To me, fashion is like a mirror. It's a reflection of the times. And if it doesn't reflect the times, it's not fashion. Because people aren't gonna be wearing it.
Longing and desire goes further than instant satisfaction. That's human nature.
Every collection that I work on, I always think, Is this cool enough to wear to a concert?
I love punk, I love a lot of British Invasion bands, I love garage bands.
Every time that I wanted to give up, if I saw an interesting textile, print what ever, suddenly I would see a collection.
I think I'm a global citizen. My parents came from China, were educated in France and emigrated to the United States. And I think that opened up my mind to be able to live and work anywhere.
I think whenever people talk about the 'Anna Sui woman,' they're talking about someone that's probably kind of more downtown, and there's always like this ambiguity: Is she a good girl, or a bad girl?
I always say the next big thing will happen in unexpected places - up and coming cities that aren't necessarily boom markets.
I don't have the luxury of making clothes just to make an effect. It can't be something totally frivolous, because my distributors have to have a successful season, too.
At the point when I wanted to become a designer, I didn't think about, 'Oh, but I'm a woman,' just like didn't think about like, well, 'I'm Chinese' or that 'I'm in Michigan.' You know, none of those things were obstacles to me. I just had this idea that this is what I had to do.
I love history. I love art. I like to mix it all together, but in the end it somehow has to all make sense.
There are always different influences each season. It could be a person, it could be a piece of furniture; it depends on what I'm obsessing about.
I love research. When there's something that I like, I want to know everything about it. I want to know exactly what was behind it, and where it went from there.
To me if you're going have a show, it should be a show. It should be entertaining and take you on a journey.
Nothing's faster than the Internet.
I love going to flea markets especially when I am traveling, because I love seeing the stuff of other cultures, handicrafts and things with historical content.
Well, my whole thing is that I'm kind of like a show-off!
I just love the way the '60s rock stars put themselves together, because they were like dandies and peacocks. They really lived out their fantasies - and dressed their fantasies.
I think about that all of the time and I have this fantasy that I am going to work at a museum someday! I would love to do something like that!
When I was starting, there were wool mills in the U.S. that could make you anything. The U.S. used to produce the most beautiful cotton denim in the world. Now all that is gone.
