As the season of fall is on the horizon there’s no better time than the present to explore the fabrics that conceived the looks for Vera’s Fall 2012 RTW Collection.

Vera Wang Fall 2012 RTW Collection

If you had not noticed, prints were ubiquitous for the Fall 2012 runway shows. And while florals, stripes and polka dots have been on every editors’ lips for a few seasons now, the newest reiteration is both bold and charming; prints on prints! Donning prints head-to-toe creates a fresh, electric look. This trend found solace on the runway for Vera’s Fall 2012 RTW Collection. These beautiful prints are a custom collaboration with a storied mill in Italy, famous for printing rich, photo‐real images. Vera explored the architecture of the city’s Gothic, Italian Baroque and Georgian churches as inspiration for this collection. Photos were taken of their intricate ceilings, vaulted columns and stained glass windows. These pictures were then developed into kaleidoscope-style prints on chiffon, stretch chiffon, organza and other fabrics. The results are hushed, awe-inspiring prints that evoke the somehow booming stillness of steeples and cathedrals; grandiose designs in often silent atmospheres. Check out the Black Ghost Column Vault print silk organza top mixed with the Grey Star Vault print silk chiffon skirt. Combine pieces of matching prints with solid-­hued garments from the same color family; see the Tangerine Floral Vault print silk organza harness layered over an Orange silk dress with a matching Floral Vault print silk organza peplum. Or streamline your look with just one print, like the Blue Ghost Column Vault print featured below. Prints-­esses, your closet awaits!

Contributing Editor | Melissa DeLuca | Fabric Coordinator.

With today’s technology it has become easier and much more popular to create wedding websites.  It is an easy way to communicate information to guests and provide a central location where people can stay up-to-date on your big day.

WeddingWire.com has created an easy three-step process to create the perfect wedding website:

1) Choose your design

• Wedding websites can be customized to match your personal wedding style. You can choose from hundreds of exclusive designer themes, including designs from Vera Wang Fine Papers.
• Wedding websites are an easy way to complement your written invitations, and it is easy to match your wedding website designs exactly to your invitations and stationery.

2) Enter all of the exciting event details

• We recommend you create your site at least 6 months prior to your wedding, or to have it completed before your Save the Dates go out.
• In addition to the standard information (date, time, location), it is highly encouraged to include links to travel and accommodation arrangements so that guests are able to book ahead and be there to celebrate with you!

3) Customize Your Site

• Utilize add-ons that are provided for you, such as RSVP tools, local maps and entertainment, photo gallery, blog, and more.
• Wedding websites also make it simple for couples to post their registries.  This allows guests to easily purchase gifts you’ve requested from leading retailers.

When it comes to content, each design will come with recommended page topics to help guide you along.  Just remember to keep it as clean and uncluttered as possible – choose fonts and colors that match your style. Most importantly, have fun with it!  Make your website something you and your fiancé are excited about.  And don’t forget to include a link to your website on your save- the-dates!

To get started on your wedding website at WeddingWire.com, click here. — WeddingWire.com

While we wait with bated breath for the bride to make her first entrance—what delicate confection will take hold of our imaginations? In her Fall-Winter 2011 Bridal collection, Vera designed dresses whose exits made equally lingering statements, some fragile, like a blossom of smoke, or bold and sweeping, with gestures in tulle and organza akin to slow streams that build into heart-stopping waterfalls.

These were dresses that no single photograph can do justice to—to experience these, they need their own 3D movie, a full 360 degrees of interaction. Each gown had its own story, its own set of special effects. They bowed to and beckoned to, and simultaneously challenged, nature and its laws of gravity.

Mermaid gowns with sharply folded godet train spoke a language of poetic, rhythmic motion. The bold, sweeping lines of a one-shoulder gown traced lines like the paths of comets, or a tropical palm frond, or hand with splayed fingers, as the pleating on the back of the dress twirled like a fractured sunburst. And a gown colored with smudges of graphite, draped into the kneaded shape of an artist’s gum eraser, was shaped with subtle smocking, an exclamation point to a big, sweet gesture.

Bold black bands of ribbon—in the hair, slightly messy yet polished in an updo—and encircling the waist, were like final swipes of a thick paintbrush over an ink-washed, watercolor landscape.

Vera’s brides are brides of the future, with origami folded bodices that shape with geometric precision, or in asymmetrically draped sweetheart necklines that spiral down as slim columns, grounding the architectural folds of an exaggerated, horsehair-trimmed peplum bodice. Or she is a mermaid in a frozen lagoon, a vision in a snowy landscape whose slow streams are frozen, the ice rippled and frothy.

