Fashion Definitions — fashion history, brands and industry terms from Apparel Search
Anna Sui moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design and worked as a stylist on Steven Meisel's shoots before opening her first boutique in 1992 at 113 Greene Street in Soho, with purple walls and red floors, flea-market furniture and dolly-head mannequins.
According to her own anecdote, she started with her dolls and her neighbor's toy soldiers for her own personal version of Academy Awards, before making and designing some realistic clothes imitating magazine photos. Anna Sui moved to New York city to attend Parsons School of Design, where she started to work with close friend Steven Meisel who is today's one of the world's top fashion photographers. Her early days as a stylist from Meisel's shoots include editorial for the Italian Fashion Magazine LEI.
Leaving Parsons, she worked for variety of junior sportswear companies.
It was in 1992 that she opened her first boutique shop at 113 Greene Street in Soho District, New York. This shop with purple walls and red floors has been reflecting her now famous taste of pairing flea market furniture and whimsical dolly head mannequins.
The first of three her freestanding boutiques in Asia opened on May, 1997 in Tokyo. The second opened in Osaka in the fall of that same year. Another Osaka venue opened in 2000. The stores mark the continued worldwide expansion of the Anna Sui brand and lifestyle. 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.
In 1997, Anna Sui Shoes premiered on her runway for fall 1997. Manufactured by Ballin in Venice, Italy, the shoe collection is comprised of both day and evening styles, and include velvet, silk, patent leather, snake and lizard skin, shearling and suede. Anna Sui opened her Los Angeles boutique in 1999 in Sunset Plaza, in West Hollywood. In 1999, Sui launched her signature fragrance and cosmetic line. In October 1997, Anna Sui signed a fragrance licensing deal with Wella AG, Germany to develop a signature fragrance. In a three-sided arrangement, Wella shares the Anna Sui beauty business with Japanese cosmetics maker Albion, who holds the Anna Sui color cosmetics and skin care license. Under some agreement, Wella will produce and market Anna Sui fragrances while Albion introduces the Anna Sui color collection to Japan. Wella will sell the fragrances to Albion, which will distribute them inside Japan, while Albion will sell the color cosmetics to Wella for distribution outside Japan. For fall 2000, Sui Dreams, the second Anna Sui fragrance, launched worldwide.
Called a
designer
that "never panders" by The New York Times, Anna Sui continues to design and
manufacture her signature Anna Sui Collection in her New York City headquarters.
Her runway shows continue to set trends and inspire designers everywhere. Sui's
signature wit and original designs draw legions of devotees to her pieces,
including clients Patricia Arquette, Christina Ricci, Cher, Naomi Campbell,
Sofia Coppola, Courtney Love of Hole and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/anna_sui 2/6/06 |
Designer Definition (from U.S Department of Labor)
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Anna Sui's route into design ran through styling. By her own anecdote she began with her dolls and her neighbour's toy soldiers, staging her own version of the Academy Awards and making realistic clothes imitating magazine photos. She moved to New York to attend Parsons School of Design, started working with her close friend Steven Meisel — one of the world's top fashion photographers — and styled editorials including for the Italian magazine LEI. Leaving Parsons, she worked for a variety of junior sportswear companies. The first boutique, opened in 1992 at 113 Greene Street in Soho, translated that stylist's eye into a retail space: purple walls, red floors, flea-market furniture and whimsical dolly-head mannequins — a shop that reflected her taste for pairing found objects with fashion, and which became a signature in itself.
The brand's freestanding expansion went to Asia before the American West Coast. The first of three freestanding boutiques in Asia opened in Tokyo in May 1997, the second in Osaka that fall, and another Osaka venue in 2000; the Los Angeles boutique, in Sunset Plaza in West Hollywood, opened in 1999. Japanese distribution was structured through licensing: Isetan Company Limited held the main license for the Japanese distribution of the women's collection, and Mammina, an Isetan subsidiary, distributed to department and specialty stores there. The pattern — own boutiques for presence, a department-store partner for reach — let a New York independent label build a Japanese business of real size while continuing to design and manufacture the signature collection from its New York City headquarters.
Anna Sui Shoes premiered on the runway for fall 1997, manufactured by Ballin in Venice, Italy, in day and evening styles across velvet, silk, patent leather, snake and lizard skin, shearling and suede. Beauty followed a three-sided structure: in October 1997 Sui signed a fragrance licensing deal with Wella AG of Germany, which shared the beauty business with Japanese cosmetics maker Albion — Wella producing and marketing the fragrances, Albion holding the colour cosmetics and skin care license, each selling into the other's territory. The signature fragrance and cosmetic line launched in 1999, and the second fragrance, Sui Dreams, launched worldwide for fall 2000. Called a designer who never panders by The New York Times, Sui's clients named here include Patricia Arquette, Christina Ricci, Cher, Naomi Campbell, Sofia Coppola and Courtney Love.
Anna Sui opened her first boutique shop in 1992 at 113 Greene Street in the Soho District, New York. The shop had purple walls and red floors, with flea market furniture and whimsical dolly head mannequins.
Her first freestanding boutique in Asia opened in Tokyo in May 1997, followed by Osaka in the fall of 1997 and another Osaka venue in 2000. Isetan held the main license for Japanese distribution of the women's collection.
Anna Sui Shoes premiered on her runway for fall 1997, manufactured by Ballin in Venice, Italy. In 1999 Sui launched her signature fragrance and cosmetic line; Sui Dreams, her second fragrance, launched worldwide for fall 2000.