Five months after WHP Global wrapped up its acquisition of Vera Wang, the namesake designer is reminding consumers of her top-tier bridal heritage.

Vera Wang Haute’s latest bridal collection debuts globally Monday, offering gowns that retail between $12,000 and $30,000. With more than two dozen licenses in a multitude of categories far beyond fashion, the top-tier creations serve as reminder of how Wang started her namesake company 36 years ago. The company now generates more than $700 million at retail annually. Globally, that couture-level assortment of wedding gowns has been gaining momentum in the past few years, Wang said Friday. Well aware that a lot of people have worn her clothes, eaten off of her branded plates and used her towels and all the other branded goods, the designer continues to dress them for their wedding days, too.

WHP Global acquired 100 percent of Vera Wang’s intellectual property. Vera Wang continues to operate the Vera Wang Haute bridal collection and the Vera Wang Haute ready-to-wear businesses. Vera Wang also continues to create custom haute looks for celebrity red-carpet appearances.

The founder and chief creative officer timed the debut of her latest haute bridal collection to come on the heels of the launch of her first fragrance in more than 20 years — Vera Wang Love with Ulta Beauty. Packaged in an engagement ring-shaped bottle that was developed with a Parisian artist, the fragrance was a five-year project with Coty Inc. Her drastically more affordable White by Vera Wang label is still offered at David’s Bridal and Vera Wang Bride is sold at Pronovias. This is the first Vera Wang Haute collection, which is entirely made in the U.S. with some European fabrics and solely Swarovski beading, in 15 months.

As a sign of the consumer demand for such high-level sewing for intricate wedding gowns in China, there are now seven stores versus four, according to Wang. Three of those stores — with locations in Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou — opened this year. The new haute assortment features satin duchesse, silk organza, faille, and lace to create multidimensional decorative elements such as buds, blossoms and bejeweled flowers.

Looking ahead, she said her company’s licensing plans are still being mapped out, and the designer hasn’t decided whether there will be a New York Fashion Week show this September for her namesake collection. “I’m not discounting ever showing a collection again, but a film may have a longer shelf life than a runway. For our brand and what we try to show with an emphasis on quality, shapes, and proportions, I’m not sure that isn’t lost on a runway show,” Wang said

The ever-prolific New York-based creative is working more than ever and she is also an investor in WHP Global, which has a portfolio of more than 14 consumer brands that generate over $7 billion in retail sales annually across fashion, sports and hardgoods. “I’ve rarely seen a founder or the face of a brand just be able to cut and run after selling their company,” she said. “In a way, when they’re buying a name brand, they’re buying the person who symbolizes the brand.”    

Aside from her legions of brides, Wang has developed a cult following for her more relaxed social media posts. As for that newfound fandom, she said, “It’s strange. I think if it were intentional, it never would have happened. But it wasn’t at all.”

While working with David’s Bridal on the development of hair accessories during the pandemic, the company asked her to document it. “I happened to be in a workout bra because I was going to work out. That’s how it started,” the 75-year-old said. “What I really think it’s about is that people assume what certain ages mean or translate into. That’s fairly unrealistic, given how people live today. Most of my friends and contemporaries are in very good shape. And I don’t mean weight. They’re active. They’re engaged. Some of them are working or are in philanthropy.”

Referring to her viral 2024 Memorial Day weekend post, Wang said “that started out as a joke, while unwinding at a house with a beautiful diving board with a close friend, who is a guardian of high WASP-dom. We were joking that the light, the pool and the lifestyle was like Slim Aarons. We put on some old Miu Miu sandals that I had and a pair of costume Yves Saint Laurent earrings from eight years ago. I just sat on the diving board and it felt very Slim Aarons.”

Well aware that many people might not know Aarons, a photographer who captured jet-setters from the 1950s through the 1980s, Wang said, “We did it jokingly and then it went viral. Other things that I think are so interesting nobody cares about.” The designer noted how she wished the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, which she has been a longtime supporter of, would resonate with people to that degree too.

As for the social media attention, Wang said, “It’s ironic a bit because I have had one of those truly extraordinary careers in fashion. Many people only know one part of it, because it’s been a long time. Last year was 55 years in fashion, 35 years with my company and my 75^th birthday. To think back and look back, I was at Vogue for nearly 20 years as a sittings editor so I created a lot of the imagery that was in Vogue for nearly two decades. I worked with the greatest [photographers] — [Irving] Penn, [Richard] Avedon, Patrick Demarchelier, Arthur Elgort. So much work was done for so long — long before I became a designer on my own.”

There were also nearly three years at Ralph Lauren overseeing women’s licensing for accessories, where she was “very lucky to create under his company a range of products that was just insane — eyewear, sunglasses, pantyhose, hot socks, socks for RL Sport.” Wang said. “It’s been a long journey. What people focus on may be what I wear and what I look like. That’s something that was unintentional and unexpected. Today every brand and every industry is defined by visibility whether it’s music, film, theater, fashion, beauty and fragrance. And it needs to be identified constantly. My company is heavily licensed. It’s not that I choose to do this. But it is a responsibility that I have as the founder, creative director and certainly the face of my brand. Those things are not changing, but the ownership has.”

Hesitant to pinpoint how many people’s livelihoods are dependent on Vera Wang products, Wang noted how in fine jewelry alone, there are deals with Zales and Jared in the U.S. and with Chow Tai Fook in all of Asia. While some might wonder how Wang has so many ideas for bridal year after year, she said, “I do. I do. If anything, I think I have to stop myself. It takes a certain discipline. I also feel a different level of comfort now. I feel very comfortable in my judgment and that is not something that only pertains to design, but also very much to business strategy. That could be things that we might let go of or that would be worth exploring.”

At this stage in her career, Wang said that with maturity and age, “something that you really start to appreciate is knowing the amount of time and the effort that is spent, as well as what are the rewards for your investments. That is any sense, not just financial — intellectual, artistic and physical. There is a physicality to fashion. It is a very tiring business. You have to decide that you cannot do everything. Particularly today, in order to survive it has to be extremely deliberate. Also, you have to be very lucky. Timing and luck are so important.”