Vera Wang and Wedgwood

It's true!  Vera Wang has paired with the Wedgwood Group to design wedding china, stemware, giftware, serving, and accessory pieces.  This is probably the most innovative thing to happen to the modern bride since the Las Vegas wedding chapel. 

Born to an affluent family, Wang spent her youth traveling the world and visiting the great museums of France, Germany, and the United States.  She attended both the Chapin School and the Sorbonne of Paris.  She trained for the US Olympic figure skating team but failed to make the cut.  She then turned to designing costumes for figure skaters and eventually came to work for Vogue Magazine and Ralph Lauren.

At my house, it's the eternal argument.  Whereas I am a Mies van der Rohe early-20th-century modernist, preferring clean surfaces, sleek lines, symmetry, and repeating geometric forms, Jeremy's tastes are a marriage of Imperialist, Baroque, Rococo and Greco-Roman styling.  My style is steeped in the architectural tradition birthed at Bauhaus, leaving one asking, "Aside from too little is there a unifying theme here?"  Jeremy's use of bric-a-brac, whatnots, and tchotchkes is rivaled only by the Rococo palaces of Bavaria.  I am a square, polished-nickel table with nothing on it and Jeremy is an imperial tapestry flanked by Corinthian columns, oversized vases, and a penchant for gild that has no limits.  Our home is sort of the embodiment of Thomas Chippendale decorates for Peter Eisenman.

Aside from contacting one of those reality TV home decorating shows for guidance, what is a couple to do?  At least with dinnerware, Vera Wang and Wedgwood have the answer.  Consider Vera's "Imperial Scroll." This pattern features bold, modern shapes that are accented with thin bands of platinum, and an empire scroll.  Clustered, busy decor cast against ample white space in this no nonsense bone china is the perfect resolution to the Stolid Modernist v. the Passionate Traditionalist debate.  The gilded scroll pacifies the traditionalist's need for decor, while the contemporary whiteware shapes and slim lines embodies the essnce of modernity.

Another classic design from Vera Wang "Le Cirque."  This heavy lead crystal pattern marries oversized bowls to squat stems and square feet.  A single etched band encircles each piece in this timeless stemware design.  For some, this may still be too modern.  In that case, "Blanc sur Blanc" is an excellent compromise.  Traditional stemware shapes are accented with an etched helix.  Slender, liquid-form, organic stems add a rather dramatic touch to any cocktail party when the simple lines of this pattern catch the fire of candlelight (or a 40 watt bulb).

Vera Wang is known throughout the world for her stunning array of designs, including conventional wedding gowns, to home decor, to tableware.  So compelling are her creations that they can act as mediator between an urban modernist and staunch traditionalist.