For Anna Sui’s spring 2012 collection shown at New York fashion week, she drew inspiration from Paris nightclubs of the 70s, particularly Club Sept which she  visited in her youth.  I love her source of inspiration for this collection.  Isn’t that what we all love to do?  Draw on the club experiences of our youth, when we were awe-struck and fell in love with alternative culture.  A growing trend right now is the revival of batcave (both a London and NYC club) style.

Anna Sui is able to find the perfect aesthetic in a sea of busyness, retro, and patterns.  Sui does the bohemian print just right, by making is dark and sultry but at the same time youthful and avant-garde.  I must find a way to incorporate bodysuites, jumpers, more pattern, and wide-brimmed hats into my 2012 spring and summer wardrobe.  Sui’s collections make me want to push the boundaries of my personal style and sport things I never thought I liked.

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It’s easy to look at Anna Sui’s fall 2011 collection shown at NY fashion week or Anna Sui’s designs in general and get overwhelmed by all the bold colored bohemian 60s prints.  But there is a ton going on in this collection and in her design style in general that is worth taking cues from.  As I see it Sui is inspired by a whole many decades, periods, and subcultural styles and it’s just a matter of picking the pieces where she blends the styles you enjoy together.  And sometimes discovering you enjoy periods or styles you didn’t think you did.

There are many 60s/bohemian prints and cuts in this collection that I just can’t get into.  But there are some cases where the color and prints come together in a way that catches my eye.  Side stepping this look that was the meat of the collection, there were four main aspects I enjoyed in this collection.  First, animal cosplay hats and designer fashion, perfect!  Cosplay hats have been popping up all over for the past couple years, but this is one of the best ways I’ve seen them done.  Second, glasses on the runway.  There were a few bookworm inspired outfits pushed further in that direction with a pair of frames, very cute.  Mainly, were the all black ensembles pulling from many decades to create a dark, lush, and just plain beautiful effect.  Sui can do sweet and super chic all black ensembles drawing from Victorian, flapper, mod, goth, and boho all at once amazingly.  And lastly, she does this look in all white and I am inspired!

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Anna Sui Fall/Winter 2010

Layers upon layers of different laces, furs, knits, patterns, and textures was the theme of Anna Sui’s Fall/Winter collection at New York Fashion Week.  The collection read as if a 1960s mod met a sherpa and they both were influenced by the layering trend of the 1990s Seattle grunge scene.

The Fall/Winter collection featured the drop waist dress silhouette as the foundation for most of this season’s looks.  Sui seemed take us on a journey into different eras of the drop waist by showing looks from knitted day-wear to ruffled floral evening dresses into 1920s flapper-inspired bridal wear.  This chaotic array of plaids, florals, patterns, sequins, and even some macramé would make ones head spin, but Sui made me a believer that less can be more!  The highlights of the collection were the details in the patterned tights, fur vests, and pops of jewel-tones like; emerald green, plum purple, and royal blue.  Anna Sui always makes a statement by being on the cusp of alternative fashion, always daring and always giving us all something to drool over!

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