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Tell me about your first ever show? It was a labor of love, I had no money, somebody helped me get a donated space, Linda (Evangelista) and Naomi (Campbell) helped me get other models, and Steven (Meisel) and my friend Paul helped me put the whole thing together. It was the right time, everyone was looking for something new. We had just gone through power dressing, and mega brands such as Versace and Chanel – things were changing. Right around the time that music was starting to change, there was grunge, it went hand in hand as a reaction of what had come before.
What takeaway feeling do you aim to evoke within your runway shows? Everyone always comments that the models look so happy, and that they’re actually smiling and look like they’re enjoying the show. I’ve seen too many somber shows where the models are trudging down the runway with scowls on their faces. If you’re going to do a show, you have to entertain and my version of entertainment is joy and celebrating, I try to project that in the show.
In what way does music inspire you, and each collection…When I started, my whole goal was to dress rock stars and people that went to rock concerts! Every season when I’m working on a new collection, music is so important as far as inspiring me and transporting the audience. I’m constantly looking for music that takes me to where that fantasy is that I’m trying to create for the runway. You can tell, the different track lists, it’s music that’s sometimes happening at that moment, or it’s music that just evokes the fantasy I’m trying to create.
I feel that the music you select for your fashion shows is really powerful, and adds another dimension to the Anna Sui experience – do you select the music? Yeah, that’s one of my favorite things, I really feel like I have to translate my audience to the same place that I go to when I’m designing a collection, so I think it’s really important to have the right music, and I’m lucky to work with Fredrick Sanchez, since almost the beginning. He’s such a genius when it comes to music, he knows everything from classical to rock to even when we were working on a previous collection, he knew who the dancehall singers were that performed in the Moulin Rouge when the time of the tracks. So he found recordings of them, and we put those into the track when we we’re doing music for the show.
Considering the advancement of technology, such as; VR, social media and live streaming; are fashion shows are still important? There’s so many levels of what you get from a fashion show, that certainly it gives you access to so much more. Even to this day, I can watch a show and look at all the stills online. When I see the clothes in person, it’s a different thing. There’s nothing like seeing it in person, actually in motion from many different angles. With that head sticking out from the top, there’s a reason why we spend so much time casting. You try to evoke something with your selection of the model, there’s always a moment in the show when you gasp because somewhere it all works together. Everyone was saying the last fall show that Janice Alida came out in the burgundy iridescent dress with the fur, the way she walked, everyone said it was just so stunning. Or the famous show where Christine, Naomi, and Linda were wearing the baby doll dresses and they stopped on the runway, that you can’t plan, it’s spontaneous.
Tell me about your relationship with designer Zandra Rhodes I was always a fan, and then I met her from going to the museum, and then she came to NY one time for NYFW, and she called and asked if she could come to my show, and I was so thrilled. We kind of stayed in touch, and every time I’d go to London I would try to see if she was there. She spends a lot of her time in California, because that’s where her partner is, so we haven’t always been able to catch up in London. Through the years I’ve ordered clothes from her, I’ve always loved her feather prints. A few seasons ago she said do you ever want to work together, I would love to design a print for you, so when I was working on my Tahitian collection I called her and she had gone to Tahiti, and I hadn’t gone yet, I was about to go but I hadn’t finished all the prints and fabrics and everything before I left. Zandra did this incredible print for us. It’s nice that I’ve been able to get to know her, and she’s just such an idol and an amazing woman. It’s kind of like a bonus, not just to idolizing her but actually having her as a friend.
Talk to me about the people you’ve collaborated with over the years…Most of the meetings came very organically, when I first started, my good friend Steven Meisel was good friends with Naomi and Linda and Francois and Garren. That was a team that he was working with since the first show, that’s how that evolved, and then I met Pat (McGrath) later when Francois got his own cosmetic line, there was conflict of interest, I started working with Pat. Most of the models I’ve met through Steven. He to this day, helps me with all my casting and James Coviello I met through styling when I was working with Steven. That’s when we were doing Italian Vogue, and somebody told me that James could make hats, so naturally that was who I turned to for hats when I first started doing my own show!
Do you have a tight knit Anna Sui team of collaborators? It’s important to have people that get your world – and that’s the other message in the show. It’s such a recognizable brand, and that kind of my world became my brand, the purple and black and red floors, carved roses, and butterflies, all those things became icons of my brand. I think especially young designers need to establish themselves that way, they need to find their own identity and really stay with it, that’s eventually what makes a brand, not changing all the time. I believe it’s important, especially for design students to realize that just because your name is on the label it’s not just you, there’s always a team behind you. That’s why (at the exhibition) I did spend so much time giving tribute to everyone I’ve collaborated with through the years, all the artists and the long time collaborations.
