Happy Wednesday!
And welcome to another Fashion Inspo post! Today's inspo is the amazingly creative and talented, fashion designer, Anna Sui!
Back in April, Anna Sui had an exhibit at the Mint Museum here in Charlotte. My mom, Aunt, and I got all dressed up and headed out to see it! We had such a great time! I kept meaning to write a whole post devoted to it, but first I had some technical issues and then I had some personal issues where my posts were pretty scattered anyway. All that to say it got to a point where so much time had passed it seemed kind of silly to revisit the exhibit.
But being the genius I am, (yeeeeeah.. okay!) started this Fashion Inspo post, which is the perfect way to revisit the world and designs of Anna Sui!
And welcome to another Fashion Inspo post! Today's inspo is the amazingly creative and talented, fashion designer, Anna Sui!
Back in April, Anna Sui had an exhibit at the Mint Museum here in Charlotte. My mom, Aunt, and I got all dressed up and headed out to see it! We had such a great time! I kept meaning to write a whole post devoted to it, but first I had some technical issues and then I had some personal issues where my posts were pretty scattered anyway. All that to say it got to a point where so much time had passed it seemed kind of silly to revisit the exhibit.
But being the genius I am, (yeeeeeah.. okay!) started this Fashion Inspo post, which is the perfect way to revisit the world and designs of Anna Sui!
Anna Sui is a very celebrated, second generation Chinese-American fashion designer, from Detroit, Michigan. She has a plethora of brand categories under her belt that include several fashion lines, cosmetics, shoes, perfumes, "eyewear," accessories, and interestingly home goods and a gift line.
From a very young age -4 to be exact- Anna knew she wanted to be a fashion designer. Her mother would bring her along to pick out fabrics and would teach her how to put a wardrobe together. She also learned how to sew and was soon creating her own outfits. She went to school at Parsons School of Design in New York City, and in her second year she had her first tastes of success. First, she was hired to a clothing line called Charlie's Girls and designed for sportswear labels and styling photoshoots. About this time, Anna had also been creating out of her apartment. What is most interesting to me about Anna, is that when it came to her personal designing business, she was inspired to design for rock stars and focused her sales to mainly target music stores.
It was about this time, she took five of her pieces to a New York trade show, which ended up being a hit with stores like Bloomingdale's and Macy's and led to a full-page ad in the New York Times. Unfortunately, it also led to her being let go from her job at the time, but she would not let that stop her and continued to create out of her apartment.
From a very young age -4 to be exact- Anna knew she wanted to be a fashion designer. Her mother would bring her along to pick out fabrics and would teach her how to put a wardrobe together. She also learned how to sew and was soon creating her own outfits. She went to school at Parsons School of Design in New York City, and in her second year she had her first tastes of success. First, she was hired to a clothing line called Charlie's Girls and designed for sportswear labels and styling photoshoots. About this time, Anna had also been creating out of her apartment. What is most interesting to me about Anna, is that when it came to her personal designing business, she was inspired to design for rock stars and focused her sales to mainly target music stores.
It was about this time, she took five of her pieces to a New York trade show, which ended up being a hit with stores like Bloomingdale's and Macy's and led to a full-page ad in the New York Times. Unfortunately, it also led to her being let go from her job at the time, but she would not let that stop her and continued to create out of her apartment.
One thing that sets Anna Sui apart is that she tended to explore the grunge fashion scene, which was different and also caused her to struggle a bit at the time. Chanel and Versace were among some of the bigger, powerhouse, brands at the time. But Anna got one of her biggest breaks came in 1991. While researching for this post, this had to be one of my favorite stories I read about Anna. She was on her way to Paris Fashion Week with one of her friends from Parsons college, Steven Meisel, and stopped to pick up his friend, Madonna.
Madonna!
Ya know, Queen of Pop, Madonna! Material Girl, Madonna! Kissed Britney Spears, Madonna!
Yep, they stopped to pick up Madonna on the way to Paris Fashion Week in 1991 -wow what a sentence. What a wild turn of events! Madonna apparently surprised Anna by wearing her designs to the Jean Paul Gaultier show and then again later when she graced the cover of Vogue, which was shot by her friend Meisel!
Anna saw her first runway later the same year in New York.
Madonna!
Ya know, Queen of Pop, Madonna! Material Girl, Madonna! Kissed Britney Spears, Madonna!
Yep, they stopped to pick up Madonna on the way to Paris Fashion Week in 1991 -wow what a sentence. What a wild turn of events! Madonna apparently surprised Anna by wearing her designs to the Jean Paul Gaultier show and then again later when she graced the cover of Vogue, which was shot by her friend Meisel!
Anna saw her first runway later the same year in New York.
Since then, she has done 2 seasonal runway shows every year, which the exception of spring/summer 2002. She has collaborated with numerous companies and brands like, Hush Puppies, Target, Ford Motor Company, Victoria's Secret, Coach, Samsung, Pottern Barn, and Vogue. She has been named one of the Top 5 Designers of the Decade, and won the Geoffrey Bean Lifetime Achievement Award in NY and The Classic Icon of Fashion Design award at the China Fashion Awards in Bejing.
She has spoken at colleges, had her designs in print, up for show in museums and even written a book that covers her 20 year career!
And in 2018 she received the Women's Entrepreneur Day pioneer away.
And these are just some of her achievements!
Does anyone else feel like they need to get up and get busy doing something or is it just me!?
She has spoken at colleges, had her designs in print, up for show in museums and even written a book that covers her 20 year career!
And in 2018 she received the Women's Entrepreneur Day pioneer away.
And these are just some of her achievements!
Does anyone else feel like they need to get up and get busy doing something or is it just me!?
I know this is a long post, but it was worth it! I was and am so fascinated with Anna Sui! I'm so glad I got to see her creations live in person at the exhibit and that I got to share that moment with my mom and Aunt!
Anna Sui is truly fascinating! Truly talented! And truly an inspiration! From a child eagerly watching her mother sew to a brave, young lady taking her first five pieces to a trade show, to having Madonna wear her clothes! (I still can't get over that one!) to one of the most celebrated fashion designers around! Anna Sui never gave up on her dream and never changed her styles to fit in. She wanted to stand out and she most certainly does!
I hope you enjoyed this post! See you Friday!
Anna Sui is truly fascinating! Truly talented! And truly an inspiration! From a child eagerly watching her mother sew to a brave, young lady taking her first five pieces to a trade show, to having Madonna wear her clothes! (I still can't get over that one!) to one of the most celebrated fashion designers around! Anna Sui never gave up on her dream and never changed her styles to fit in. She wanted to stand out and she most certainly does!
I hope you enjoyed this post! See you Friday!
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