Viva Vera

As she marks 30 years in the fashion industry, Vera Wang reflects on the evolution of her design journey and the future of her eponymous brand as she prepares to go back to business in a world that is still battling a pandemic

- MJ Jose

It has only been a hot minute since Vera Wang posted her “backyard bling” photo to Instagram and wound up becoming the talk of the town due to her trim waist and sculpted abs. To say that she is in great shape for her age—Wang just turned 71 in June—is an understatement; she looks fantastic and feels it, too. Being quarantined in Miami with who she lovingly refers to as her “workday fashion family” pushed her to exercise more; suddenly, she is everyone’s latest fitspiration and no one believes she’s a day over 50. Her secret? “Work, sleep, a vodka cocktail and not much sun,” the fashion designer told a fan on Twitter.

“It’s crazy,” says Wang, who once dreamt of becoming an Olympic figure skater (she was even inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame). “Everyone knows how old I am. I have been photographed in bathing suits before, but it is not because I’m advertising myself or anything of the sort. As a designer, I am usually on the down-low because when I create something for another woman, the focus is on her and on my work.”