Fashion designer jobs

Sui generis, they say in Latin, meaning something is in a class all its own . . .

Delving into her obsessions Bloomsbury, rock 'n' roll, Uzbekistan - and transforming them into something totally new, Anna Sui is sui generis. Here she's interviewed by fellow fashion designer Martine Sitbon

MARTINE SITBON: I remember first meeting you in the early '80s, when you were working as a stylist and designer.

ANNA SUI: That's right. From the moment we met we realized we were rock 'n' roll fanatics. One of the first times you came over to my house, we watched that video I had taped off television - The British Invasion. We could both talk about the lead singer of the Yardbirds for hours.

MS: Not many people in fashion can do that. Which leads me to my first question: What was it like when you moved to New York from Detroit in the '70s? I know you were very Involved in the punk rock scene.

AS: It was fantastic. New York still had a real underground then. There was so much happening, so much music, so many creative people around. There were clubs like CBGB's and Max's and the Mudd Club. There was this circle of people you searched out every night to see what was happening. From that circle, many went on to become famous. We were all having a good time, but we were also trying to become something.

MS: The music clearly Influenced your work.

AS: My initial idea for a collection was to design cool clothes for rock stars. [laughs] It didn't go beyond that I wanted to sell to rock 'n' roll boutiques in every major town. My idol was [actress and model] Anita Pallenberg. From the moment I saw Performance [1970], I would save every little tiny picture I could find of her.

MS: Didn't you work as a stylist for a rock magazine at that time?

AS: Yes. New York Rocker. I always want to find out more about whatever I'm obsessed with. So if it was a musician like Richard Hell, of course I had to see what his house looked like and ask him a million questions.

MS: That was when you were a student at Parsons School of Design, no?

AS: Right after. Parsons had been my dream school. I had read about two girls who went there, graduated, and went to Paris, and then Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton opened a boutique for them. And I thought, "OK, all I have to do is go to Parsons." When I reread the story as an adult, I realized it was Mid Fonssagrives and Vicki Tiel. I hadn't understood that Mid was [model] Lisa Fonssagrives's daughter and her stepfather was [photographer] Irving Penn. As a kid you don't see the connections that lead to things. You just see going to Parsons, then graduating and going to Paris. So that's how I decided to go to Parsons.

MS: You met your good friend [fashion photographer] Steven Meisel there.

AS: And we've been best friends ever since. At Parsons, the fashion students weren't encouraged to mingle with the other students, but of course I always liked to see who else was in the school. I remember seeing Steven [who was an art student] in a drawing class one day and thinking he was just the most beautiful guy. Then I ran into him at a club one night. Since then I've always been in that circle of friends. I had an apartment near school, and everybody hung out there all the time. It was like the clubhouse.

MS: You also began your business out of your apartment. What was that like?

AS: When I started I ran the business out of one corner of the living room. Little by little, it took over the whole room, until we outgrew the space. When we moved to real offices, Steven and Paul Cavaco [now fashion director at Vogue] said to me, "All right, now that you have a real office, you have to do a real fashion show."

MS: So that's how you decided to do your first runway show, in 1991.

AS: I was forced. [laughs]

MS: Poor child. They didn't know what they were doing to you.

AS: Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell also pushed me. They helped me get the models, and Steven and Paul taught me how to organize and present a show. Since then it's been nonstop. You were a big inspiration, Martine, because I saw how your collections were created around things that you loved and were on your mind.

MS: Your first collection was an instant success.

AS: Actually it had started the season before, when Linda began wearing my dresses in Europe and I started getting phone calls from other models in Paris asking for dresses. I think the models felt like finally here were some clothes for them, not like they were dressing up in Mommy's clothes. The vibe was a little younger and a little more street. Eventually so many girls were going to their fittings at Chanel wearing my dresses that apparently Karl Lagerfeld began asking, "Anna, Anna, who is this Anna?" I decided that if these girls liked my dresses, then maybe other people would, too - it gave me the confidence to do my first show. Also, Madonna wore the dresses in Paris at that time. That was when I was doing my first babydoll dresses.

MS: I love when you do those because they're always so mature. [laughs]

AS: That comes from the lining, which was fitted very sexy. Since the outside of the dress - the A-line part - was chiffon and see-through, you got both the babydoll shape and the womanliness beneath it.

MS: Yeah, very cute. It showed your Alice in Wonderland side. In 1992 you opened a store in SoHo.

AS: That was maybe the best business decision I ever made. I had dinner with Zack Carr, who works at Calvin Klein, and he kept saying, "I think you should do a boutique because this way people will understand what your world is about." So the next day I was just walking down the street and I found the perfect place. That store was really a labor of love. We painted all the furniture ourselves. My brother came and helped hook up the stereo and hang all the posters. I think it was also important because what I was doing was a little bit different from the usual SoHo designers, with their high prices and expensive fabrics. I think [the proper setting] helped people understand where my clothes fit in. It also helped me focus on my customer.

MS: In Fall '93 you did a Victorian Collection, which I loved.

AS: That was when I was really obsessed with the black jet jewelry -

MS: - at Gray's antique market [in London].

AS: Before we'd even eat breakfast, we had to go to Gray's, and we would spend hours going through every bracelet and pair of earrings.

MS: People know your hipness and your incredible style, but they don't know how fanatical you can get about research.

AS: That's the thing I enjoy the most: learning about something I'm interested in. The Arts and Crafts Collection [in 1996] had a Bloomsbury influence, and I insisted you and I had to see Sissinghurst Castle [the home of writer Vita Sackville-West, in Kent, England]. We went to the Victoria and Albert Museum many times. And then we went to Charleston [the Sussex home of Bloomsbury painters Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant].

MS: The English Arts and Crafts period [1840-1922] is one of your favorites, isn't it?

AS: Yes. In fact, I have a new apartment, and I've been obsessing over [designer, potter, and novelist] William De Morgan tiles. I think I've driven everybody crazy. But I can tell you anything you want to know about tiles.

MS: I can't walt to see it. Having been through the process with you, I will enjoy every tile. You have some other new things going on right now, too. For instance, you've just launched your cosmetics line for women and men, as well as your fragrance, "Anna Sui." Your packaging is so interesting, because it's so personal.

AS: Yes. The packaging for both the fragrance and the cosmetics is really inspired by all of my things. The shapes have been influenced by all the furniture and mirrors I have that are rounded at the corners and go in at the sides - a shape they call "Bombay." And those tins I collect inspired the packaging.

MS: It feels special, like something an Individual could have owned for years or found on a visit to the flea market.

AS: That's what I always loved about Biba [a line of cosmetics from the '60s] - the colors, the black containers, the packaging with that great deco logo and the little line drawings of dancers or something printed in gold; it was always so identifiable.

MS: Can you tell me about the fragrance?

AS: Well, as in my fashion there is a duality going on - it has a sweetness, it's very floral, but the undernotes are kind of woody or incensey. I think this gives it depth. It's like, "Is she a devil or is she an angel?" "Is she an innocent, or is she a provocateur?" It's the same kind of ambiguity I play with in my fashion.

MS: Tell me about your latest obsession.

AS: I found this book called Uzbekistan. It had everything I love, from the boots to the embroidery. I found out it's a country in Central Asia that has very old cultures. That book Meetings With Remarkable Men [by G. I. Gurdjieff, 1963] takes place there.