The fashion stalwart may be best known for her wedding dresses, but she's branched out into fragrances, eyewear, shoes, home furnishings, and more.

Vera grew up in a family of immense wealth: When her dad wouldn't pay for grad school in design, she took a job as a sittings assistant at Vogue instead, working at the magazine for 17 years and ending up European editor. After coming to the conclusion that she'd probably never be Vogue's editor-in-chief, Wang left the mag in the mid-'80s to take a job designing accessories and at-home wear for Ralph Lauren and a couple of years later, she convinced her pops to finance a line of her own. He had one proviso: It had to be bridal wear. By adding much-needed sophistication to the early-90s bridal market, countless celebs have worn Vera for their special day. Now the Vera Wang brand has expanded to numerous other markets: fragrances, flatware, stationery, lingerie, even ready-to-wear.

After decades of being, as she describes it, a "fashion nun," Wang tied the knot just a few months shy of her 40th birthday. Her husband is Arthur Becker, a former Bear Stearns broker-turned-computer executive. After unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant, the couple adopted two Eurasian kids in the early '90s, Cecilia and Josephine. [Image via Getty]