many ways it has been everything she's ever wanted.

Becker is now chairman of Bnox, a company that makes disposable binoculars. And rounding out the picture of domestic bliss are two beautiful adopted daughters, Cecilia and Josephine, and three pieces of property: A stunning 22-room apartment on Park Avenue, a summer home in Southampton, Long Island, and an converted 200-year-old Dutch barn in Round Ridge, New York that is just down the way from the 100-acre estate where Wang's parents now live.

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