Anna Sui is predicting a fashion shift.
“This collection we’re calling romanticism. It’s about the fantasy of imagination and beauty and heroism and folklore. I think that we’re about to change. Fashion is going to change, and I think that we’re just on the verge of a new thing. I’m trying to push myself a little bit more,” Sui said during a preview, citing the widespread positive response to Chemena Kamali’s debut Chloé collection and the return of bohemian fashion.
“It might become something new, more romantic. Quiet luxury doesn’t go far, so we tried to make this more feminine,” she said.
Her clever response to the current shift was a resort collection filled with frills, ruffles, peplums, lace, pussycat bows, prairie — which she calls “granny” — dresses, and texturally rich wardrobing rooted in easy, youthful wearability. Case in point: a bow belted, sweet little white lace party dress that reminded Sui of a look Courtney Love wore in the ‘90s; little petticoat skirts with matching bralettes or oversized cardigans, or a little Chanel-esque skirt suit with striped pajama shirt.
Sui said her recent April trip to Italy, where she visited the San Domenico Museum for its pre-Raphaelite art exhibition, fueled the collection’s tapestry motifs; wallpaper floral “Rosetti” and “Sleeping Beauty” prints; mostly blue hues (alongside another color story of black and lilac), and Italian goddess and nymph painting-inspired flowy dresses.
Lightweight, slightly tricked-out blue denim with embellished butterflies (and matching, reissued spring ’93 collaborative John Fluevog appliquéd boots) or a denim corset top paired with a tweedy kilt, nicely grounded her romanticism-tinged, texturally layered-up looks. Loads of playful dots — stemming from the designer’s current obsession with the pattern — added to the collection’s lightweight, playful feel à la prints or in satin devoré, velvet and dotted Swiss.
Overall, the collection upholds Sui’s sweet sensibility and easy wearability with nostalgic, vintage nods — all of which her growing, younger customer base continually yearns for.