Anna Sui (; born August 4, 1955) is an American fashion designer. Her brand categories include several fashion lines, footwear, cosmetics,

fragrances An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance, flavoring or flavor, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficien ...

eyewear Eyewear is a term used to refer to all devices worn over both of a person's eyes, or occasionally a single eye, for one or more of a variety of purposes. Though historically used for vision improvement and correction, eyewear has also evolved into ...

, jewelry,

accessories Accessory may refer to: * Accessory (legal term), a person who assists a criminal In anatomy * Accessory bone * Accessory breast * Accessory kidney * Accessory muscle * Accessory nucleus, in anatomy, a cranial nerve nucleus * Accessory nerve ...

and home goods. Sui 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 The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessor ...

(CFDA), joining the ranks of Yves Saint Laurent,

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer and a billionaire. He first gained renown working for Cerruti 1881. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expanded into music, sport, and luxury hotels. By 200 ...

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for founding the brand Ralph Lauren (brand), Ralph Lauren, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He stepped do ...

, and

Diane von Furstenberg Diane may refer to: People *Diane (given name) Film * ''Diane'' (1929 film), a German silent film * ''Diane'' (1956 film), a historical drama film starring Lana Turner * ''Diane'' (2017 film), a mystery film directed by Michael Mongillo * ''D ...

Early life and family origins

Sui is a second-generation Chinese-American born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Her father, Paul Sui () and mother, Grace Sui Fang () met while studying at the Sorbonne in Paris where Sui's father was studying engineering and her mother, painting. Her paternal grandparents were Xiao Yulan (), a Tahitian-Chinese businessman, and his wife Qiu Daidi (). Her maternal grandparents were Fang Chih, a Chinese diplomat and his Japanese wife named Fang I-chih (born Masue Ueki). Sui is a matrilineal descendant of the prominent Fang clan of Tongcheng,

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

, notable for its many

scholars A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a terminal ...

and philosophers. She is an 18th generation descendant of Fang Bao, an influential Chinese poet who founded the Tongcheng School of literary

prose Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...

popular throughout the Qing Empire. Notable

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

s also include Fang Gongcheng,

tutor Tutoring is private academic help, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects. A tutor, formally also called an academic tutor, is a person who provides assis ...

of the imperial palace, and Fang Guancheng,

Viceroy of Zhili The Viceroy of Zhili, officially in Chinese as the Governor-General of the Directly Subordinate Province and Other Local Areas, in Charge of Military Affairs, Food and Wages, Management of Rivers and Governor Affairs, was one of eight regional ...

seated at

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

from 1749 to 1768 amongst other Qing era scholars. Her niece is actress and model Chase Sui Wonders. By the time she was four years old, Sui knew she wanted to be a fashion designer. Sui's mother taught her about putting together a wardrobe, bringing a young Sui with her to shop for fabrics. Sui would spend hours watching her mother sew and would collect the fabric scraps to clothe her

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

dolls and her brothers' army action figures. Through this process, Sui learned the basics of making clothing and soon she was putting together her own outfits. This was accomplished by buying pattern pieces for the sleeves of a dress, and swapping them to match other dresses, to create her own look for the garments. As a teen, she read an article in ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine about the achievements of Mia Fonssagrives-Solow and Vicky Tiel who graduated from

Parsons School of Design The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

in New York City and then moved to Paris, where

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was an English and American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 19 ...

and

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...

opened a boutique with the girls. Sui credits reading this article as a pivotal moment in her youth, which gave her clear direction on her goals for her future.

Early career

Sui moved to New York and attended Parsons, but after finishing her second year, Sui was hired in 1975 by Erica Elias' juniors clothing label Charlie's Girls, where she learned by designing for

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is athletic clothing, including footwear, worn for sports activity or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical spor ...

labels and doing styling on the photography shoots of friend and former Parsons' classmate

Steven Meisel Steven Meisel (born June 5, 1954) is an American fashion photographer, who obtained popularity and critical acclaim with his work in '' Vogue'' and '' Vogue Italia'' as well as his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book, '' Sex''. He is ...

. Sui's work as a stylist for Meisel's shoots featured in the Italian magazine ''Lei'' specifically were very well received. After the closing of Charlie's Girls, Sui worked for several other sportswear designers including Bobbie Brooks and Simultanee. During this time, she began designing and making clothes out of her apartment. Sui stated that she was inspired to branch out on her own by a desire to dress rock stars and people who attended their concerts. Indeed, during this period, the majority of her personal business was focused on targeting sales to music stores. While working for the sportswear company Glenora, she brought her collection of five pieces to a New York

trade show A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and ...

, and caught the attention of New York

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which purchased the Macy's department store chain in 1994, ...

and

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

. A few weeks later, in August 1979, those clothes were featured in a full-page Macy's ad in the Sunday edition of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. The manager at Glenora, where Sui was still on the payroll, was furious when he saw the advertisement in the ''Times'' and fired her on the spot. Left without a job, Sui took her $300 in savings and started a business out of a little corner of the living room in her apartment. For several years Sui ran the company out of her apartment, doing odd-jobs for spare income and reinvesting every penny of earnings into her business.

