Anna Sui
Autumn-Winter 2020 Trends
March 21, 2020
Carolina Herrera
April 4, 2020
Anna Sui was born in Detroit in 1960 to French-educated Chinese emigrant parents. She would spend hours watching her mother sew, and knew from age four that she wanted to be a fashion designer. After graduating from Parsons School of Design, she worked at various American sportswear labels while launching her own collection out of her apartment in 1981.
When her collection was featured in a New York Times advertisement, her boss at her day job found out and fired her on the spot. Sui took her $300 in savings and devoted herself to her own line, working from the corner of her apartment for several years. Sui’s aesthetic veered toward more alternative grunge looks despite the trend at the time of “power dressing” dominated by big fashion houses Chanel, Versace, and Lacroix.
By the late 80s, Sui and other alternative designers like Marc Jacobs, Daryl K, and Todd Oldham, had managed to gain a global cult following. Her style is remarkable for its playfulness, lightheartedness, and contemporary mix of vintage and cultural arcana. Since the late 90s, her brand has expanded to include several product lines, and she has been involved in several collaboration projects.
