Anna Sui recently talked to WWD about the beginning of her business and the help she had from her supermodel friends. Sui explained, "I knew the models socially before I worked with them. Linda [Evangelista] and Naomi [Campbell], in particular, were so important in helping me get all the other models to do my first show....We'd have birthday parties, gatherings and hung out at my apartment before we would go out."
In fact, Linda and Naomi were out and about wearing Anna's cotton lace baby-doll dresses before Sui even held her first show. Sui remembers all of the phone calls she received from Paris and one from Helena Christensen, specifically, asking for the dress.
Sui spoke about how the modeling industry has evolved since the '90s.
It's a different time. We are now going through a period of a lot of Eastern European. It's more about their look than their personalities. It was the most terrifying thing to do fittings with supermodels, because they would come in and look at your Polaroid board, and count how many outfits they had, what order they came out in and who were they next to. They would say things like, "She is taller than me and I am not coming out after her," "How come she has three outfits and I only have two" and "I want that outfit." They'd literally pull the Polaroid off the board and say they want to wear this. There was a reason they were supermodels, though. When they put on an outfit, everyone was floored.
She also said the music industry has always influenced her, remarking, "MTV played such an important role. Remember how they had 'House of Style,' and their music awards just before fashion week here in New York. New York was a little more 'elite' at that moment."
Take a look back at Sui's rise -- and her super friends -- in the '90s.