Anna Sui line

The 1980s was the height of "power-dressing", with companies such as

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. It is privately owned by French brothers, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, through the holding company Chanel Limited, established in 2018 and headquarte ...

, Lacroix and

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury elite fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as well as '' haute couture'' under it ...

setting the standard. Sui struggled to stand up next to the big-name fashion houses. Sui was one of the few designers of the period who distanced herself from the traditional fashion houses and explored the grunge fashion scene together with designers such as

Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for his own fashion label, Marc Jacobs, and formerly Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, which was produced for approximately 15 years, before it was d ...

, Daryl K and Todd Oldham. Around 1987, Sui got the opportunity to move her line into Annette B, a showroom curated by Annette Breindel. Breindel, who had a history of nurturing young designers, was a major influence for Sui and helped the designer emerge onto the fashion scene. During this period, Sui finally was able to move her operation out of her apartment and into the garment district. By the late 1980s, Sui had gained a global cult-like following, getting the attention of Japanese fashion powerhouses such as Onward Kashiyama. Sui would go on to majorly expand Japanese operations in the mid 90s. At

Paris Fashion Week Paris Fashion Week (, commonly ) is a series of designer presentations held semi-annually in Paris, France, with spring/summer and autumn/winter events held each year. Dates are determined by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Pa ...

in 1991, Sui received one of the first major breakthroughs of her career. Sui was driving with her friend

to see the

Jean Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 June 1952) is a French haute couture and Ready-to-wear, prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs in ...

show. On the way to the show, they stopped to pick up

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

, a friend of Meisel's. Madonna surprised Sui by wearing her clothing to the event. Madonna would later wear the same outfit again for Meisel's photoshoot for ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

''. Sui's first runway show took place later that year upon her return to New York City. In 1991, Meisel, Paul Cavaco and Sui's supermodel friends,

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is a British supermodel. Beginning her career at the age of eight, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was th ...

Christy Turlington Christy Nicole Turlington Burns ( Turlington; born January 2, 1969) is an American fashion model. She initially attracted fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a supermodel. She represented Calvin Klein's Eternity campaign in 1989 and aga ...

and

Linda Evangelista Linda Evangelista (born May 10, 1965) is a Canadian fashion model. She is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential models of all time, and has been featured on over 700 magazine covers. Evangelista is primarily known for being t ...

, got together and encouraged her to try a runway show. Sui rented a small space in the

Meatpacking District The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan that runs from West 14th Street south to Gansevoort Street, and from the Hudson River east to Hudson Street. The Meatpacking Business Improvement District alo ...

and paid the models by giving them the clothes. The successful show was the biggest breakthrough of Sui's career, with ''The New York Times'' commenting in reference to Sui's celebrity runway models: "That those beauties ampbell and Evangelistawere then at the height of their fame helped stoke the reception Sui got from

buyers Procurement is the process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual obl ...

and the news media." From her first show, Sui was known for her light-hearted, whimsical, homemade and entertaining approach to showcasing her collections. The influences came from contemporary shows by designers such as

Thierry Mugler Manfred Thierry Mugler (; 21 December 1948 – 23 January 2022) was a French fashion designer, creative director and creative adviser of Mugler. In the 1970s, Mugler launched his eponymous fashion house; and quickly rose to prominence in the fol ...

and

where one of the goals was to charm the audience with the atmosphere created. The atmosphere often had a distinct party vibe and the antics of guests and participants were described as a distinct cultural scene of the period. Starting in 1995, Sui's designs were showcased regularly in '' Vogue Patterns''. Her debut with the style magazine featured dresses from her Spring/Summer 1995 collection inspired by period

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit * Pulp (band), an English rock band Engineering * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture ...

comics and the puffed sleeve, square shouldered, floral dress fashion popular during the war rationing years of 1940s era fashion.

Retail presence

The designer opened her first retail location in 1992 at 113 Greene Street in New York City's Soho District. The

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

store was known for its red floors, antique black furniture, signature dolly head

mannequin A mannequin (sometimes spelled as manikin and also called a dummy, lay figure, or dress form) is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off dif ...

s and its purple walls which Sui painted herself. In 1993, the Anna Sui Corporation opened a store in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

La Brea Avenue La Brea Avenue is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the Los Angeles, California, City of Los Angeles and in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California. La Brea is known for having diverse ethnic communities, and m ...

expanding coverage and controlling North American

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

. The same year, Sui introduced menswear into her runway collections with

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

later appearing on

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

in one of the designer's suits. Later, in June 2015, Sui relocated her Soho

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

to 424

Broome Street Broome Street is an east–west street in Lower Manhattan. It runs nearly the full width of Manhattan island, from Hudson Street in the west to Lewis Street in the east, near the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. The street is interrupted ...

from its previous 23 year long location on Greene Street. The store moved out of the Broome Street space in late 2020.

