Vera Wang was born into a wealthy family in New York City. She lived on the Upper East Side with her mother, the daughter of a Chinese warlord, and her father, a pharmaceutical executive. Vera’s wealthy upbringing largely influenced her view on fashion. Her mother was very stylish and would take Vera to Paris fashion shows during her childhood. Vera states that her mother, “absolutely loved fashion” and “I had a mother that was superbly chic. She made fashion this adventure for me as a young woman. She viewed fashion not as superficial but as expressive.” (Zimbalist, 2007) Vera explains that from her mother she, “got a first class education with style, and quality, and exposure to European houses, and the kind of education that sometimes you can’t even get in school.” (MOVIE) Her wealthy upbringing allowed her to attend prestigious schools, including Chapin, a private school in Manhattan. It also allowed Vera to become involved in her passion, the sport of figure skating. Vera was a competitive figure skater until the age of 20, with the dream of becoming an Olympic skater. Unfortunately however, Vera failed to qualify for the 1968 Olympic team, calling it “heartbreaking”. (MOVIE) Moving past this disappointment, Vera enrolled in Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Here she majored in Theater Studies but then later changed her major to Art History. During her time at Sarah Lawrence, Vera studied abroad in Paris at The Sorbonne, where she was further exposed to French fashion. In 1970, Vera had her first experience working in the fashion industry. She was employed at the Yves Saint Laurent Boutique on Madison Ave, where she was discovered by Frances Patiky Stein, editor of Vogue, who saw that Vera had “a special something.” (Kantrowitz, 2005). In 1972 Vera started working for Vogue as a fashion assistant and within a year was promoted to one of the youngest fashion