Anna Sui
Encyclopedia
Anna Sui is an American
fashion designer. Her luxury brand retails globally in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her clothing, fragrance, cosmetic, and accessories lines sell at Anna Sui stores in over 50 countries and are also widely distributed at leading department stores worldwide. Sui is known for her timeless designs and ability to transcend eras with her historical and culturally inspired collections.
After leaving Parsons
, she worked for a variety of junior sportswear companies. During this time she began designing clothing out of her apartment. With the encouragement of friends Naomi Campbell
and Linda Evangelista
, Sui launched her first runway show in 1991. "That those professional beauties were then at the height of their fame helped stoke the reception Sui got from buyers and the news media," and helped launch the timeless and unique style that Sui's has developed over the past two decades.
In 1991, Sui opened her first retail location at 113 Greene Street in New York City's Soho District. This shop, with its lavender walls, red floors, antique black furniture, and signature dolly head mannequins has become a staple of SOHO
fashion and has guided the aesthetic of Anna Sui stores worldwide. Evoking the Anna Sui lifestyle, "the stores have come to emphasize the epitome of culture in a continually shifting fashion world." Over her career, Sui has also grown her brand internationally in the American, European, Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Her iconic fashion shows, with their much-anticipated rock music and background designs, routinely pack the Tent at Bryant Park
during her prime time Wednesday slot at Fashion Week
.
Sui's collections merge history and culture across time and space and have guided the world of fashion over the past two decades. For her innovative work, Sui has been called a designer who "never panders" by The New York Times
, and earned the distinction of being named to Time
magazine's list of the decade's top five fashion icons.
In 2006, Fortune
magazine estimated the collective value of Sui's fashion empire at over $400 million.
In 2008, she was profiled in Newsweek
s Women and Leadership, and was recognized for her contribution to fashion at the Bravo A-list Awards.
In 2009, Sui won the Council of Fashion Designers of America
Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, which serves to honor contributions made to American fashion by outstanding individuals in the industry. Sui joins the ranks of Yves St Laurent, Giorgio Armani
, Ralph Lauren
, Diane von Furstenberg
and Bill Blass
, who are past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2010, Sui featured her collection on the runway finale of the 14th cycle of America's Next Top Model
.
Sui continues to design and manufacture her signature collection in her New York City
headquarters on Fashion Avenue. There she has ardently fought to keep the industry alive and has spearheaded a campaign to "Save the Garment Center
", which was highlighted during Fashion Week in September 2008. Sui's designs attract many famous clients such as Paris Hilton
, Blake Lively
, Patricia Arquette
, Mischa Barton
, Christina Ricci
, Cher
, Naomi Campbell
, Sofia Coppola
, Lindsay Lohan
, Hilary Duff
, Maria Sharapova
, Nicole Richie
, Liv Tyler
, Courtney Love
, and James Iha
.
, Italy
, the shoe collection includes both day and evening styles, in velvet, silk, patent leather, snake and lizard skin, shearling and suede.
In 2009, Sui partnered with Target
to produce a Gossip Girl
inspired line combining Upper East Side
style with a downtown edge. The limited edition collection was available for several weeks in September. A children’s line known as "Anna Sui Mini" debuted in early 2009. Her design versatility was further displayed when Sui was contracted by Samsung
Electronics Co. to design cellular telephones.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fashion designer. Her luxury brand retails globally in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her clothing, fragrance, cosmetic, and accessories lines sell at Anna Sui stores in over 50 countries and are also widely distributed at leading department stores worldwide. Sui is known for her timeless designs and ability to transcend eras with her historical and culturally inspired collections.
Early life
Sui was born on August 4, 1952 in Detroit, Michigan. She took an interest in fashion at a very young age and began clipping fashion-magazine pages to fill her famous Genius Files. These have served as an inspiration for her line throughout her career. After moving to New York in 1970, she attended The New School's famous art and design college, Parsons The New School for Design. Ms.Sui dropped out of Parson's during her second year there.Career
Parsons The New School for Design
Parsons The New School For Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is the art and design college of The New School university. It is located in New York City's Greenwich Village, and has produced artists and designers such as Marc Jacobs, Dean and Dan Caten, Norman Rockwell, Donna Karan, Jane...
, she worked for a variety of junior sportswear companies. During this time she began designing clothing out of her apartment. With the encouragement of friends Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...
and Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista is a Canadian model. She has been featured on over 600 magazine covers and has garnered work on numerous modeling assignments with companies, most recently with L'Oréal.- Early years :...
, Sui launched her first runway show in 1991. "That those professional beauties were then at the height of their fame helped stoke the reception Sui got from buyers and the news media," and helped launch the timeless and unique style that Sui's has developed over the past two decades.