Global expansion

1997 marked one of the pivotal years in the emergence of Sui onto the world stage. The first freestanding Anna Sui

boutique A () is a retail shop that deals in high end fashionable clothing or accessories. The word is French for "shop", which derives ultimately from the Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in anc ...

s opened in 1997 in Tokyo and

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

through a distribution and sales license with

Isetan ( unlisted on March 26, 2008, ) is a Japanese department store. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Isetan has branches throughout Japan and South East Asia, including in Jakarta, Jinan, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Shanghai, Singapore, Surabaya and Tianjin, ...

. Sui also partnered with Italian shoemaker Ballin to create a shoe line. For the Spring/Summer 1997 fashion collection, Sui drew considerable media attention when

Dave Navarro David Michael Navarro (born June 7, 1967) is an American guitarist. He is best known as a member of the rock band Jane's Addiction, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Between 1993 and 1998, Navarro was the guitarist of Red Hot Chili ...

of the

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

appeared on the runway for her show in underwear only. The same year, mannequin designer Ralph Pucci made full sized

s using her dolly heads. The mannequins were based on the measurements of model Michele Hicks and would later form the inspiration for Sui's first diffusion brand, Dolly Girl. The Fall/Winter collection, which took place at the Church of Divine Paternity, a

gothic style Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved from Romanesque ar ...

church in Manhattan, was noted at the time for its infusion of whimsy and lightheartedness and its repudiation of the conspicuously dark undertones traditionally associated with

gothic fashion Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the goth subculture. A dark, sometimes morbid, fashion and style of clothing, dress, typical gothic fashion includes black Hair coloring, dyed hair and black clothes. Both male and female go ...

. In 1999, Anna Sui launched her

fragrance An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance, flavoring or flavor, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficien ...

, Anna Sui Classic, with

Wella Wella Aktiengesellschaft, AG is a German company specializing in hair care, Hair styling, styling, colorants, and other beauty products, and was founded in 1880 in Germany by Franz Ströher. Its headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany. The company w ...

AG and cosmetics line with

Albion Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than "Britain" today. The name for Scot ...

. In 2000, Sui launched a skincare line, also with Albion. The same year, her collections were featured as a part of the ''Fashion in Motion'' exhibition at London's

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

. In 2003, the designer launched her Dolly Girl fragrance together with several

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition or expanded edition are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as b ...

sets in the Dolly Girl series. The same year, Wella AG was acquired by

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

who continued the partnership. In 2003, Sui launched a long-term collaboration collection with

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

designer Ali Rapp called Ali Rapp for Anna Sui. The collaboration consists of ready to wear, handbags, fashion accessories, T-shirts and cloth dolls. Items have been featured in Sui's shows in 2008 and 2013.

Specialized collaborations

In April 2004, the designer entered a collaboration with

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

and William Tucci designing the wardrobe for several of the main characters in Tucci's ''Shi: Ju-Nen'', a miniseries in the hit comic Shi. Sui took the wardrobes from her Fall 2004 fashion collection, with items including yukata kimono minidresses and purple

hose A hose is a flexible hollow tube or pipe designed to carry fluids from one location to another, often from a faucet or hydrant. Early hoses were made of leather, although modern hoses are typically made of rubber, canvas, and helically wound w ...

and high-heels. In October, Sui partnered with Gonzo K.K. Studios to design costumes for the characters in their 2004 television series Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, a series loosely based on

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' () is an adventure novel by the French writer Alexandre Dumas. It was serialised from 1844 to 1846, and published in book form in 1846. It is one of his most popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers'' (184 ...

by French author

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

. In 2005, Sui was contracted by

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

Electronics Co. in partnership with ''

'' to design a Samsung SGH-E315

cell phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This radio ...

. The limited edition handset which was available through

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

sold out in the first month with products occasionally coming for sale on

eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...

. Sui also partnered with

Anthropologie Anthropologie is an Economy of the United States, American retailer operating in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the UK that sells clothing, jewelry, home furniture, decorations, beauty products, and gifts. Anthropologie is part of Urban ...

to launch a fashion collection called Anna Sui for Anthropologie. The same year, Sui also entered into a 2-year deal with

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing and beauty products, beauty retailer. Founded in 1977 by a Stanford graduate student and his wife, Roy Raymond, Roy and Gaye Raymond, the company's five lingerie stores were sold to Les Wexner i ...

designing a lingerie line for the company. In 2006, Anna Sui launched a limited edition Anna Sui Boho

Barbie doll Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll which Handler had purchas ...

in partnership with

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

. She later launched a limited edition collection with

called Anna Sui for Victoria's Secret. For the

Hello Kitty , also known by her real name , is a fictional character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as a British anthropomorphized white cat with a red ...

