So with the show taping on Navy Pier from Friday through Sunday, White's stylist, Roberta Wagner, was looking for a local designer to dress the game-show goddess. She wanted someone with a detailed, classic sensibility.
She found it in Chicago's Manmohan Singh Duggal, better known in the fashion world as Mac Duggal. As founding partner of the Creative Group, his lines have turned up at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Macy's. White is an ideal candidate for the Mac Duggal Couture line, which is all about drama.
"As to what exactly her taste level is, I would think it would have to do with glitz a little bit, no?" asks India-born Duggal.
Yes. His dresses, which cost from $275 to $1,200, often use lush patterns that blend Indian intricacy with Western styling.
There are two restrictions, says Wagner. "We can never use white -- even though she's Vanna White," she says. "It just doesn't work well on high definition television."
No green, either. "That's the color of the puzzle board, and then you'd never see her," explains Wagner.
As good fortune would have it, Duggal is a fan of the syndicated show, which airs in Chicago at 6:30 weeknights on WLS-Channel 7.
"I've been watching the show since I was a kid, actually," he says. And Vanna? "She still looks the same."
