Sui set up a sewing machine behind a bookshelf in her apartment and went to work. "The next ten years were a struggle," she admits. "It's a tough business. There were so many times I wanted to give up and take a job as a fashion editor on a magazine. But I always wanted to be a designer, so I was persistent and stubborn until the right time came along. It was a very interesting lesson to learn about life."For Sui, the right time was the end of 80's dressing, when women wore one designer label from head to toe. In the early 90's, fashion became more individual and expressive which better meshed with Sui's younger, hipper style. "You'd see someone in an antique top and a pair of bell bottoms and a choker she'd made herself," says Sui. "I knew that fashion had changed."
Sui then built her business by producing little dresses for young women who had never worn dresses before. Her model friends started wearing them and spread the word. "At a Chanel fitting, Karl Lagerfeld had a fit because all the girls were wearing my dresses," says Sui. "He said, 'Anna, Anna, who's this Anna?'" In 1991, her friends convinced her to stage her first runway show, and in 1993 she won the CFDA Perry Ellis award for new fashion talent. Sui had attained her dream.
Now, when she presents each collection, her parents come to stay with her to keep her grounded, though her mother offers Sui personal fashion advice. "When are you going to dress like a designer?" her mother asks. "You should wear high heels -- you're very short."