30th Anniversary in 2007, Sui partnered with the Japanese company to create a limited edition collection in tribute to the milestone. The

stuffed animal A stuffed toy is a toy with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, lovies and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys ...

s from this collection sell for over US$100.00 on eBay. In November 2007, Sui followed up on the success of her US cell phone collaboration with the launch of the Dolly Girl by Anna Sui model fanfun. 815T cell phone in collaboration with

Softbank Mobile is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a m ...

which was distributed online in Japan. In 2008, Sui launched the Dolly Girl clothing collection in Japan to follow-up on her previous fragrance lines. Later in 2008, Sui partnered with

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

to design a customized car, the

Nissan 350z : The Nissan 350Z (known as Nissan Fairlady Z (Z33) in Japan) is a two-door, two-seater sports car that was manufactured by Nissan, Nissan Motor Corporation from 2002 until 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Nissan Z-car, Z-car line. ...

Anna Sui Limited Edition which was featured at various roadshows. In 2011, Sui collaborated with Google to create a themed

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...

web browser extension. In November 2012, Sui and Albion partnered with UK online seller ASOS to launch a Fall/Winter 2013 Anna Sui Cosmetics line in Europe. The series featured a collaboration with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

. In April 2014, Sui returned to her native Detroit to partner with the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

in creating the Mustang Unleashed Collection celebrating the 50 year anniversary of the

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American Car, automobiles manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its Ford Mustang (seventh ...

. Later in April, Sui and Hong Kong based I.T. Apparels Ltd partnered with Lab Made, a Hong Kong ice cream vendor famous for pioneering the obscure market of liquid nitrogen ice cream to create an Anna Sui × Lab Made pop-up store which was featured at the company's Tsimshatsui branch throughout April 2014. The collaboration also featured Sui's own flavor of purple ice cream and the opening was announced by Hong Kong celebrity Alfred Hui, a contract artist for Hong Kong's

Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

. In July, Sui launched a lingerie line in Korea with Alvin Korea Co. Ltd. which was launched with a full scale lingerie fashion show at the

Ritz Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates the Hotel#Luxury, luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 conference and resort hotels, luxury hotels an ...

Hotel in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. In October, Sui partnered with the CFDA to launch a collaboration with

Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...

called Anna Sui × Best Buy as a part of their designer's series. In March 2015, Sui and

partnered with

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...

to launch the Sailor Moon × Anna Sui collection which was featured at the Isetan store in

Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...

. Sui also partnered with French dessert maker

Ladurée Pâtisserie E. Ladurée, commonly known as Ladurée (), is a French manufacturer and retailer of high-end pastries and candy, established in 1862. Ladurée is well-known throughout the world for its Macaron, macarons. The company is a ''socié ...

to create a collaboration called Anna Sui × Ladurée as a part of the Les Merveilleuses Ladurée collection. In November 2015, the

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

× Anna Sui collection was announced, a holiday collaboration between the coffeehouse chain and the fashion designer. In August 2016, the 20th anniversary of Sui's entry into the Japanese market, Anna Sui Japan launched ''Anna Sui Mag'', an online Japanese language magazine and lifestyle blog. For Singapore's Golden Jubilee, Sui partnered with Uniform and Shentonista to create a commemorative SG50 tote featured in a blog series by Shentonista. In January 2017, Sui collaborated with

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy brand owned by Hasbro. Kenner Products began as a toy company founded in 1946, going on to produce several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures for t ...

Takara was a Japanese toy company founded in 1955. In March 2006, the company merged with Tomy, Tomy Company, Ltd. to form Tomy, Takara Tomy. The Takara motto was("playing is culture"). The company focused on traditional toys and board games. They cr ...

to launch Blythe Adores Anna doll collection. The collection released in Japan with a further 500 dolls being further released via international lottery. In 2019, as part of Barbie's 60th anniversary, 4 limited sets of dolls with outfits from Sui's Spring 2019 collection were released.

Retail collaborations

In 2009, Sui partnered with

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

to produce a ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series created and developed by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage and based on the series of novels of the same name by Cecily von Ziegesar. It follows a group of students on Manhattan's ...

'' inspired line combining

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

style with a "downtown" edge called Anna Sui for Target. The limited edition collection, with affordable reworkings of pieces from her previous runway collections, was launched in September and sold in more than 800 stores and online. In 2011, she partnered with

Hush Puppies Hush Puppies is an American brand of casual footwear. A division of Wolverine World Wide, Hush Puppies is headquartered in Rockford, Michigan. Wolverine also licenses the Hush Puppies name for apparel, toys and accessories. Hush Puppies uses a ...

to create a limited edition shoe collection which debuted in the Fall 2011 fashion show. She went on to also partner with

Tumi Tumi ( ''Quechua'' for 'Knife', ''variants'': 'Tome', 'Tume'), is a generic term encompassing the many kinds of sharp tools utilized in pre- and post-colonial eras of the Central Andes region, Tumis were employed for a diverse set of purposes ...

to create a line of suitcases and travel items. In 2012, Sui collaborated with

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and created a handbag line called Anna Sui for Coach. In February, 2014,

Lee Min-ho Lee Min-ho (, born June 22, 1987) is a South Korean actor and singer. He gained widespread fame with his role as Gu Jun-pyo in the Korean drama, television series ''Boys Over Flowers (2009 TV series), Boys Over Flowers'' (2009), which also earn ...

announced the Anna Sui for

Fila Fila (; ) is a South Korean-owned athleisure brand headquartered in Seoul. The company was originally founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Italy. Fila Korea acquired the brand in 2007 and launched its initial p ...

collection in Asia on behalf of

Anta Sports Anta Sports Products Limited is a Chinese sports equipment multinational corporation headquartered in Jinjiang, Fujian, Jinjiang, China. It is the world's third-largest sportswear company by revenue, behind Nike, Inc., Nike and Adidas ahead of L ...

