Vera Wang says her collection of black wedding dresses was inspired by lingerie

• Vera Wang released a line of black and cream wedding gowns in 2011.
• Wang told Insider she was inspired by lingerie for the collection and thought black was sexy.

Vera Wang once designed a wedding dress collection based on lingerie, as she told Insider.

Insider spoke to the famed designer ahead of the launch of her exclusive wedding stationery collection with The Knot, which includes 14 coordinating wedding invitations and paper suites.

"Invitations are the first public statement you make as a couple," the designer, who still has her own wedding invitations, said of why she wanted to design her own collection. "It sets the tone on so many levels profoundly: how you are as a couple, what your shared taste is."

During the conversation with Insider, Wang reflected on her career in bridal and current wedding dress trends, including black wedding dresses.

Although they've become more popular in recent years, Wang was one of the first modern designers to experiment with them, as she released a line of black and cream wedding gowns in 2011.

She told Insider the collection was inspired by lingerie.

"I realized that girls love underwear, and most of the time they're either wearing black or they're wearing nude," Wang said. "I just said, 'Wouldn't it be cool to take that whole lingerie concept and transfer it or cross-pollinate into bridal?'"

She said people thought she was "depressed" when the collection became available, but that wasn't how she saw it.

"I thought it was sexy," Wang said.

The designer added that she thinks brides are gravitating towards sexier gowns in general because they're more comfortable than traditional wedding dresses.

"Most women aren't used to wearing a ball gown," Wang told Insider. "It's very cumbersome, even though we try to make them extremely light and floaty."