Looking back to day one, did you have a clear brand vision and identity? Since I was a kid, I always saved my favorite pictures of boutiques and environments and objects and perfume bottles. I clearly had an idea that would come somewhere down the road. So when these opportunities came up, I always referred to those references that I had since I was a kid. That’s just the way I’m geared, I’m attracted to that. I loved seeing Biba when they had a shop at Bergdorf Goodman’s, it was called Biba at BG. Plus I’m such a consumer myself, I love product and packaging. I love just following how people develop their brands. So it’s just a natural inclination
The Anna Sui brand has had a lot of collaborations – which has been your favorite? Collaborations are so interesting because they give you an opportunity to do something you can’t ordinarily do, like what we did with Starbucks and Swell bottles – containers, and just create products you wouldn’t ordinarily think about doing. Also like what we do with Coach and Tumi for luggage. It’s so much fun to use the luggage because it’s much more playful than what you’re able to buy, and print and color that you love. It’s like a moment for that right now, there’s so many people looking to do collaborations, when it’s an unexpected mix because then you just really see creativity taking over the product.
Do these collaborations help your brand reach a new audience?
Definitely, when we did Target, know one ever expected that, it was such a sensation! Right in the beginning when they started doing designer collaborations, and so many people to this day talk about those clothes. I still see them on Ebay. Right now we’re working on one with William Sonoma Pottery Barn, and it’s interiors, bedroom accessories and sheets and comforters. It’s been so fun because we started with our makeup and people have asked can I get the furniture, so we’ve done some furniture pieces and also these great sheets.
What brand would you love to see the Anna Sui brand to collaborate with? I love Pucci and Missoni. Interiors is where I’m really loving, and I wish I could do more of those. Especially now, I’m renovating apartments, I have so many ideas, I’d love to do more with that.
Future plans, developing into interiors? I hope so, I started doing it in Japan already, we do some bathroom accessories and kitchen, sheets, towels, and they’re so much fun!
As we’re on the subject of Japan – where’s your most popular market? Certainly for fragrance and cosmetics, Asia, they’ve really embraced the brand. Some people don’t even know that I do fashion, because fragrance and cosmetics are so popular.
You studied at Parsons…what made you decide to choose Parsons and move to NY? I read this article in Life Magazine, when I was a kid, it was about two young ladies that went to Parsons and when they graduated Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton opened a boutique for them, and they did costumes. And I just thought they were so cool. Actually when I went back and reread the article as an adult, what I didn’t realize is one of the ladies, her stepfather was Irving Penn. If I hadn’t seen that article, I wouldn’t have found out about Parsons and made that my obsession to get into Parsons!
Whilst studying at parsons, did you collaborate with the other students? No, school you were on your own. I got hired out of school, at the end of my second year, so I started working.
So you left Parsons, you started working, and did I read correctly?…You were you fired? Yeah, I worked for some big companies. I had some friends during the punk days that did incredible jewelry, they made it from vintage parts, and they sold at all the cool rock n roll boutiques across country. And I told them I wanted to do what they did, and they said why don’t you make some clothes, and you can share the booth with us. I ended up getting orders from Bloomingdales, and a NY Times ad. When the man that owned the company found out, he fired me! It was totally unexpected, I didn’t think it was a problem. I didn’t have any money, that was the scary thing. I ended up doing styling for more than a year with Steven Meisel, to supplement my income and keep the business going.
Did that made you stronger? Definitely, from doing the styling it was Franca Sozzani who ran Italian Vogue, I got to know her. She got me freelance work in Italy, and I ended up doing freelance for 7 or 8 years in Italy. Which also gave me the connections for the shoes. It also opened up my whole mind to working globally. I’d go to Italy every two weeks and work on two different collections, and that opened my mind to new resources and ways at doing things. You can’t beat Italian workmanship, the craftsmanship that’s there. I learned so much about that.
Where’s your favorite place to travel to? London, because I’ve gone so many times. I love going to the flea markets there, museums, I have so many friends there. I also like going to places that are exotic, like safari’s, Egypt. I love going to places that you just dream about and different than anything you experience ordinarily.
Where are your favorite flea markets? I love Portobello. One of my favorites is in Jakarta, there’s a street that has boots and vintage Indonesian things. It’s so exotic – batik fabrics, porcelains, a mixture of culture, certain embroidery and jewelry, also the ceramics, and colors are different, Chinese ceramics are more colorful – I love learning about new cultures!
Is that something that inspires your collections? Sometimes, I’ve never used that in a collection, it’s an interesting mixture and the color palette, so you just never know and has to feel right for the season. You start to early on the feeling of the collection you can’t change it so much. Or sometimes you just throw it in, you have to use your instincts.
Talk me through the journey from when you obtained your first contracts with Bloomingdales and Macy’s to now – Anna Sui, the global brand…My business was very small, when I sold to those stores, they sold for little shops that they had, so they’d only buy a handful. It took me a good ten years to really build up my business. It was at the time that Barneys just started, and they were very supportive. Started selling the contemporary market. It wasn’t until I had gone to the Paris shows, and Steven said that I had to do my own shows, “it’s time”. If he didn’t push me for that, I would’ve just kept going the way I was going.
What advice can you share with future designers? What they have to realize, is that they have to figure out their own path. There’s only one Calvin Klein, one Tom Ford, each person has figured out their own path, each person has to figure out what’s best for you. You also have to be incredibly strong and incredibly focused and very determined, there’s so much competition. You can’t just say that you think you want to be a designer. I knew I wanted to do it since I was four, and I never waivered. You need that will, and that determination. It’s so stuffy, there’s so much competition, especially nowadays, the graduating classes are huge, and the amount of jobs are so much less than when I graduated. Now it’s dwindled to a very small industry, you really have to have that determination.
