Anna Sui’s collections take you on a creative journey that is unparalleled in the world of fashion. Mixing vintage styles with her current cultural obsessions, she effortlessly makes hip and exuberant original clothes. Whether Anna’s inspiration is Victorian cowboys, Warhol superstars or Finnish textile prints, her depth of cultural knowledge is always apparent. “When I’m interested in something, I want to know everything about it,” she says, “I need to know what’s behind it all. I really enjoy that process.” Anna’s constant search for new ideas and challenges keeps her ahead of her times. She’s a true trendsetter to whom stylists and editors look for direction. The boundless energy and creative ingenuity of her runway presentations always make her shows a high point of New York Fashion Week.

The career of Anna Sui is a classic American success story. “You have to focus on your dreams, even if they go beyond common sense. How could this young girl from the suburbs of Detroit become a success in New York? It was always that dream,” she says. Today Anna Sui has 32 boutiques in five countries and her collection is sold in 300 stores in over 30 countries. Anna still has the same love of fashion that she did when she was a little girl. At age four, she decided that she would become a designer and started to make her own clothes. She mixed a very serious approach to learning her craft with eccentric ideas, such as vowing to not to wear the same outfit twice in one year. “I was completely obsessed,” she says, “I don’t know how my parents put up with me.” Before the end of her senior high school year, she was accepted to Parsons School of Design in New York. After two years at Parsons, Anna styled with friend Steven Meisel and designed for several sportswear companies before launching her first collection in 1980.

Anna Sui’s business continued to grow throughout the 1980s, and in 1991 she premiered her first runway show. The following year she opened her first flagship store on Greene Street in Soho. The boutique’s vibrant mix of black Victorian furniture, purple walls, papier mache dollyheads and rock n’ roll posters closely reflects Anna Sui’s personal decorating style and has been the model for all of her shops. The late 1990s was a time of significant growth for Anna Sui; she embarked upon a hugely successful expansion in the Far East, where she quickly established a huge cult following. She also launched cosmetics, fragrance, shoe and accessory licenses. Her devotion to detail is apparent in every one of her products, which are all intimately connected to her world. Her iconic make-up packaging and fragrance bottle design have even become collectors’ items.

Anna Sui is known for her commitment to the things that move her. Her devotion to rock and roll makes her clothes perfect for a rock and roll superstar, and her runway soundtrack is one of the most anticipated each season. Her love for shopping has made her an authority on the best shopping in every city, and her passion for interior design created a visually stunning NYC apartment. Following her own inspiration, Anna Sui continues to inspire. She is living her dream.

Runway highlights from Anna Sui at Fashion Week in New York, Spring 2009.

Anna Sui Collection at New York Fashion Week – Full runway video

Phillip Lim debuted his eponymous collection, 3.1 phillip lim, in the fall
of 2005 to instant success, both critically and commercially. Now entering its
third year, the line is available in over 250 boutiques and department stores
nationwide, and represented in 26 countries worldwide. An inaugural presentation of the fall/winter collection kicked off New York Fashion Week with glowing reviews. Widespread recognition and declaration of Lim’s talent quickly followed. In January 2006, Fashion Group International awarded Lim first place in the Women’s Designer ‘Rising Star’ category. Then following in July, the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue magazine nominated Lim as a finalist for the prestigious 2006 Fashion Fund Award. Now 2007 is proving to be a year of even deeper significance. Spring saw the introduction of menswear, and the first free standing 3.1 phillip lim store opened in July on Mercer Street in New York City.

The store, which carries the men’s, women’s, and accessories collection, establishes a foundation for plans of retail expansion both domestically and abroad. 2007 has also marked Lim being honored with the CFDA Swarovski Award for emerging talent in women’s wear, his recognition as a finalist for the Fashion Design Award of Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and his second nomination as a finalist for the Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund Award. This year will also bring the launch of 3.1 phillip lim kid’s wear and an eyewear collection, produced by the European luxury eyewear company, MODO.

As for his background, one might say, fashion found Lim. While studying finance at California State University of Long Beach, it became evident that Lim was sitting in the wrong classroom. A switch in majors led to an internship at Katayone Adeli, which led to a full time job as design assistant. Lim parted ways with Katayone Adeli after assisting her for over a year and a half. Soon after he met his future partners, and quickly became co-founder and head designer of the label Development. After four years at Development, Lim, 31, departed to launch his most personal collection to date with business partner and friend, Wen Zhou, also 31. This meant switching coasts to New York, where he now works and resides.

3.l phillip lim’s raison d’etre is making beautiful clothes with added touches of madness, striving towards the imperfection. The result is a creation of individual looks that are unexpected, unplanned, but completely relevant.

Accordingly, Lim says, “3.1 is about clothes that refine instead of define. A refinement that’s a bit classic in attitude, but imparts a sense of individual style, without looking or feeling forced. Confident, unidentifiable, chic, and most of all effortless.”

For Lim, the design process begins by absorbing shapes, colors, and textures from his surroundings and personal experiences and mixing them with luxurious fabrics and thoughtful nuances. The fabrics include tissue weight cashmeres, laundered cottons, washed silks and brushed wools. Additional richness and life is added to the 3.1 aesthetic through a complete range of accessories, including shoes, boots, belts, bags and seasonal signature accessories. Understated, cool, and polished, Lim continues to redefine the rules of fashion.

Runway highlights from 3.1 Phillip Lim at Fashion Week in New York, Spring 2009

Phillip Lim Collection at New York Fashion Week – Full runway video