Products and Fila China which launched in 2015. In April 2015, Sui partnered with

O'Neill The O'Neill dynasty ( Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically one of the most prominent family of the Nor ...

to launch the collaborative collection titled Anna Sui for O'Neill, a collection inspired by the California beach scene. In August, Sui partnered with American boot-maker The Frye Company to launch a limited edition collection titled Anna Sui × Frye, which expanded a previous collaboration between the two houses to develop boots for Sui's Fall/Winter 2015

fashion show A fashion show is an event put on by a fashion designer to showcase their upcoming line of clothing and/or accessories during a fashion week. Fashion shows debut every season, particularly the spring/summer and fall/winter seasons. This is wh ...

. The collection was inspired by Nordic culture and

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

's show

Vikings Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

. In February 2016, Sui partnered with

Opening Ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

to collaborate on the label's "Year of China" Spring Summer 2016 collection which also featured brands like Renli Su, Ms Min and Vivienne Tam amongst others. For the collaboration, Sui and Opening Ceremony reissued pieces from Sui's 1993 and 1994 collections. In July 2017, Sui teamed up with Macy's, the retailer that gave her her first big break more than 35 years earlier. The collection, Anna Sui X International Concepts, included both new versions of runway pieces, jewelry and shoes, as well as "Anna Sui Loves" approved items by Macy's own design team. In August, PBTeen launched Sui's collection, inspired by Art Nouveau and her own adolescent bedroom, with bedding, accessories such as rugs and lamps, and furniture. In August 2018, Sui collaborated with online retailer Modcloth on an 8-dress capsule collection in extended sizes. The dresses used adapted silhouettes and prints from previous collections in new colorways.

Recognition

In 1992, Sui won the CFDA Perry Ellis award for new talent. In 2009, Sui was presented with the Classic Icon of Fashion Design award at the China Fashion Awards in Beijing and with the CFDA's Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award in her native New York City. In 2010, Sui collaborated with Andrew Bolton to publish a book chronicling her 20-year career. Later in the year, she launched her Forbidden Affair fragrance. In April, Sui attended the Identities 2011 fashion show at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

where she spoke to the students and was honored with the program's Leadership of the Arts Award. From May to November 2013, clothing from Sui's 1999 and 2000 collections were featured at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology as a part of their ''RetroSpective: Fashion & Textile History Gallery'' exhibition. In June 2016, a historical retrospective of Sui's designs displayed at the Beijing SKP department store. The collection featured Anna Sui designed items and outfits dating from Sui's first show in 1991 through her 2016 collections. In May 2017, London's Fashion and Textile Museum debuted an Anna Sui exhibition titled '' The World of Anna Sui''. The exhibition marks the first ever museum retrospective in the United Kingdom featuring an American fashion designer and the first time Sui has been the sole subject of a museum exposition. The exhibition announcement coincided with the announcement of a new book on Sui's career by ''

The Business of Fashion Imran Amed (born April 20, 1975) is a Canadian British, Canadian-British fashion media entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of the website ''The Business of Fashion''. Early life Amed was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. He ...

's'' Editor-at-Large, Tim Blanks. The Anna Sui X INC International Concepts collection for

was announced for September 2017 featuring model Karen Elson. In 2018, Sui received the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Pioneer Award at the United Nations in recognition for her achievements in fashion.

Reception

For her innovative work, Sui has been called a designer who "never panders" by ''

'', and earned the distinction of being named to ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine's list of the decade's top five fashion icons. Sui's work has been extensively covered both by the journalist industry as a whole and by the fashion press in particular. Her seasonal shows are regularly covered by ''Vogue'', '' Style.com'', ''

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides i ...

'' and many other news and editorial platforms. In general, the ambiance created in the designer's shows is particularly well received with the media commenting on details such as the anticipation surrounding the soundtracks to the playful and lighthearted environment.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is a series of international fashion weeks sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, a brand of Daimler AG. Designers featured during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks include notable designers such as Rosenthal Tee, Mary Katrantzou and Davi ...

called Sui's career "a classic American success story," quoting Sui's determined attitude: "You have to focus on your dreams, even if they go beyond common sense. How could this young girl from the suburbs of Detroit become a success in New York? It was always that dream." Reviews generally refer to the thoroughness of the designer's research and her tying together of various trends and topics both historical and current.