A chrysanthemum organza blossom skirt looks creamy enough to eat, weightless but with beautiful light and shape. Imagine a whole stack of love letters, love poetry…all the textual paper material of a romance piled up, with languid limbs scurrying lusciously through it. There is a joyous excess to these layers—a celebration of life and love—and the epitome of ethereality!

Courtesy: Anne Chertoff

As Vera Wang celebrates the 20th Anniversary of her company this year, we asked some notable editors who cover all things weddings, for their take on what she has meant to fashionable brides everywhere.

Anne Chertoff, Editor-in-chief of AOL’s Aisle Dash, wore a Vera Wang strapless  gown for her wedding in 2003. Here, she tells us what her dress meant to her and what makes a Vera Wang gown so special.

I’m a firm believer that finding your wedding dress is like finding the man you’re going to marry. You just know when it’s the right one. When I saw a photo of an ivory and lavender ball gown in a 2000 issue of Modern Bride magazine I just knew that dress was going to be my wedding dress even though I wasn’t engaged at the time.

When you think of wedding dresses the first designer name that comes to mind is Vera Wang.  A Vera Wang wedding gown is the Rolls Royce of wedding gowns.It’s hard to imagine a time where brides didn’t wear fashion-forward wedding gowns that reflected their own personal style, but before Vera Wang debuted her wedding dress collection in 1990 brides were limited in the styles of wedding dresses they had to choose from. Wang’s minimalist designs were a breath of fresh air from the overly embellished gowns of the 1980s and her influence in the wedding dress industry continues to this day. As celebrity brides embraced Wang’s wedding dresses throughout the ‘90s and 21^st century, brides around the globe were inspired by the designs and searched for their own Vera Wang gown or a gown inspired by her dresses.

Launching the David’s Bridal White by Vera Wang line in 2011 will finally bring Vera Wang’s style to women at every price point. Wearing a Vera Wang gown is no longer a fantasy; it can be every little girl’s reality.

For me, the wedding dress I fell in love with was discontinued and no longer available when I got engaged in late 2001, but by luck my mom and I happened upon a Saks Fifth Avenue sample sale one afternoon and my dream dress was hanging on the first rack we saw.

The great news wasn’t that the dress was 75 percent off but that even though it was several sizes too big, the seamstress assured us that we would be able to fit it to me without a problem. I remember never wanting to take it off after each fitting, to me a sure sign that I had indeed found my dream wedding dress.–Anne Chertoff

You can follow Anne’s Bridal Market coverage at AOL’s Aisle Dash.

Wedding planning Web site, TheKnot.com, has inspired millions of brides, grooms, and gift givers since its launch in 1996. Carley Roney, Editor-in-chief and founder, has seen bridal trends come and go during her 14 years covering bridal fashion. We asked for her take on Vera Wang’s influence since founding her business.

How would you describe Vera Wang’s influence on bridal design over the last 20 years?

Carley Roney: By combining classic style with couture, one-of-a-kind touches, Vera Wang has managed to modernize bridal fashion over the last 20 years unlike anyone else. I love that Vera’s never afraid to be bold, and it’s that fearlessness that’s had a huge influence on bridal fashion. Whether it’s just a simple black grosgrain belt or oversized horsehair bow or even head-to-toe hues like royal purple or lime green, Vera always has a unique ability to make trendy touches feel timeless, which has given brides and designers alike the courage and curiosity to play outside the lines.

Is there a gown that stands out in your mind as quintessentially Vera Wang?

Carley Roney: A gown designed by Vera can always be recognized. I instantly think of fabric manipulation – folds and pleats, swirled layers and twists. Lately, my favorite fabric manipulation is the graphic screen-printed flowers that walked the runway in the Fall 2010 Collection – it was truly one-of-a-kind. Most recently, we featured a Vera Wang gown with this fabric manipulation on the cover of the Fashion Issue of The Knot magazine (Spring 2010)—you can see the layer of screen-printed organza peeking through the tulle skirt (it’s amazing in person!)—add a figure-hugging corset, layers of frothy tulle and a waist-cinching black sash, and I think it captures Vera’s design aesthetic perfectly—playful, classic, elegant and edgy all rolled into one.

What have been the biggest changes in bridal dressing over the last 20 years?

Carley Roney: Over the last 20 years, the classic strapless ball gown has remained popular. It’s timeless and will always look gorgeous. However, this classic silhouette is finally fashion-forward and I think Vera has had a huge influence on that. Brides aren’t afraid to be trendy, and that’s great, as long as you always stay true to yourself.

Have wedding planning questions” You can find answers at Ask Carley at TheKnot.com.

