For decades people have gathered around their TVs at night to watch one of the best games shows in history, Wheel of Fortune. It’s a game that gets the whole family screaming out letters, shouting answers to puzzles and laughing at some of the contestants’ terrible guesses. One of my favorite things about Wheel of Fortune, however, doesn’t have anything to do with spinning the wheel or solving the puzzle — it’s seeing what gorgeous gown Vanna White is wearing. So what exactly goes into choosing all of those iconic outfits?
For more than 40 years and 8,000 episodes, Vanna White has gotten to play dress-up each night on Wheel of Fortune, donning floor-length sequinned numbers and sleek cocktail dresses. She spoke recently to TV Insider about the selection process, revealing that designers typically show the studio about 40 options for her to try on, and there’s one very specific criteria each dress must meet. White said:
When I’m trying them, we say, ‘Does this work? Is it good?’ If I can’t raise my arms to the top level of letters, I can’t wear it.
The woman’s got a job to do, after all, so functionality and being able to move is as important as any part of it. After she tries on all the dresses, the studio chooses about a dozen to go into the rotation.
In all her years turning letters on Wheel of Fortune, Vanna White said she’s only repeated one dress, and that was by accident four years ago, as her stylist didn’t realize she’d already worn the look until it was too late. She hilariously called her broken streak “so 2020” in a video that showed the duplicated blue number.
Four decades is a long time to be spending your whole workday getting in and out of formalwear (with multiple episodes filmed per day, the co-host is no stranger to a costume change), so it’s no surprise that Vanna White has strong opinions when it comes to her favorite colors and styles. She said she prefers cocktail dresses so that she can be confident she won’t trip, and as for color palette, she loves a “bright pastel.” As for her favorite style to wear, White divulged:
If I had my choice, it would be a loose-fitting cocktail dress with sleeves. A lot of my dresses are strapless and require a strapless undergarment, which us ladies know aren’t the most comfortable all the time, especially when you’re moving around.
Functionality AND comfort in fashion? A woman after my own heart. It turns out Vanna White has a favorite dress too, as she recalled a pink gown that was trimmed with feathers that she wore in 2016. She said pink is her favorite color and it reminded her of a dress she wore as a child playing with Barbies.
Lucky for us, we get to continue watching Vanna White dress up like Barbie each night even after we bid farewell to one of the best game show hosts ever in Pat Sajak. Following Sajak’s retirement announcement, White renegotiated her contract to remain on Wheel of Fortune for at least the first two seasons of Ryan Seacrest’s reign — unless the rumors of trouble between Seacrest and Whtie are true and she chooses to leave the show sooner.
Stay tuned to the 2024 TV schedule to see when to catch the new duo on Wheel of Fortune’s 42nd season this September.