Charity and community involvement

In 1996, Sui partnered with

General Motors Corporation General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing four automobile brands: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, ...

as a part of the GM/ CFDA Concept: Cure collaboration between General Motors and various fashion industry companies, raising awareness about and raising research funds for breast cancer. As a part of the program, Sui designed a

GMC Yukon GMC may refer to: Government India * Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation, in Gujarat * Gobichettipalayam Municipal Corporation, in Tamil Nadu * Guntur Municipal Corporation, in Andhra Pradesh * Guwahati Municipal Corporation, in Assam * Gwalior ...

which was sold at silent auction to raise funds. Following the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001 on New York City's World Trade Center, Sui worked with actor

Ellen Barkin Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film ''Diner'', and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as '' Tender Mercies'' (1983), '' Eddie and the Cruisers'' (1 ...

designing an outfit to raise funds to benefit the Leary Firefighters Foundation and the firefighters who perished in the response. Sui designs and manufactures her signature collection in her New York City headquarters on Fashion Avenue and has been an advocate of her

Made in USA A Made in USA mark is a country of origin label affixed to American-made products that indicates the product is "all or virtually all" domestically produced, manufactured and assembled in the United States. The label is regulated by the Federal ...

approach. In addition to her work as a designer, Sui 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. Following the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

, Sui put several of her designs up for auction on

, donating the proceeds to Citizens for Justice and Peace, a

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

-based civil-rights organization. In 2010, Sui partnered with

and Bearbrick in a charity event benefitting the World Wildlife Foundation and Malaysia's

Forest Restoration Forest restoration is defined as "actions to re-instate ecological processes, which accelerate recovery of forest structure, ecological functioning and biodiversity levels towards those typical of climax forest", i.e. the end-stage of natural ...

and Orang-utan Monitoring Project, with proceeds from a limited edition collection going to the cause. In March 2011, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, Sui designed and sold shirts in lavender and black printed with the words ''Japan, We're All in This Together''. All proceeds were turned over to the Japan Disaster Relief Fund. In 2012, Sui worked with musician and friend

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

to design uniforms for employees at White's

Third Man Records Third Man Records is an eclectic, vinyl-focused independent record label founded and owned by Jack White, Ben Blackwell, and Ben Swank. The company operates out of three locations—Nashville, Detroit, and Soho in London—with multiple entitie ...

retail store which opened in Nashville in November 2012. A second location also opened in Detroit's

Cass Corridor The Cass Corridor is a neighborhood on the west end of Midtown Detroit. It includes the Cass Park Historic District, the Cass-Davenport Historic District and Chinatown, Detroit, Old Chinatown. The corridor's main street, Cass Avenue, runs parall ...

in November 2015 also featuring Sui's uniform dresses. In September 2014, in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz'',

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and the Tonner Doll Company organized the creation of a collection of commemorative dolls designed by several famous American designers including

Donna Karan Donna Karan ( ; born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as DK, is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life and education Karan was born to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabinow ...

, Charlotte Ronson, Trina Turk and Sui. The collection of dolls was exhibited at the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college under the State University of New York, in New York City. It focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in ...

and

between September and October 2014 before being auctioned on

Giving Works with proceeds going to

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a U.S. non-governmental, and tax-exempt 501(C)(3) Christian nonprofit organization which seeks to build affordable housing. The international ...

's There's No Place Like Home campaign. In June 2015, Sui partnered with New York restaurant Serendipity 3 in a charity fundraiser to celebrate the restaurant's 60 year anniversary benefiting the Bowery Mission, a rescue mission and shelter in the

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighbourhood, neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City, New York. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row (Manhattan), Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th ...

area of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Sui regularly gives lectures to students and around the United States to inspire future generations to pursue their dreams. In October 2015, Sui spoke to local students about her experiences at the Michigan Theater in

Ann Arbor Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

as a part of the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

's Penny Stamps Speaker Series hosted by the Stamps School of Art and Design. Sui emphasized the need to not be intimidated by the industry which is sometimes described as cutthroat, even recounting her experiences from when she had been fired from a position at a sportswear company early in her career. Following the lecture, some of Sui's designs went on display as part of the

Detroit Historical Museum The Detroit Historical Museum is located at 5401 Woodward Avenue in the city's Cultural Center Historic District in Midtown Detroit. It chronicles the history of the Detroit area from cobblestone streets, 19th century stores, the auto assembl ...

's Booth-Wilkinson Gallery exhibition ''Fashion D.Fined: The Past, Present and Future of Detroit Fashion''. In January 2017, Sui showcased a pair of

Vans Vans (originally called the Van Doren Rubber Company) is an American apparel, accessories, and skateboarding shoes brand, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and ...

shoes she designed to benefit the Vans Custom Culture competition, an annual campaign by Vans raising funds and awareness for high school art programs.

Lines

Anna Sui Shoes, manufactured in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Italy, premiered on the runway for the fall collection in 1994. Later, Sui began production of a diffusion fashion line called "Sui by Anna Sui" and a

jeans Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by ...

line called "Anna Sui Jeans" with Italian fashion house Gilmar S.p.A. The same year, Sui and

also began consulting for Gilmar's Cento x Cento and Iceberg brand lines respectively.

