Long before Disney began tweaking its princesses into modernity, Vera Wang did the same with regard to the nearest most women get to dressing like one. Prior to the launch of Wang’s bridal business in 1990, wedding dresses were big and bouffant – so much so that they appeared to belong on a dessert trolley. These days we call them meringues. Her friend and former colleague Anna Wintour once – in a surprising display of carbohydrate-related expertise – referred to them as “over-aerated cream puffs”. Thanks to Wang, Wintour continued, brides didn’t have to look like one any more.
In an editor’s letter in US Vogue earlier this year, Wintour went further. “Vera has changed our idea of what constitutes a wedding dress,” she wrote,