ANNA SUI
Name: Anna Sui
Born: 1964 Detroit, Michigan
Anna Sui (born in 1964, in Detroit, Michigan USA) is an American fashion
designer. She has boutiques in many world countries, especially Japan
Sui was born to immigrant parents; her father Paul was an engineer who graduated
from The Sorbonne in Paris, at which her mother, Grace, also studied painting.
At a young age, Sui dressed her dolls and her neighbor's toy soldiers, and
pretended they were at the Oscars. According to photographer Taka Kawachi, as
Sui was growing up, she "began clipping fashion-magazine pages and filing in now
what she calls her Genius Files, which have been an inspiration to her
throughout her career." During her senior year of high school, Anna Sui
received a scholarship to attend Parson's School of Design in New York. While
there, she became close friends with photographer Steven Meisel who is today
widely recognized as the industry's leading photographer.
After leaving Parson's, she worked for a variety of junior sportswear companies.
Sui's business continued to expand in the 1980s. In 1991, she launched her first
runway show. It was in 1992 that she took a chance with a personal clothing
line and opened her first boutique shop at 113 Greene Street in New York City's
Soho District. This shop, with its purple walls and red floors, reflects her
taste for pairing flea market furniture and dolly head mannequins. According to
relative Grant Sui, "The stores have come to emphasize the epitome of culture in
a continually shifting fashion world."
The first of Sui's freestanding boutiques in Asia opened in May 1997 in Tokyo.
The second opened in Osaka in the fall of that same year. In following years,
the popular stores soon expanded to independent locations all over Japan. Isetan
Company Limited has attained the main license for the Japanese distribution of
the women's collection and Mammina, a subsidiary of Isetan, is the distributor
to department and specialty stores there. Through this partner, Anna Sui Corp
has grown into one of Japan's top luxury fashion brands.
Anna Sui opened her Los Angeles boutique in 1998 in Sunset Plaza, in West
Hollywood. Sui also made headway with the international markets as boutiques
sprang up in countries like China, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Thailand, and the Philippines.
Internationally the brand has also grown primarily in the Asian market. Recent
contracts over the last decade have helped to develop the brand in conjunction
with partner stores. In addition, rampant sales growth has allowed the
corporation the construction of independent boutiques, with dozens of locations
in the planing stage across East Asia and Western Europe.
She was called a designer who "never panders" by The New York Times, and named
to Time Magazine's list of this decade's top five fashion icons. Sui also
appeared in a special CNN Talk Asia interview which was welcomed with top-monthly
ratings by the region. Anna Sui continues to design and manufacture her
signature collection in her New York City headquarters. There she has ardently
fought to keep the fashion industry alive in New York City's fading Garment
District. She has also provided the costume designs for the anime series,
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. Sui's designs attract many famous clients
such as Patricia Arquette,Mischa Barton,Christina Ricci, Cher, Naomi Campbell,
Sofia Coppola, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Maria Sharapova, Nicole Richie,Liv
Tyler, Courtney Love of Hole, and James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins. In early
2007, Anna Sui, Twinkle by Wenlan and Betsey Johnson dresses were big sellers in
the Macy's department's new spring fashion line. Additionally, Sui was
contracted by Samsung Electronics Co. to design cellular telephones.
Name: Anna Sui
Born: 1964 Detroit, Michigan
Anna Sui (born in 1964, in Detroit, Michigan USA) is an American fashion
designer. She has boutiques in many world countries, especially Japan
Sui was born to immigrant parents; her father Paul was an engineer who graduated
from The Sorbonne in Paris, at which her mother, Grace, also studied painting.
At a young age, Sui dressed her dolls and her neighbor's toy soldiers, and
pretended they were at the Oscars. According to photographer Taka Kawachi, as
Sui was growing up, she "began clipping fashion-magazine pages and filing in now
what she calls her Genius Files, which have been an inspiration to her
throughout her career." During her senior year of high school, Anna Sui
received a scholarship to attend Parson's School of Design in New York. While
there, she became close friends with photographer Steven Meisel who is today
widely recognized as the industry's leading photographer.
After leaving Parson's, she worked for a variety of junior sportswear companies.
Sui's business continued to expand in the 1980s. In 1991, she launched her first
runway show. It was in 1992 that she took a chance with a personal clothing
line and opened her first boutique shop at 113 Greene Street in New York City's
Soho District. This shop, with its purple walls and red floors, reflects her
taste for pairing flea market furniture and dolly head mannequins. According to
relative Grant Sui, "The stores have come to emphasize the epitome of culture in
a continually shifting fashion world."
The first of Sui's freestanding boutiques in Asia opened in May 1997 in Tokyo.
The second opened in Osaka in the fall of that same year. In following years,
the popular stores soon expanded to independent locations all over Japan. Isetan
Company Limited has attained the main license for the Japanese distribution of
the women's collection and Mammina, a subsidiary of Isetan, is the distributor
to department and specialty stores there. Through this partner, Anna Sui Corp
has grown into one of Japan's top luxury fashion brands.
Anna Sui opened her Los Angeles boutique in 1998 in Sunset Plaza, in West
Hollywood. Sui also made headway with the international markets as boutiques
sprang up in countries like China, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Thailand, and the Philippines.
Internationally the brand has also grown primarily in the Asian market. Recent
contracts over the last decade have helped to develop the brand in conjunction
with partner stores. In addition, rampant sales growth has allowed the
corporation the construction of independent boutiques, with dozens of locations
in the planing stage across East Asia and Western Europe.
She was called a designer who "never panders" by The New York Times, and named
to Time Magazine's list of this decade's top five fashion icons. Sui also
appeared in a special CNN Talk Asia interview which was welcomed with top-monthly
ratings by the region. Anna Sui continues to design and manufacture her
signature collection in her New York City headquarters. There she has ardently
fought to keep the fashion industry alive in New York City's fading Garment
District. She has also provided the costume designs for the anime series,
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo. Sui's designs attract many famous clients
such as Patricia Arquette,Mischa Barton,Christina Ricci, Cher, Naomi Campbell,
Sofia Coppola, Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Maria Sharapova, Nicole Richie,Liv
Tyler, Courtney Love of Hole, and James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins. In early
2007, Anna Sui, Twinkle by Wenlan and Betsey Johnson dresses were big sellers in
the Macy's department's new spring fashion line. Additionally, Sui was
contracted by Samsung Electronics Co. to design cellular telephones.