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Eve-like, around her husband
[Image Source]
I was looking for a web photo of Vera Wang I had misplaced, where she is by a poolside in bare feet and wearing some kind of kaftan. Instead I found the one above, which I think has more interesting things to convey. I wanted to write a blog post comparing Wang to Carolina Herrera, or Amsale Aberra, who like her are well-known, if not famous, wedding dress designers, to try and answer the question: "Would these famous designers be seen photographed in bare feet, like some kind of regal neo-hippie?" It would have been a rhetorical question, since Herrera and Aberra keep a simple but elegant public profile, which then translates into the quality clothes they design, unlike Wang's designs, which I have discussed in many posts (search under "Fashion" in my blog categories for more on Wang). I've written here where the formality of Aberra's approach translates into her own appearance (thinking, ideas, concepts, do matter). Carolina Herrera is also a classic, conservative woman, as are her creations.
Below are photos of these three designers, at the runway and in portraits. Compare and judge:
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It isn't hard to find images of Wang publicly flaunting her private life, where the information is unsolicited, nor wanted. At the top of this blog post, she is at the beginning of her marriage to Arthur P. Becker (he sounds Jewish to me, and the biggest Asian/white coupling, from my tallies, is Asian female and insipid, liberal Jewish male). It is hard to think that Amsale or Carolina Herrera would have such photographs, let alone release them.
The March 2012 issue of Harper's Bazaar has an article on Wang and her "zen escape" in California, "a place to unplug from the nonstop Manhattan whirl." She says:
"New York for me is about work. If L.A. were to become a West Coast version of that, I'd shoot myself. The climate, the lifestyle — it really fits as the yin to my New York yang."She's all set with her ugly modernist California mansion, and even showcases a "walk-in closet" for Becker, as though she doesn't want any gossip about what's to happen with his life in New York. Is he is willing to let her jet around from one coast to the other to ensure that his coushiny life with her continues?
A 2010 headline at the NaviSite website informs us that "Arthur P. Becker Steps Down [as CEO] and is Succeeded by R. Brooks Borcherding," which implies that Becker has retired. This leaves him ample time to follow his wife around to satisfy her yins and yangs.
And Wang has surpassed him as a "leader." She arrogantly and regally has her photo taken in her bedroom (on her bed) where she says, according to this site which compares the "Personal work styles of leaders":
My bedroom is my sanctuary. It's like a refuge, and it's where I do a fair amount of designing -- at least conceptually, if not literally. I spread out on my side of the bed, and I may be looking at books to get ideas, or just thinking things through.
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The idea that sprawled on a bed is a place to do design work is untrue. I have a huge, cheap Ikea table, on which I'm not afraid to drop paint, or to make marks from box cutters. There is no way I could work, even on preliminary designs, sprawled on a shifting mattress.
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Length: 59", Width: 29 1/2", Height: 28 3/4"
No wonder Wang's designs have that unfinished quality about them. Her bed-as-working-station is not just an idea-generating place, but a place where she apparently designs as well. Perhaps sitting formally at a desk or a drafting table (and she can afford the best of the best) is too daunting, so she prefers the false sanctuary of her bed.
Wang's display of her personal life (often with information that is too private) started a while back. Above (and below) is a photo of her in a swimming pool in 1995 with her then new husband Arthur Becker. She has a cold but sexualized expression on her face, holding her husband's face. Both are in swim suits (Wang seems to like swimming pool shots - the better to dress down, a return to some primordial state?). Becker has that flaky expression (which I wrote about here), and is willing to be "held" by his wife, who has positioned herself aggressively higher than him (she could be sitting on his lap, but she still positioned herself higher). It is hard to imagine Aberra or Herrera releasing such private photos, let alone posing with their husbands in such a manner.
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Eve-like, around her husband
[Image Source]