Transcript
COCO ROCHA
Hey, it's Coco Rocha here at Anna Sui's showroom. We're just about to have our interview with her. I'm very excited because she's actually the first designer I walked for about six years ago. In fact, it was the show where Naomi Campbell was walking and I had no clue who she was, but that is okay. I have been forgiven. So let's go. Hurry up. Follow me.
ANNA SUI
Hi, Coco. Great to see you.
COCO ROCHA
And great to see you. How are you?
ANNA SUI
Very good.
COCO ROCHA
Are you excited about everything?
ANNA SUI
Um, yeah. This is the point when I start getting excited. Like, for the last month, I've been really nervous, really scared, um, really stressed out, but, like, now is the fun part. It's when everything comes together.
COCO ROCHA
We were doing our research and your first runway was 1991, right?
ANNA SUI
That's right.
COCO ROCHA
So how do you think of a new idea? It's always different. How do you do it?
ANNA SUI
It's usually the fabrics that excite me. But I think if you look at my inspiration boards here, this year, I decided it was going to be American arts and crafts. I start selecting prints and designing prints, selecting colors, and then here's the end result. So I think if you look at the clothes, they always reflect exactly what my initial inspiration was. American arts and crafts is something that we all grew up with. It's something that's been handmade for a hundred years...
COCO ROCHA
Mm hmm.
ANNA SUI
...and made exactly the same way. I remember houses in downtown Detroit that had this beautiful tile parts and fireplaces. And so we researched it and there's a place in Detroit called Pewabic tile. We do jewelry out of their tiles. So, I mean, this is like a perfect example of arts and crafts. I think people need to use their hands and they need to put themselves into what they're doing.
COCO ROCHA
Well, that's the thing. For you, everyone knows you're always involved in the patterns, in the colors and putting it together. And you make your patterns, right?
ANNA SUI
Yes.
COCO ROCHA
It's not something you found in a book?
ANNA SUI
Mm hmm.
COCO ROCHA
So how do you choose, like, these colors are going with these colors, but we make sure that it's still Anna Sui, we make sure it's still fresh?
ANNA SUI
A part of it is stemmed from the inspiration.
COCO ROCHA
Yeah.
ANNA SUI
I kind of hole myself up into my office every weekend for about three weeks and just start collecting pictures. I started thinking, okay, what's the essence of this? If I see something, then I try to understand what it is that I'm attracted to and I try to take the essence of it. A lot of these things are handmade. Every nail is hand-hammered in.
COCO ROCHA
Yeah.
ANNA SUI
I mean, they're made the old-fashion way. If you look at my inspiration board, one of the initial things that I got excited about was this cabinet. As you see, it's all studded too.
COCO ROCHA
Mm hmm.
ANNA SUI
And the shapes are all art nouveau. So I try to capture that same essence in these accessories. If there's something that I'm excited about, I try to translate it into my world.
COCO ROCHA
I don't think a lot of people realize how much work goes into a shoe like that. Thank you, Anna, so much for letting us be here and see your collection before it's actually even out.
ANNA SUI
Thank you. It's so great to see you as always.
COCO ROCHA
Thank you.
