Anna Sui has five fragrances launching in the fall, so she’ll do a presentation of her new collection then. Her show at the Strand last season was a highlight of New York, but if it was disappointing not to see these clothes in motion on the runway, a visit to her Garment District office and showroom made up for it.
Sui’s mood board is always teeming with references. This time around it was Andy Warhol’s early commercial art she was drawn to. “I wanted to do something really soft, and I’ve always loved his pre-Pop drawings,” she said. They informed the pastel color palette as well as the prints. Sui enlisted the artist Paul LeRoy Gehres, whose personal work often channels Warhol’s, to create a cherub logo motif. You may see it on the shrunken ’90s tees that Sui’s young fans are now collecting. She also pointed out a new printing technique that evoked the blotted outlines of Warhol’s illustrations on a pretty lace slip dress.
Travel, resorts, and country clubs were on Sui’s mind. If you’ve ever come across photos of your mother or grandmother on vacation at the beach in the ’60s, you’ll get her drift. In the mix were terry lounge sets, A-line micro-shifts in fluorescent jacquards and floral piqués, souvenir print silk-cotton voile pajamas, cardigans that “look like something Dean Martin would’ve worn,” and bejeweled cat-eye sunglasses. The ruffled pastel tulle prom dresses were a sweet alternative to the too-old-for-them styles many high schoolers are wearing now.
Sui mentioned that her actor-niece Chase Sui Wonders had been by the studio to see the collection. “‘Auntie Anna,’” she said, “‘it’s like the opposite of brat, it’s so earnest, it’s demure.’ She kind of got it,” said Sui. She really did. And for the record, Wonders said that “before the whole demure quote came out.”
