Vera Wang on Caregiving: ‘You Literally Put Yourself on the Tenth Burner’

Vera Wang has spent 55 years working in the fashion industry, 35 of them building her fashion design empire — plus she’s a mother of two now adult children. At 74, she’s excited to have more time to take care of herself, she told actress and comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the latest episode of the Wiser Than Me podcast. In the series, Louis-Dreyfus, 63, interviews influential women older than 70. (Previous episodes have featured Anne Lamott and Debbie Allen).

“I’m going to be 75, and if I can’t figure out an hour a day for myself, then there’s something really wrong,” Wang said. She shared with Louis-Dreyfus that her parents were tough on her, demanding excellence in everything she pursued. And she only achieved success with some setbacks and limitations along the way.

AARP Membership— $12 for your first year when you sign up for Automatic Renewal

Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Find out how much you could save in a year with a membership. Learn more.

Join Now

“My life is defined by missing many goals,” said Wang.

The biggest one that changed her career trajectory: not qualifying for the 1968 Olympic figure skating team. Though her Olympic-level dreams were shattered, she says she’s still in love with the sport. Her dad first taught her to skate in Central Park when she was 6 years old.

“It’s the only sport that exists where you can be an artist and an athlete,” she said, adding that it takes choreography, speed, athleticism and discipline. “And you learn a metaphor for life in skating; you fall so much to learn. And that’s what you take with you the rest of your life: that you can fail, but pick yourself up.”

She moved to Paris following her Olympic dream devastation, where she fell in love with fashion, met an editor at French Vogue and decided she wanted to pursue a career in the field. She later became the youngest editor at Vogue magazine and spent 17 years working at the fashion publication. Wang then worked at Ralph Lauren for a few years before starting her bridal fashion business in 1990.