Millie Martini Bratten has been Editor-in-chief of Brides magazine for the last 16 years. (The magazine itself just celebrated its 75th anniversary last year.) With an eye for all that bridal history, we asked her to give her thoughts on 20 years of Vera Wang wedding gowns.

When Vera first came on the scene in 1990, “bridal gowns” and “fashion” were two separate concepts. Personal style—and certainly high fashion—took a backseat to what a wedding gown was “supposed” to look like.  At that time, brides were still expected to appear modest, feminine, and pure, not sexy or modern.  Sensing that women wanted to look like the best versions of themselves on their wedding day rather than someone else’s ideal, Vera took a head-to-toe approach, rethinking everything from wedding-day hair and makeup to shoes and accessories.  She broke the rules with innovative uses of fabric, color and shape.  She combined her respect for the gravity of the occasion with a real sense of style to create a uniquely modern approach to dressing the bride.

Vera not only made brides feel sexy, she made creating bridal dresses a sexy pursuit. Prior to her entry onto the bridal scene, only a handful of fashion designers also made wedding gowns, and most only did so occasionally.  Today, new designers or trendy retailers emerge nearly every season.  And each season, Vera continues to evolve and bring something fresh to the market. Her dresses are of-the-moment but not trendy, timeless with a nod to tradition. Chelsea Clinton’s strapless, soft, layered tulle ball gown with a sparkly beaded belt is a good example. Vera walks the fine line of pushing the limits of fashion in her designs, yet creating something that’s unmistakably a wedding dress.

Some memorable standouts are the first dress we photographed for Brides magazine in 1991 — a satin ball gown, covered to the neck and wrists that had a dramatic black border on the hem of the dress and a single black bow at each wrist.  Simply striking.  Others include a light-as-air dress with intricate, never-ending folds; a classic ball gown covered in tulle with raw edges; dresses with hand painting, chunky jeweled accents, ombre shading —all created with the latest innovation and style in mind, but with an eternal quality at heart.

You can find daily wedding planning inspiration from Millie and the rest of the Brides Magazine editors on their blog, Brides Daily.

Her first major adult role—the teenage starlet had been acting since the age of 9—Taylor played the role of blossoming bride Kay Banks with aplomb, maybe in part because she was about to become a bride herself. In a public relations dream for MGM Studio, Taylor announced her engagement—her first of eight, mind you—to William Pawley when she was first cast for the role. As it turned out, Pawley backed out of the engagement once he got wind of his future bride’s hectic filming schedule, but the stunning, talented Taylor had no trouble finding his replacement, hotel heir Conrad Nicholson “Nicky” Hilton, Jr. The two wed on May 6, 1950, perfectly timed with the film’s June release. Not surprisingly, it was a box-office smash hit.

If you’re planning a wedding, or just recovering from one, you’ll get a kick out of this original version of Father of Bride (not to be confused with the later remake starring Steve Martin). It’s like a more genteel version of Bridezillas, where all the fuss of putting on a wedding day affair to remember is seen through the sharp lens of a hilarious Spencer Tracy. While we’ll admit that Elizabeth Taylor is far too glamorous to ever really be cast as the bride from hell, it’s still reassuring to know that the trials and tribulations of the big day are a great source of comic relief. Watch the trailer here, and put this one in your Netflix queue.

For gem lovers—or just about anyone with some time to kill on the Upper West Side—a visit this fall to the American Museum of Natural History’s Morgan Memorial Hall of Gems is in order. The rare Kazanijian Red Diamond made its sparkly debut there last week, a 5.05-carat emerald-cut crimson beauty with an astonishing history.

Cut from a 35-carat piece of rough discovered in Lichtenberg, South Africa in 1926 during the “diamond rush” years, the stone was initially not thought to be particularly valuable by Amsterdam-based jewelers the Godvius brothers. But upon further cutting and polishing, they uncovered a brilliant jewel that was quite literally the definition of a diamond in the rough.

During World War II, however, the diamond’s story took a turn for the worse. Kept in a safe in Arnhem, when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands in 1944, they seized it along with other valuables and sent it to Germany. Once the war ended, U.S. Army General Joseph McNarney found the red diamond in a Bavarian salt mine and believed it to be a ruby. But Louis Asscher (of Asscher cut diamond fame), commissioned to help identify war loot, identified it correctly. It spent the next few decades in various private collections, until the Kazanjian Bros. purchased it in 2007.

Only two other red diamonds of this size exist in the world today: the trilliant-cut 5.11-carat Moussaieff Red and the 5.03-carat De Young Red. To give you an idea of how much a red diamond like this is worth: at an auction in Hong Kong in 2004, a 0.91-carat red diamond was sold for just over $1 million. Red diamonds are among the rarest, and despite their relatively small size (large stones are hardly ever found), some of the most expensive diamonds.

