The World of Anna Sui

About.

The Modern Art Museum (MAM) Shanghai is proud to present ‘The World of Anna Sui’, a major retrospective exhibition of the iconic American fashion designer Anna Sui, opening on the 6th of June. The exhibition features dozens of looks from the designer's archive—from the groundbreaking inaugural fashion show of 1991 to her Spring 2019 collection—and illuminates Sui's creative process and influences that contribute to her signature aesthetic sensibility.

It is the first time the Modern Art Museum (MAM) in Shanghai presents a fashion exhibition including the original designed garments. The exhibition will inaugurate a new annual presentation of a fashion-themed show as part of the museum’s program.

As one of the top New York-based designers who greatly influenced American pop and fashion culture, Anna Sui was twice awarded the Fashion Award by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), considered the ‘Oscars’ of the fashion world. The New York Times defined Sui as a “never pander” designer. In 2010 she was named one of the "Top 5 Fashion Icons of the Decade '' by Times Magazine, and in March 2020, she was given the Medal of Honor for Achievement in Fashion by the National Arts Club in the United States.

Anna Sui is a first-generation Chinese born in Detroit, Michigan. Her parents met in Paris while studying in the Sorbonne, and later moved to the United States. Since Shanghai is the city of her ancestors, featuring “The World of Anna Sui” in Shanghai is not only a sign of her recognition and overtures to the Chinese fashion industry, but is also an expression of the emotional connection to her ethnicity, a sense of belonging, and marker of her self-identification.

Sui’s creative work spans decades. The blockbuster collections of her early series in the 1980s broke the fashion stereotype built by the established brands of the day. Her first fashion show in 1991 attracted many top-tier models coming in support and her career continued to be marked by innovation and leading the industry trends. During nearly four decades of creating fashion, Sui has been keeping her line original, with every work a lighting star living up to the expectations of the industry. Her fashion label includes clothing, accessories, cosmetics, perfumes, household items, and other series of products, which are exported to more than 30 countries around the world. Sui's unique worldview and creative ideas lead the fashion industry and have a profound impact on many related fields such as textile, beauty products, and interior design. In recent years, Sui has been developing a closer relationship with the Chinese fashion industry. In 2018, Anna Sui built a new brand line, Anna Sui Active, and opened branding boutiques in Beijing and Shanghai. Anna Sui Active aims to bring to life Anna Sui’s signature ‘empowering yet feminine, good girl/bad girl, which set off a new trend.

“The World of Anna Sui” explores the designer’s works based on the inspirations from an early age on to the continuous creation later on. The exhibition also analyzes how the design and pop & fashion culture influence each other and how they are intertwined. It brings hundreds of career-spanning works that characterize Sui, including design manuscripts, classical clothing, and accessories, the elements of Sui’s branding image, visual recordings of her Fashion shows, as well as mood boards that captured her thematic inspirations. In sum, the exhibition reveals Anna Sui’s artistic temperament that full of magic and diversity.

“The World of Anna Sui” originated at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London where it was on view for four months to critical and popular acclaim.

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