Accessories

In 1997, Sui entered into a partnership with

to create a

fashion accessories In fashion, an accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to an individual's outfit. Accessories are often chosen to complete an outfit and complement the wearer's look. They have the capacity to further express an individua ...

line. The line is distributed by Mammina in Japan and present in the United States,

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, Hong Kong, China and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

Cosmetics

The Anna Sui Cosmetics line launched in 1999 with Albion Cosmetics, a Japanese cosmetic brand and production company, following a distribution sales agreement with ISETAN. Ltd. An Anna Sui Skincare line, similarly with Albion followed this up in 2000. The cosmetics line releases two seasonal collections per year based on the fashion cycle. The cosmetics line covers various categories including base and makeup, eyes, lips, nails, skincare, hair and body, and cosmetics accessories. In 2010, Anna Sui Cosmetics announced Park Min Young as the brand's key opinion leader in South Korea. In October 2016, Anna Sui Cosmetics and ''Nylon'' Japan launched a

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

collaboration called Anna Sui × Nylon: Halloween Makeup Room at MODI in

Shibuya is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in Tokyo, Japan. A major commercial center, Shibuya houses one of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shibuya Station. As of January 1, 2024, Shibuya Ward has an estimated population of 230,60 ...

. In August the same year, Sui released her Autumn 2016 collection called Mysterious Fairy Tale. In July, 2017, Sui collaborated with the store that gave her her first big break, Macy's with Anna Sui X Inc International Concepts. The collection featured reeditions of recent collection items at prices of about a quarter of her collection pieces, plus jewelry and shoes. The following is an incomplete list of Anna Sui's Cosmetics collections:

Fashion

Sui has done 2 seasonal Fashion Week runway shows every year since 1991 with the exception of the Spring/Summer 2002 show, which was held in her Garment District studio due to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

on the

Twin Towers Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

. Design and production takes place in New York City's Garment Center. The designer also has produced two seasonal Japanese collections since 1997 based on the global collections and a Resort collection since 2007. In addition to the seasonal shows, Sui also has partnered with a variety of brands and companies such as

Target Corporation Target Corporation is an American retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and hypermarkets, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh-largest retailer in the United States, and a component of th ...

, Pottery Barn and ''

'' to produce

collections. In 1997, Sui began a partnership with

Mitsukoshi covering Sui's fashion label in Japan. In April 2016, the Anna Sui Japan Spring/Summer 16 show was premiered in Tokyo to kick off the collection's launch with much fanfare in celebration of the designer's 20th Anniversary in Japan. The following is an incomplete list of Sui's fashion shows and collections:

Footwear

In 1994, Sui launched Anna Sui Footwear through a partnership with Italian shoemaker Ballin with design taking place in New York and production in

, Italy. Her design style became widely available as part of a multi-designer capsule, when she customized Candie's platform heels in the 1990s. Since 2009, Sui has collaborated with British

ergonomic Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of psychological and physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goals of human factors engi ...

footwear company FitFlop to produce a shoe line called Anna Sui x FitFlop, comprising multiple collections. In September 2016, the Anna Sui Loves FitFlop collection was launched. Product design was based on Sui's Spring/Summer 2016 fashion collection and the designer's Tahitian heritage. It is distributed globally by FitFlop to Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Netherlands, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, US, UK and Vietnam. Sui has also collaborated with and featured footwear on her runways from such designers as John Fleuvog, Terry De Havilland, Emma Hope, Bed Stu, and Teva.

Fragrance

Sui introduced her fragrance and line in 1999 with Wella AG, to date the designer has launched a variety of cosmetic items and 30 individual fragrance products with most coming in different sizes. The designer's current fragrance license is with French company Inter Parfums and generally releases two hero fragrances per year. In 2011, She also entered into a fragrance license with Interparfums for fragrance and perfume distribution. The following is a list of Sui's fragrance collections:

Vision

In 2009, Sui launched Anna Sui Vision with Mondottica Limited for manufacture and distribution of

spectacles Glasses, also known as eyeglasses (American English), spectacles (Commonwealth English), or colloquially as specs, are Visual perception, vision eyewear with clear or tinted lens (optics), lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front ...

and

sunglasses Sunglasses or sun glasses (informally called shades or sunnies; more names Sunglasses#Other names, below) are a form of Eye protection, protective eyewear designed primarily to prevent bright sunlight and high-energy visible light from damagin ...

as Anna Sui Eyewear. The distribution agreement with Mondottica for eyewear distribution was under the Anna Sui Eyewear brand and launched a collaboration collection with Bliss called Anna Sui for FitFlop. In 2012, the designer worked on a collaboration between Mondottica and Fellow Earthlings to produce sunglasses for Sui's fashion shows In 2016, Sui introduced a contact lens line under the agreement distributed in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and

Bridge lines

Anna Sui Jeans

Anna Sui Jeans was a bridge line launched in 1994 by the designer and Italian fashion company Gilmar S.P.A. The Italian company was also involved in collaborating on the designer's main Anna Sui line and Sui had been designing and consulting for several Gilmar brands including Cento X Cento together with

. Around this time, Gilmar also rolled out a jeans line for Christian Lacroix. Sui collaborated on branding for the line with New York artist Michael Economy and the collaboration with Gilmar lasted until 2004.

