Anna Sui Fashion Designer

The following biography contains information on Fashion Designer Anna Sui. BIOGRAPHY International Fashion Designer Anna Sui's involvement in fashion began at an early age, with a devotion to dressing her dolls and her neighbor's toy soldiers for her own personal version of the Academy Awards. Sui eventually extended her fashion interest to include designing her own clothes and clipping fashion magazine pages to serve as inspirations. To this very day, she continues to refer to these "genius files". After graduating from high school in Detroit, Michigan, Sui moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design. While at Parsons, Sui found a collaborator and close friend in Steven Meisel, today one of the world's top fashion photographers. Her early days as a stylist for Meisel's shoots included editorial for the Italian fashion magazine LEI. After leaving Parsons, Sui worked at a variety of junior sportswear companies. In 1980, Sui presented six original pieces at the Boutique Show

and immediately received an order from Macy's, who featured one of her designs in a New York Times advertisement. That same year, Anna Sui launched her own business that operated out of her apartment throughout the 1980's. In 1991, Anna Sui premiered her first runway show, featuring her signature "head-totoe" look and prompting the New York Times to proclaim it a "pastiche of hip and haute styles." In that same year, Sui moved her business and showroom to its current location in the Garment District. In 1992, Sui opened her own boutique at 113 Greene Street in the SoHo district of New York. The store reflects Sui's distinct taste: pairing flea market furniture and whimsical Dolly Head mannequins in a room with purple walls and red floors. In 1993, Sui won the prestegious CFDA Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. The first of three Anna Sui freestanding boutiques in Asia opened in 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 is the main licensee 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 of Germany to develop a signature fragrance. In a three-sided arrangement, Wella shares the Anna Sui beauty business with Japanese cosmetics maker Albion, which holds the Anna Sui color cosmetics and skin care license. Under the agreement , Wella will produce and market Anna Sui fragrances while Albion introduces the Anna Sui color collection for 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 of 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. CLOTHING COLLECTIONS

ANNA SUI COLLECTION FOR MEN AND WOMEN * Signature line introduced in 1980. * Produced in the Anna Sui design studio in New York City * Anna Sui signature collection is known for its high fashion edge with a vintage sensibility * Retail price range; jacket $300 - $800; dress $200 - $500 * Anna Sui collection is currently sold in approximately 200 retail outlets in the United States, Europe, and the Far East

ACCESSORIES COLLECTIONS ANNA SUI SHOES FOR WOMEN * Debut Fall 1997 * Licensing agreement with Italian based company Ballin to manufacture the Anna Sui women's shoe collection * The Anna Sui women's shoe collection comprises approximately 30 styles. A limited collection of corresponding handbags and purses comprises approximately 8 styles. * Retail price range $150 - $450

ANNA SUI SIGNATURE COSMETICS AND FRAGRANCE COLLECTIONS

ANNA SUI SIGNATURE COSMETICS AND FRAGRANCE COLLECTIONS * Three sided licensing agreement with Wella AG to manufacture fragrance and Albion to manufacture cosmetics. * Color collection includes foundation to lip, eye and nail products. Anna Sui fragrance collection includes perfume, eau de toilette and bath products. * Sui Dreams, the second fragrance from Anna Sui launched Fall 2000. * Sui Love, the third fragrance from Anna Sui launched Spring 2002.

ANNA SUI REVIEWS

New York Times on Anna Sui's Fall 2000 collection "Ms. Sui seemed to transform herself from a club habitue who always knew what was happening below 14th Street to a mature designer whose inspirations might be a Ken Russell film or a rococo palace The upshot was a sophisticated look that relied not on obvious symbols of glamour, like pearls and trailing boas, but on simple modern ideals as lightness and comfort."

WWD on Anna Sui's Spring '99 collection "Anna Sui is a practiced hand at mixing antiquated romance and modern love Her meld of 'rococo and gypsy' was so fresh it evoked a 'girl who's just fallen in the river and gotten back out,' just as Sui intended." WWD on Anna Sui's Spring '98 collection "Three cheers for Anna Sui, who hung 10 with her fabulous spring collection...In one of her best collections in seasons, Anna Sui broke the boredom of fashion week with a terrific show." The International Herald Tribune on the Spring '98 collection "Sui's style is rooted in the 1970's, with references to flower power hats, tiny Liberty floral prints, and to the ethnic trail. But she made it all seem fresh and modern... The collection had a sunny spirit that made the downbeat, downtown collections on other runways seem like last year's trends." WWD on Anna Sui's Fall '97 collection "...(Sui's) clothes have never been about wallflowers. Instead, she loves a kind of overt, hip fashion that manages to be both saucy and sweet, and she has a knack for combining the familiar and the frivolous in a way that makes perfect sense." The New York Times on the Spring '97 Anna Sui collection "Two forces are always at work in fashion: innocence and its brazen opposite. But what is amazing about Miuccia Prada and Anna Sui, fashion's most conniving designing women, is how they manage always to work both notions into their shows." WWD on Anna Sui "Anna Sui is the sorceress of New York fashion - she definitely has the power to enchant." The New York Times on Anna Sui's Fall '96 collection "It is Ms. Sui's method of research, paired with the madness of her creativity, that makes her shows more than inspirational. They are educational, too." RUNWAY SHOWS JOB TITLES Designer DISCLAIMER Information in this report relies on information provided by individual designers, public relations agencies and other public sources. Infomat can accept no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information or for loss or damage caused by any use thereof.