In 1991, Sui opened her first retail location at 113 Greene Street in New York City's Soho District. This shop, with its lavender walls, red floors, antique black furniture, and signature dolly head mannequins has become a staple of SOHO
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
fashion and has guided the aesthetic of Anna Sui stores worldwide. Evoking the Anna Sui lifestyle, "the stores have come to emphasize the epitome of culture in a continually shifting fashion world." Over her career, Sui has also grown her brand internationally in the American, European, Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Her iconic fashion shows, with their much-anticipated rock music and background designs, routinely pack the Tent at Bryant Park
Bryant Park
Bryant Park is a 9.603 acre privately managed public park located in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets in Midtown Manhattan...
during her prime time Wednesday slot at Fashion Week
Fashion Week
A fashion week is a fashion industry event, lasting approximately one week, which allows fashion designers, brands or "houses" to display their latest collections in runway shows and buyers and the media to take a look at the latest trends. Most importantly, these events let the industry know...
.
Achievements
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, and earned the distinction of being named to Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's list of the decade's top five fashion icons.
In 2006, Fortune
Fortune (magazine)
Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...
magazine estimated the collective value of Sui's fashion empire at over $400 million.
In 2008, she was profiled in Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
s Women and Leadership, and was recognized for her contribution to fashion at the Bravo A-list Awards.
In 2009, Sui won the Council of Fashion Designers of America
Council of Fashion Designers of America
The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. is a not-for-profit trade association of over 350 of America’s foremost fashion and accessory designers. As of 2009, Diane von Fürstenberg is the group's President and Steven Kolb is the Executive Director...
Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, which serves to honor contributions made to American fashion by outstanding individuals in the industry. Sui joins the ranks of Yves St Laurent, Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a...
, Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren
Ralph Lauren is an American fashion designer and business executive; best known for his Polo Ralph Lauren clothing brand.-Early life:...
, Diane von Furstenberg
Diane von Fürstenberg
Diane von Fürstenberg, formerly Princess Diane of Fürstenberg , is a Belgian-American fashion designer best known for her iconic wrap dress. She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon of Fürstenberg...
and Bill Blass
Bill Blass
William Ralph "Bill" Blass was an American fashion designer, born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is known for his tailoring and his innovative combinations of textures and patterns...
, who are past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2010, Sui featured her collection on the runway finale of the 14th cycle of America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
.
Sui continues to design and manufacture her signature collection in her New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
headquarters on Fashion Avenue. There she has ardently fought to keep the industry alive and has spearheaded a campaign to "Save the Garment Center
Save the Garment Center
Save the Garment Center is a campaign spearheaded by designers Nanette Lepore and Anna Sui as well as many local designers, organizations and fashion manufacturers to preserve New York City's fading Garment District...
", which was highlighted during Fashion Week in September 2008. Sui's designs attract many famous clients such as Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
, Blake Lively
Blake Lively
Blake Christina Lively is an American actress and model who stars as Serena van der Woodsen in the television teen drama series Gossip Girl...
, Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
, Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton
Mischa Anne Marsden Barton is a British-American fashion model, film, television, and stage actress, best known for her role as Marissa Cooper in the American television series The O.C..-Early life:...
, Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci
Christina Ricci is an American actress. Ricci received initial recognition and praise as a child star for her performance as Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values , and her role as Kat Harvey in Casper...
, Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...
, Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American screenwriter, film director, actress, and producer.In 2003 she received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation, and became the third woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing...
, Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop singer and model. She began her career as a child fashion model before making her motion picture debut in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent Trap at the age of 11...
, Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff
Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...
, Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...
, Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie
Nicole Camille Richie is an American fashion designer, author, actress, singer and television personality. Her father was Peter Michael Escovedo, a musician who played for a brief time with Lionel Richie, and her mother Karen was the executive assistant for Sheila Escovedo...
, Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler
Liv Rundgren Tyler is an American actress and model. She is the daughter of Aerosmith's lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Bebe Buell, model and singer. Tyler began a career in modeling at the age of 14, but after less than a year she decided to focus on acting. She made her film debut in the 1994...
, Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
, and James Iha
James Iha
James Yoshinobu Iha b. March 26, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Japanese American rock musician. He is best known as having been a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins and for his eclectic musical projects of recent years, most notably being a permanent...
.
Dolly Girl by Anna Sui
Sui launched a more youthful version of her fashion line called Dolly Girl by Anna Sui in 2004.Other lines
Anna Sui Shoes premiered on the runway for the fall collection in 1994. Manufactured in VeniceVenice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, the shoe collection includes both day and evening styles, in velvet, silk, patent leather, snake and lizard skin, shearling and suede.
In 2009, Sui partnered with Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
to produce a Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl
Gossip Girl is an American young adult novel series written by Cecily von Ziegesar and published by Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite...
inspired line combining Upper East Side
Upper East Side
The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...
style with a downtown edge. The limited edition collection was available for several weeks in September. A children’s line known as "Anna Sui Mini" debuted in early 2009. Her design versatility was further displayed when Sui was contracted by Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
Electronics Co. to design cellular telephones.
Perfumes
Sui introduced her signature fragrance and cosmetic line in 1999.- Night of Fancy
- Live Your Dream
- Dolly Girl Lil' Starlet
- Flight of Fancy
- Magic Romance
- Dolly Girl Bonjour L'Amour!
- Secret Wish
- Dolly Girl on the Beach
- Dolly Girl Ooh La love
- Dolly Girl
- Sui Love
- Sui Dreams
- Anna Sui Classic
- Rock Me
- Rock Me! Summer of Love
- Forbidden Affair