Anna Sui
Anna Sui
Anna Sui is an American fashion designer. She was named one of the "Top 5 Fashion Icons of the Decade" and in 2009 earned the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, joining the ranks of Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and Diane von Furstenberg. Her brand categories include several fashion lines, footwear, cosmetics, fragrance, eyewear, jewelry, accessories, and a gifts line. Anna Sui products are sold through her free-standing stores...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFashion Designer
Date of Birth4 August 1964
CityDetroit, MI
CountryUnited States of America
The sexiest thing about a bikini is that it leaves something to the imagination, which is the best part.
Well, my whole thing is that I'm kind of like a show-off!
The red library is Sui's tribute to fashion maven Diana Vreeland, who served as editor for Harper's Bazaar (1939-1962) and Vogue (1963-1961). My most precious collection is my bound Vogue magazines, .. and they're kind of like my Bible. I look at them all the time when I'm trying to inspire myself for a collection.
Nothing's faster than the Internet.
There are always different influences each season. It could be a person, it could be a piece of furniture; it depends on what I'm obsessing about.
From the season I did the butterfly faux tattoos on the models on the runway, every collection we do has to have a butterfly t-shirt or trim or print. People come to me for butterflies!
A piece of fabric can get me going.
I think you have to be in the right place at the right time. And understand that and know when it is your time and how you react to it and how you respond to it.
I love punk, I love a lot of British Invasion bands, I love garage bands.
I think I'm a global citizen. My parents came from China, were educated in France and emigrated to the United States. And I think that opened up my mind to be able to live and work anywhere.
Every collection that I work on, I always think, Is this cool enough to wear to a concert?
At the point when I wanted to become a designer, I didn't think about, 'Oh, but I'm a woman,' just like didn't think about like, well, 'I'm Chinese' or that 'I'm in Michigan.' You know, none of those things were obstacles to me. I just had this idea that this is what I had to do.
I always say the next big thing will happen in unexpected places - up and coming cities that aren't necessarily boom markets.
I don't have the luxury of making clothes just to make an effect. It can't be something totally frivolous, because my distributors have to have a successful season, too.