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Lesson #3: Stick With the Dress that Fits You Best

Article Overview: Wang was intimately familiar with the sport of ice skating. After her father bought her her first pair of skates and took her to Central Park in New York to try them out, she was immediately hooked. She started taking private lessons at Madison Square Garden and was soon participating in competitions. “Ice skating was the first love of [my] life,” she says.

Lesson #3: Stick With the Dress that Fits You Best

Wang was intimately familiar with the sport of ice skating. After her father bought her her first pair of skates and took her to Central Park in New York to try them out, she was immediately hooked. She started taking private lessons at Madison Square Garden and was soon participating in competitions. “Ice skating was the first love of [my] life,” she says.

When Wang actually began winning competitions, she knew her life was forever changed. She began to skate as much as ten hours a day, combining it with her school work. But when Wang was 18 years old and failed to place in singles at the National Figure Skating Championships, she knew her hopes of reaching the Olympics had been crushed, and she decided to leave the sport.

After Wang’s dreams of competing as a figure skater in the Olympics were destroyed, she sunk into a deep depression not knowing what she was going to do with her life anymore. That state, however, did not last long. Soon, Wang had found a way to parlay her skating knowledge and experience into an idea for a multi-million dollar business.

“When I quit skating I asked myself, ‘What is the thing that I can do that so totally fulfills me the way skating did?’” says Wang. “And the only other thing was fashion. I didn't have anything else that I loved as much as clothes.”

With that, Wang turned her attention to the fashion industry, and became determined to make her mark. And yet, she did not totally leave behind her love for skating. Instead, she took her experience and what she knew of the sport to create some of the most eye-catching and talked about designs for high-profile skaters. Wang knew what skaters wanted to wear, and she knew what others wanted to see. When Nancy Kerrigan wore a Wang design at the 1994 Olympics, people started to notice.

Wang’s dreams of becoming a professional figure skater might have died young, but she was nevertheless able to translate her unique insights into the sport into a successful business venture. And that was not the last time Wang would use her own intimate experience to her advantage.

The inspiration for her wedding gown label came from her own frustrating search for a wedding dress. Unable to find a simple yet elegant design for herself, Wang decided to take what she wanted, along with what she knew about women, and turn it into a business.

“I am a feminist,” she declares. “When I stop and think about it, there's no other way I can label myself. I am for women. I think some of the greatest designers have been men, but I think there are some for whom women are abstract. It's a design concept. Or it's some kind of fantasy or joke on women. Either way, it's not based on a real understanding of women and women's needs. I respect other women, and my clothes show it. I'm not making fun of them or trying to degrade them or make them feel silly. I'm trying, if anything, to make them be at their very best.”

From skating to weddings to women, Wang took her real understanding and translated it into the business success she has become today. She stayed close to home in terms of drawing inspiration, and thus ensured her a unique expertise that no other designer could capture.

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Article Tags: 18 years, 1994 olympics, central park, central park in new york, depression, dollar business, fashion industry, figure skater, figure skating championships, first love, high profile, insights, lesson 3, madison square garden, nancy kerrigan, national figure skating championships, olympics, private lessons, skates, winning competitions



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