Anna Sui Mini

"Anna Sui Mini" debuted in early 2009 in Japan in a partnership with

and Narumiya International with a line for babies, toddlers and children. The line is distributed in Japan through 25 stores, at

and

Mitsukoshi is an international Department stores in Japan, department store chain with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Its holding company, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, is a member of the Mitsui, Mitsui Group. History It was founded in 1673 with the (sho ...

department stores and through online sales.

Dolly Girl by Anna Sui

The dolly heads that were symbols of Sui's fashion style would later form the inspiration for what would become Dolly Girl. In 2003, Sui released a Dolly Girl perfume, later expanded to an entire fragrance collection with several variations. In 2008, the Dolly Girl by Anna Sui clothing line was formally launched in Japan in partnership with

and Onward Kashiyama to further develop and produce the concept. Sui collaborated with art director Michael Economy on the line's branding elements. The brand line is sold in over 50 standalone stores throughout Japan and focuses on fashion and fashion accessories. There are typically 3 seasonal collection releases and combined with additional smaller monthly collections. The brand launched two Winter 2015-16 collections titled "Fantasy Folklore" and "Glitter in the Woods" featuring models Sam Laskey and Julia Belyakova respectively with both collections drawing inspiration from

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s and 70's style folklore. In 2016, Dolly Girl by Anna Sui launched its Summer 2016 collection titled "Colorful Paradise" and a follow-up called "Mexican Dolls." The collections explored the colorful indigenous clothing found in Mexican states such as

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

and the

State of Mexico The State of Mexico, officially just Mexico, is one of the 32 federal entities of the United Mexican States. Colloquially known as Edomex (from , the abbreviation of , and ), to distinguish it from the name of the whole country, it is the mo ...

and included Sui's take on traditional Mexican fashion items such as

serape The serape, sarape or jorongo is a long blanket-like shawl or cloak, often brightly colored and fringed at the ends, worn in Mexico, especially by men. The spelling of the word sarape (or zarape) is the accepted form in Mexico and other Sp ...

rebozo A rebozo is a long flat garment, very similar to a shawl, worn mostly by women in Mexico. It can be worn in various ways, usually folded or wrapped around the head and/or upper body to shade from the sun, provide warmth and as an accessory to an ...

s and even traditional

Aztec The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the Post-Classic stage, post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central ...

huipil ''Huipil'' (Nahuatl: ''huīpīlli'' ; Ch'orti': ''b’ujk''; Chuj: ''nip'') is the most common traditional garment worn by indigenous women from central Mexico to Central America. It is a loose-fitting tunic, generally made from two or three ...

s. For the celebration of the designer's 20th anniversary in Japan, Sui released a special edition collection titled "Happy Dolly Girl Land." The collection featured

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

-inspired motifs and patterns infused into the clothing design. Late in the year, the Winter 2016-17 collection was released, titled "Into the Night Forest" with inspiration taken from

s and visuals featuring full-scale layered paper models.

Sui by Anna Sui

Sui by Anna Sui was the designer's second bridge line launched in close proximity with her Jeans line together with Gilmar S.P.A. in 1994. The Sui by Anna Sui line and her jeans line continued under operation after the designer left her designer job at Gilmar's Cento X Cento. The line focused on sportswear for men and women with Sui directly controlling branding and design and was distributed globally by Gilmar. Sui relaunched her diffusion line in 2019.

The Souvenir Shop Anna Sui

In March 2016, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings and its subsidiary Mammina announced the launch of new brand partnership with Anna Sui Corp called The Souvenir Shop Anna Sui which covers travel retail items and fashion accessories. The line is sold in locations throughout Japan including airports, significant because it marks the first time Anna Sui fashion accessories were available as

duty-free A duty-free shop or store is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, who will ...

products and online via Isetan and Mitsukoshi. The collaboration features 70 new stores and boutiques and taps into the travel retail market. Stores launched in downtown areas and at airports marking the first time Anna Sui fashion products were available as duty free goods.

In print

Publications

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E-Mooks (Japan)

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Filmography

In popular culture

Video/film and television appearances

During filming of '' Confessions of a Shopaholic'' in 2008, a faux Anna Sui store was mocked up inside the Hearst Tower for the

movie set Set construction is the process undertaken by a construction manager to build full-scale scenery, as specified by a production designer or art director working in collaboration with the director of a production to create a set for a theatri ...

, which also included mock-up stores for Valentino, Catherine Malandrino and

Alberta Ferretti Alberta Ferretti (; ) is an Italian fashion designer and dressmaker. She designed for her namesake brand Alberta Ferretti from its foundation in 1981 to 2024, and designed for Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti until 2014. Her showroom is in Milan, It ...

. The stunt fooled some New Yorkers into believing an actual store had been opened.

References

Bibliography