Toni’s makeup artist Krist Bansuelo confirms as much, relating her experience at the Vera Wang boutique in Hong Kong. As he tells it, Toni was looking through the gowns on display when the snooty staff snubbed the unassuming celebrity. “They were like, ‘Hey, don’t touch the gown!’ [Then] she said, ‘Oh, I’m going to get this,’ and that’s only when they paid attention [to her],” he says. “She flew to Hong Kong twice to get it done because she’s so small; she can’t fit into something off-the-rack.” (Like fellow celebrities Bianca Gonzalez and Kitchie Nadal, Toni opted to skip the fuss and stress over having a bridal gown made, and opted for RTW.)
This story was corroborated by commenters on the Vera Wang Instagram page. @iamhelenmorales wrote: “@verawanggang You should know how your HK sales people looked down on @celestinegonzaga and @cathygonzaga when they scouted for that gown. They deserve an earful from you.” This wouldn’t be the first time that Vera Wang has discriminated against her Asian customers.
In any case, Toni walked down the aisle in VeraWang’s Gemma serpentine gown, which could be priced from anywhere between $6,000 to $28,000, and paired them with Christian Louboutin heels. A similar Vera Wang dress was also worn by singer Hilary Duff during her 2010 nuptials to her current ex-husband Mike Comrie.Vera Wang’s social marketing team appears to be unaware of the incident at their Hong Kong boutique, taking to their Instagram page to offer their best wishes for the newlyweds: “Congratulations to #ToniGonzaga and @paulsoriano1017. We wish you a lifetime of happiness and love. Toni stunned in the #VeraWang Gemma gown. #verawangbridal #verawangcelebs #paultin”
While Toni, being the mild-mannered person she is, didn’t make a big deal out of what happened, we can’t help but think that maybe she should have just gone with Monique Lhullier.