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EXCLUSIVE: Vera Wang Responds To Soap Actress’s Angry Tweets

On Tuesday night actress Nancy Lee Grahn (who plays the attorney Alexis Davis on General Hospital), fired off several angry tweets about how someone at Vera Wang told the show’s costume department that the brand didn’t want its dresses on a soap opera. But according to Vera Wang, no one from General Hospital reached out to them to begin with.

RELATED: Vera Wang Knocks Off The Gowns She Designed For Kim Kardashian

In her tweets, Grahn accused a sales associate at the fashion house’s Melrose Place store in Los Angeles of telling its wardrobe staff that “we dont do television & definately not DAYTIME television….” Grahn went on to say that General Hospital offered to buy the dress, but they were kicked out of the store.

A source at Vera Wang said over the phone Wednesday afternoon that Grahn’s accusations were surprising and unusual. The source says the Vera Wang press office would “love the exposure” of being on a show as big as General Hospital — and pointed out that Wang’s dresses — bridal and otherwise — have been all over television. Wang recently dressed Kim Kardashian for her wedding to basketball player Kris Humphries, and before that, its dresses had been featured on shows like The View, Oprah and The Martha Stewart Show. The source added that turning down a sale under any circumstance would be “very strange.”

PHOTOS: Chelsea’s Gorgeous Vera Wang Wedding Dress

But according to Mary Iannelli, General Hospital‘s costume designer, that’s exactly what happened. Iannelli wrote in an email that the store told her to go to David’s Bridal, where Vera Wang sells a lower-priced collection.

“Our audience, they claimed, was not their targeted market,” Iannelli wrote. “Never once did I ask to borrow any gowns from Vera Wang. Our intention was to purchase, NOT borrow, so it was insulting to be treated like I was asking for hand outs.”

In fact, our source told us that denying a TV request doesn’t happen frequently — and when it does it’s a special circumstance.

“It’s sort of like a non-compete. Sometimes, I’ve had several shows ask me at once, and then I’ve had to decline a new request,” when a sample dress couldn’t be in two places at one, the source said.

Requests for comment from Grahn were not returned as of this posting, and maybe that’s because she feels she’s said what needs saying. Grahn’s tweets widely accuse Wang of being an elitist brand that’s too good for the masses, but its lower-priced lines for Kohl’s, David’s Bridal and Zales say otherwise.

RELATED: Vera Wang’s David’s Bridal Collection Is Beautiful, Affordable

“We’re one of the few designers that have really made an effort to have something for everybody,” our source said. “We love all of our customers equally.”



  • cupkake

    Well these accusations wil not detore me from getting Vera Wang’s brand to dress me in the most elite style and stunning gown for my wedding day!

  • suze

    Just like a soap star they over-dramatize everything and now after starting this nonsense she has nothing to say.

  • EC

    suze: What does your comment even mean? How many soap stars do you know personally? The actress in question has plenty to say, according to her Twitter account.

  • GH fan

    I love Nancy Lee Grahn and Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo. It’s unbelievable that Vera Wang refused to allow General Hospital’s costume department buy a Vera Wang wedding dress for Brenda’s wedding to Sonny, but told Marcil Giovinazzo that she could buy a Vera Wang dress for her personal wedding. Awesome that Vanessa Marcil Giovinazzo turned her down. Both Brenda and Vanessa were dressed in Oscar de la Renta instead. Snobbery gets you nowhere. https://twitter.com/#!/VanessaMarcilG

  • A1sspiked

    Sounds more like a shopgirl forgot what her job was…and caught a case of the im-more-important-than-i-really-ams

  • Dena

    sounds like another whiny actress didn’t get what she wanted.  Who the heck cares?  I don’t buy designer clothes because of the cost and I have better things to do with my money than make investments in clothing that will eventually wear out and will never be worth what I paid for it!

  • Dena

    I doubt the story.  More likely there was a misunderstanding of what was actually needed.

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