Lifestyle / An Interview With Anna Sui

An Interview With Anna Sui

Lifestyle Dec 25, 2014

by Swati Bhatt Vyas

The New York-based Designer, Famed For Her Bohemian Rock ‘n’ Roll Aesthetic, Tells Us All About Her Latest Collection

It's not every day that you get to sit across from legendary fashion designer Anna Sui. I caught up with Anna Sui when she was in town to showcase her latest beauty and fragrance collection and preview her spring 2015 fashions.

Swati Bhatt Vyas: Walk us through your new line for spring/summer 2015.

Anna Sui: We went with inspiration from fairy tales for the holiday collection. I use a lot of fairy tale inspiration for my fashion so we decided to incorporate it here where there is a Hansel and Gretel house for packaging. The lip gloss looks like tempting sweets and the product looks like mousse and chocolates.

For spring we introduced the lipsticks with the cut crystal packaging in ruby. They all have a little sparkle in the lipstick which makes it look a little sun-kissed. The packaging is very art nouveau and was taken from the background of one of our runway shows.

I think we make great mascaras. There is one that curls and volumizes and one that lengthens, moisturizes, and separates, and one that goes on top and gives a film and makes it waterproof so that you can wear them all of them at once. We have introduced these beautiful packages in the fall in smoke-coloured crystal and we introduced a star-shaped lipstick. And for spring, we are introducing some new colours, like this ruby colouring for this lipstick case.

SBV: What do you consider stylish?

AS: I think when you kind of decide someone is stylish or you see somebody on the street and you think that they are stylish, it’s almost as if there is a certain confidence in their look and a certain belief in their look.

I sometimes admire women who can just wear white shirts and jeans and just look so polished, and then there is somebody that is head-to-toe designer fashion. It just depends on the person, how they carry it, and how much it's them. There are different ways of admiring that sort of look. Or they can be, like, a little granny on the street that has a beautiful coat that maybe she bought 40 years ago, but somehow it looks so right. So, I think that’s really the key, is that confidence and that comfort of owning it.

Anna Sui Lipstick, Nail Polish and Tempted Sweets Holiday Gift

SBV: What is your go-to makeup essential?

AS: Sometimes when I go out in the morning on Saturday and I don’t feel like the liner or bases, I just put on the red lipstick. I would say that’s the essential one.

SBV: You have an amazing cosmic theme underlying all your collections. It translates very well in all your packaging as well. Talk to me about the aesthetics of your collection.

AS: When we sat down to decide what different elements we were going to use, these were images I was always drawn to. Like, for instance, when I got my cosmetic license and my fragrance license, which happened within a month of each other, at that point, I was always going to the farmers' market and was always buying these tea roses that were lavender-coloured and had the best fragrance to them. And I would buy them every Saturday and put a couple of different vases in my bedroom and the whole bedroom would smell like these tea roses.

So, when we started working on the cosmetics, the first question was, "What did you want them to smell like?" I was like, "You can do that? You can make them smell like something?" And they said, "Yeah, sure, no problem." So then I said, "Can we make them smell like these tea roses?" and then same thing with the first fragrance. I think that is the same thing I would do with my fashion. There are certain catch phrases that everyone always uses when they talk about fashion, which is very girly but very rock and roll. Then it's very nostalgic but very trendy. There are all these opposites, but they are part of my personality and that’s what comes through in all of my products.

La Nuit De Boheme

SBV: What is your best beauty tip for different skin tones?

AS: Well, I think that whatever makes them look their most radiant. We are lucky that we can carry strong colours and stronger lip colour, I think. Why not? Especially during the holidays. Why not take advantage of that and get dressed up and look a little more glamorous? Because we have that as an excuse, that holiday party.

_{All images courtesy of PR Overcat Communications}

Swati Bhatt Vyas

Author

With a master’s in Journalism from Mumbai University, Swati published her first book as one of the youngest female self-help authors in India. Later in 2011, she penned her second book. Since then she has worked extensively in print, web & broadcast media in India & Canada. She c...

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An Interview With Anna Sui

by Swati Bhatt Vyas

The New York-based Designer, Famed For Her Bohemian Rock ‘n’ Roll Aesthetic, Tells Us All About Her Latest Collection

Swati Bhatt Vyas

COMMENTS

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