Vera Wang celebrated her 76th birthday earlier this year in a spectacular little black dress and knee-high boots, continuing to prove that age is, indeed, but a number.
And this week, poised centre stage at the 2025 CFDA Awards at The American Museum of Natural History — in a long white maxi slip skirt paired with a midriff-baring white bra, billowing sleeves and gleaming poker-straight hair — it was hard indeed to believe that this extraordinary fashion grande dame is, in fact, 76. So fresh and vital is this woman’s complexion, so radiant her glow!
Over the years Wang — when pressed for her secrets by editors, interviewers, associates and admirers — has insisted that she is very much not trying to defy time. Rather, she has honed a set of habits that simply seem to work for her.
Here, we catalogue a few of them…
1. Sleep is non-negotiable
Wang has repeatedly emphasised the importance of eight or more hours of sleep each night, a mind and body-preserving fact that we all know by now to be true. “Minimum, eight [hours a night]. I don’t feel healthy unless I get eight,” she told Page Six Style in 2023.
2. Work is part of the beauty and wellness process
Wang sees purposeful work as incredibly energising and revitalising. She told Page Six: “I’ve worked my whole life, so it’s really been about work. I think work keeps you young and stimulated…I work very long hours, I’ve raised two daughters. I think keeping busy is the best antidote [for] good health.”
3. Sun-avoidance (but make it fun)
Over the years Wang has explained that steering clear of the sun is essential to her routine. “I drink vodka, I sleep, I avoid the sun,” she told Elle Magazine in March 2023,while she summarised her approach on Instagram as: “Work, sleep, a vodka cocktail [and] not much sun.”
Instagra, @verawang
4. Diet: Indulgence + balance = the perfect mix.
Wang does not subscribe to food deprivation, having previously confessed a love for cream-filled Dunkin’ Donuts. In addition, she told Page Six: “I do eat McDonald’s, absolutely. I order it every day, like two weeks on it, and then I’ll change!”
But before you begin your doughnut diet, healthier meals play a role for the designer too. “I like sashimi with brown rice and vegetables, Chinese steamed broccoli with chicken and rice, or the artichoke salad or fish from Sant Ambreous [in Manhattan],” she also told the outlet.
5. Keep skincare minimal but considered
In 2023 Wang said to Page Six of her skincare regime: “I’m pretty minimal, I have to say. Maybe it’s because I’m Asian, but I’ve always been pretty minimal…“Soap, some cleanser, but I don’t do 18 steps! I know that’s the thing to do now, but it’s never been a part of my regime,” she added.
6. Consistent and joyful movement plus mental health maintenance is best
Wang has consistently expressed affection for exercise as careful maintenance of her mental health. “I’m sort of very balanced in terms of my health, hopefully,” she explained to Page Six. “I work very hard at that – towards mental health as well as physical health, so those are important things.” According to Wang’s Instagram she is an avid bike-rider and spends her free time cycling around her local neighbourhood.
7. A long soak in the tub works wonders
Wang reportedly uses baby oil in the bath to moisturise, treasuring a lengthy soak in the bath as an opportunity to decompress. “My night only starts after I take a very long hot bath. I’ll light some candles, turn on the news, and try to catch up on what happened that day. That’s the only time I can really breathe. It’s a really important [part of the day] for me.” she told Today.
8. Authenticity is an excellent attitude to aging
Across the years Wang has keenly emphasised that she has never set out to deliberately remain youthful looking and has — by and large — embraced the aging process. In a 2022 BBC interview the designer described how she finds ageism “so old-fashioned.” “I never thought about going way out of my way to preserve my youth in a fanatical, obsessive way,” she continued.