The Kazanijan Red Diamond will be on display through March 13, 2011—visit www.amnh.org for more info.

The traditional round cut diamond, created in 1919 by a mathematician named Marcel Tolkowsky, might be the golden standard when it comes to engagement rings today—according to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), they make up 70 percent of all diamond sales—but that hasn’t stopped some of the world’s top jewelers from inventing a few new cuts in the quest to make a diamond look even more brilliant.

According to GIA gemologist Tom Moses, computer modeling techniques have made it easier than ever to create innovative new “boutique” cuts. “Rather than cutting the real diamond,” he says, “through retracing and other methods you can have these 3D models and project what the finished diamond or gem would look like.”

The last decade in particular has seen an explosion of new cutting styles, says Moses, some with a lot more facets than the 58 in the round stone. (If you’re curious about how a diamond is actually cut, check out this clip from Nature’s “Diamonds” series.)

For example, the “Eternal” cut diamond, sold through one of Britain’s oldest jewelers, Garrard & Company, has 81 facets and a distinctive “petal” design in the center of the gem. It was developed by Marcel Tolkowsky’s great nephew, Sir Gabi Tolkowsky, who later went on to create the “Gabrielle” diamond that boasts an incredible 105 facets.

Other cuts have moved away from the round cut completely in their attempt to create an equally dazzling diamond. There are diamonds such as Amsterdam-based jeweler’s Royal Asscher cut, a squarish shape that’s an update of the original 1902 Asscher Cut, extremely popular in Art Deco jewelry at the time.

Then there’s the work of Bernd Munsteiner, known as the “Picasso of Gems” for his amazingly beautiful, and unconventional, “fantasy cuts.” Approaching the rough gem like a sculptor might approach a slab of stone, Munsteiner is known for his bold techniques. He might turn flaws (known as “inclusions”) into spectacular design elements, or leave certain parts of a gem unpolished for artistic effect.

What do you think? Do more facets or an unusual cut equal a better diamond? Or do you like the traditional round best?

In 1981—if you’re old enough to remember—it seemed like everywhere you looked, you noticed more and more of a certain breed of style: people dressed in Brooks Brothers and penny loafers for work, khaki shorts and polo shirts when at play. Nantucket Reds and L.L. Bean duck boots seemed to be cropping up in odd places. This was the year that Lisa Birnbach’s The Official Preppy Handbook hit the New York Times bestseller list, and became our tongue-in-cheek guide to a culture, and especially a fashion sensibility, that we all came to recognize, even as it evolved before our eyes.

Now, Birnbach’s back on the list with True Prep, an updated guide for the preppies and prep-spotters of a new century that helps us all to stay “prep’d” in a changing world. This time she’s assisted by legendary book designer Chip Kidd, a preppy in his own right, whose whip-smart illustrations and whimsically gorgeous layout make this book such a joy to page around in. There are lists like “Unnaceptable Euphemisms for ‘Dead’” and style graphics, like one breaking down the proper attire for “Casual Friday,” that are reminiscent of the original book’s beloved illustrations. A helpful timeline catches us up on important developments in the world of Prep since then: Martha Stewart’s rise, the deaths of Brooke Astor and J.D. Salinger, and the expanding reach of Facebook. And while the preps of yesteryear were typically cut from the WASP cloth, today’s prep pool is a more diverse bunch: Birnbach cites Yo-Yo Ma, Tiger Woods, and of course Barack Obama as embodiments of the prep lineage.

Vera’s fans in particular will enjoy the references to a certain designer label which has long been beloved by preppies: a two-page spread illustration of “The True Pantheon” on page 20 features a row of marble busts of great preppy style icons, including the great “V.W.” And there’s a beautiful and inspired section of photographs of fictional preppy wedding-party characters and their stories. For “Second Weddings”—because the world of the preppy must evolve with style!—Birnbach paints a mirthful portrait of the happily fashionable bride: “Is there a baby under her fabulous ecru Vera Wang suit? No one will say for sure…” 

True prep style, of course, goes beyond merely looking good: it’s about looking RIGHT. “This is our idea of having it all: the perfect clothes for every occasion, from the car wash to Pammy’s debutante ball,” explains Birnbach. Check True Prep out, and get inspired. Maybe you’ll find yourself resting easier with the knowledge that “true prep” is a state of mind, as much as a style of dress. And that your significant other’s frayed trouser cuffs are, in social settings, absolutely acceptable.