As a passionate historian of pop culture and design, Anna Sui is willing to give almost every artistic movement a chance. Except Memphis. At an appointment in her lavender-colored studio with its jet furnishings and stained glass door, Sui admitted that Memphis was just never really her thing. And so she set herself up with a challenge for Resort 2020: Put the Sui spin on the boldest, and possibly most bizarre design movement of the ’80s. Research into Memphis’s key figures led Sui to a palette of Pop colors—azure, jade, bright coral—that, as a New Wave regular at the Mudd Club, were familiar to Sui from Fiorucci adverts and MTV graphics. So there was her bridge.
In the collection, the Maripol-does-Memphis spirit came through in color-blocked maxi dresses, metallic shirred minis, and a delightfully funky flame print cut into windbreakers, blouses, and floppy little dresses. Most exciting—other than Sui’s custom prints and luxe fabrications that are always top notch—is the sheer variety of silhouette offered this season. There are dinette dresses in black-and-white florals; grandpa cardigans designed with Sui’s logo; vinyl car coats; sweeping robes; lace-trimmed tee dresses; a very alluring ‘70s minidress with tiered bell sleeves and an almost Gunne Sax–inspired belt at the waist. In the Sui-verse there is something for everyone, even an aspiring Heather in a boyish plaid blazer. With simple styling, this collection is a to-the-point testament to the breadth of Sui’s vision—and a testament to the fact that with a little dove-shaped lace or lip-and-heart pattern, anything can be Sui-fied. Thank heavens for that.
