From a young age, designer and fashion icon Anna Sui knew she wanted to clothe rock stars. In the late 70's, she started piecing together the notes of a clothing line in her NYC apartment. That is, when she wasn't flying around the world picking up freelance gigs. It was an exhausting period, but it also opened her eyes to a world of resources and techniques on other ways to create clothing. Streaming is doing something similar for music and creative inspiration, she says, (without needing to pay for a flight).
Now a veteran designer for musicians of all stripes, Sui has a very special relationship with music. Recently, she created a New York Fashion Week playlist highlighting musical selections from all her shows since her first in 1991. I would say it's a list of all my favorite songs because every song that I use in my show, most of the time there's a personal affiliation with it, she explained to For the Record.
Read on for more of our exclusive interview on the unique relationship Sui has with music-and the people who create it.
When you're creating a new collection, do you play any particular artists or genres? Usually when I'm working on a collection, I start by researching music that I'm going to use for my runway theme. If there's something, let's say historical or from some particular era, maybe I'll start listening to music from that period. For instance, when I did a chinoiserie collection, I started listening to music from old and contemporary Chinese movies. So it's part of my research in creating the mood for the collection. It's something that I really enjoy because I always discover something new each time I do the research.
Have you ever heard something that's inspired the collection or the theme for the show? Oh yeah. I mean there are particular collections that were inspired by music, especially during the grunge period. I did a grunge collection. A few years ago I did a punk-inspired collection and went back and listened to all the old punk records and looked at old photos from that period. I think it's really important to create an ambiance for an audience and transport them to where my imagination is.
And is this a process that you followed for most of your life as a designer? For example, when you were starting out in your apartment, did you have a similar attitude towards music? Yeah, I mean when I started doing my own collection, my whole purpose to dress rock stars and people going to see rock concerts. That was my sole motive. And it kind of escalated from there, when department stores and boutiques started buying the collection. Then I had to think a little broader. But my original concept was rock stars.
Speaking of which, you've attracted big names like Madonna, Mick Jagger, Jack White. What are some of the elements that you were going for in creating pieces for them, and what are some of the things you think they picked up on? I think that it's a combination of the fact that they're following fashion, but I'm also following music and it's like a kindred spirit when you meet. Like when I met Jack White, I think he knew that I had that background of loving punk rock and loving classic rock. And so we kind of just started talking about it right away.
It was a fantasy my whole life, dressing The Rolling Stones. And so that was really exciting that Mick did his first hosting of Saturday Night Live in my clothes.
And then Madonna was really the one who gave me the confidence to do my first show. I didn't know that she was a fan or that she wore my clothes. But one of the first times I met her was at a fashion show together in Paris. When she took off her coat, she had my dress on. And that was kind of a shocker because in her hotel room where we picked her up from, she had shopping bags from every major designer in Paris and racks of clothes hanging. And so for her to select mine, it gave me that confidence that maybe I could do something, maybe I could really have my own show.
What is your advice to others who feel they have a particular calling, but are struggling to start out in the art or fashion world? Well, I think that you have to figure out your niche and really, really focus on it. I think that you have to realize that the competition is so tough that you have to really be sure that this is what you want and there's certain sacrifices you have to make along the way. And so it's a trade off. And you have to just have that determination.
Anything else on your mind that you'd like our readers or your fans to know about? Keep expanding your mind, keep expanding your horizons, keep expanding your world. Something like Spotify really gives you that opportunity where you don't have to get the mileage, flying somewhere. You can just kind of dial it. You can find it. And I think that that's an amazing thing that's happening today.
Take a listen to Anna's NYFW Playlist below. Plus, check out our interviews with other NYFW attendees, including Rebecca Minkoff, Sophie Elgort, and Natalie Lim Suarez.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
From a young age, designer and fashion icon Anna Sui knew she wanted to clothe rock stars. In the late 70's, she started piecing together the notes of a clothing line in her NYC apartment. That is, when she wasn't flying around the world picking up freelance gigs. It was an exhausting period, but it also opened her eyes to a world of resources and techniques on other ways to create clothing. Streaming is doing something similar for music and creative inspiration, she says, (without needing to pay for a flight).
