Role Model Monday: Anna Sui
"Anna Sui, America's Most Underrated Fashion Designer"
- BoF
I have been so excited to write about Anna Sui because this past January I was able to tour the Anna Sui exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle, NYC. I was instantly in awe of Sui's designs. They are so different from that of any other fashion brand I have seen. In fact, it really inspired me to push myself out of my comfort zone when it comes to drawing.
Anna Sui was born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit. Sui worked hard to achieve to the success story she has. After high school, she went to Parsons School of Design and within two years of being there her career boomed. She and Steven Meisel designed a sportswear line and by 1981, she launched her first collection. In 2000 Anna Sui was deemed one of the "Top 5 Fashion Icons of the Decade" and in 2009 she won Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA).
Sui's designs are anything but ordinary. In an interview with Vogue she stated, "'Clothes have to be fun; otherwise, who wants to bother?'" (Vogue Runway) In each collection there is something new and exciting; whether it is a new pop of color or an intricate pattern nothing is ever bland.
She is now 56 and still designing, last month she finished her Spring 2021 Ready-To-Wear collection. You can shop at any of her 50 boutiques located in eight different countries or in one of the 300 stores that carry her collections.
Citations:
Blanks, Tim. “Anna Sui, America's Most Underrated Fashion Designer.” The Business of Fashion, The Business of Fashion, 24 May 2017, www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/the-world-of-anna-sui-exhibition
“ABOUT.” Anna Sui, annasui.com/pages/about
“Anna Sui.” Fashion Shows/Designers/ Anna Sui, Vogue Runway, www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/designer/anna-sui.
Givhan, Robin. “Anna Sui Was Ahead of Her Time. Now Fashion Is Taking Inspiration from Her Glorious Escapism.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 16 Sept. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/09/13/anna-sui-was-ahead-her-time-now-fashion-is-taking-inspiration-her-glorious-escapism/