If you fall into the realm of the currently-under-40 fashion obsessed, Anna Sui was probably your first entrée into the world of capital-F Fashion. Her purple store, her supermodel friends, her limitless knowledge of history and culture and style—woo-hoo! For so many of us devoted clotheshorses, Sui is the ultimate inspiration and ultimate obsession.
With her Resort collection, the designer is hoping to recapture that magic of really, truly, madly, deeply loving fashion. The way she tells it, having pieces you really adore is more important now, in a time of fast fashion and elevated basics, than ever before. So she’s dug into her archive and found the styles that, to her and her customers, have been long-standing favorites and remade them. Her iconic Spring 1994 ballerina print, designed by Jeffrey Fulvimari, is back, the dancers’ delicate frames splashed across a black minidress or a Sui purple chiffon blouse. A dress Linda Evangelista wore in the early ’90s has been redone with bejeweled buttons, as has the black baby doll dress with white ruffle trim that Sui once wore in Rome to celebrate Valentino’s 30th anniversary. (You can see a photo of her wearing it, arm in arm with Evangelista, on Instagram.)
Sui also added more of the prints and fabrics that are like candy to fashion lovers, such as leopard spots in gray and lilac, mod heart motifs complemented by heart-shaped lace, and a scrumptiously cute ’30s-inspired cherry pattern on a teal bowling shirtdress.
What Sui has done with this excellent Resort collection is create a range that is at once 100 percent her and 100 percent of the moment. Fans old and new will be pleased.
