Global citizen is an oft-misused term. But for designer Anna Sui, the words fit comfortably. "My parents were born in China, but they met in Paris, lived in Europe and then moved to the United States. I was born in the suburbs of Detroit and grew up on pop culture, television and rock'n'roll," says the eclectic creative. "Am I American or Asian? I think of myself as a global person, which in essence we're all becoming."
Sitting in a flower-festooned suite at the Four Season Hong Kong, Sui was in the city to launch Fairy Dance, the last installment in a trilogy of perfumes known as Secret Wish. Fairies make dreams come true, notes Sui.
Increasingly, and the irony is not lost on Sui, the potions have became brand enhancer and profit elixir, "Fragrance is the crown and glory of a design house," she says. "It can reach further than your clothing and fashion. People now think of me as a perfume; it transcends a real person."
Like any prescient creative Sui's wardrobe - worn by luminaries such as Sofia Coppola, Zooey Deschanel, and Kristen Steward - is the result of a wild mind and disciplined eye; she's equal parts fashion student and research shopaholic.
Her latest collection, inspired by illustrator and photographer Antonio Lopez, reflect that approach, "Lopez brought the excitement of New York fashion to Paris along with a bevy of models, and they invaded all of its nightclubs. He inspired people like Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. Because of Lopez, pret-a-porter was born and European designers wanted to do more immediate and younger fashion. There was vintage inspiration too. Women like Paloma Picasso and [model/actress] Marisa Berenson wore things from the flea market. All these influences exploded at this great time - and that was big inspiration."
Hence the intricate homage to vintage prints and sepia-tones that infuse the collection. "I love the way fragrance crates mood - so can colour. I constantly look at photographs, paintings and film from whichever period is influencing me and try to capture that colour and put it on the catwalk."
Appropriating from her own palette, Sui's collection also sees a return to flora and fauna with this collection. "For a few seasons I was trying not to do floral because people know me for it, but this season, it's all floral."
Fascinated as she is by narrative and cultural history, Sui's story is like a re-spun Cinderella of modern day mythology in which the evil stepsisters make way for a glamazonian supermodels. A graduate of New York's Parsons School of Design, she styled with photographer friend Steven Meisel, designed for sportswear companies and then launched her brand in 1980m which grew during the decade. So impressed were catwalk queen s Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista they encouraged - and then offered - to do Sui's first runway show in 1991 for free.
Sui, who still maintains contact with both, smiles at the recollections: "I don't see them as often as before because they don't do the shows. But I do see them, Naomi's boyfriend has a place in New York so we get together for dinners. Linda lives in New York some of the time so I run into her every so often. We were pals. I knew them more as friends than as models and we fostered a great friendship over the years."
The show's success saw Sui open her first store in 1992 on Greene Street in new York's Soho. With its vibrant mix of black Victorian furniture, purple walls, and rock'n'roll paraphernalia, it set the tone for all Anna Sui boutiques since.
Today's face of Anna Sui fashion, cosmetics and perfume is Swedish sensation Frida Gustavsson, a dream fit for Sui.
"Frida's the type of model that only comes along every so often, she wear s clothes beautifully and so gracefully and doesn't have to be retouched. She's perfect."
It's hard to feel anything but joy and warmth for Sui in the face of her passion and enthusiasm. Fairy and god-mother, fashion and dreamer, for one so ground she's high fantastical.
Symbol, Philosophy
Anna Sui's Fairy Dance is the third installment of perfumes under the title Secret Wish. "We wanted something that was light and fresh, the way the other fragrances were, but this one has an element of fruit: tangerine and mango," she says, as a voluptuous bottle, topped with a fairy cap mists the air. "We wanted to evoke sunshine, when you see the juice itself, it has a sunny glow to it. We tried to capture a summer festival feeling with roses, and rose gardens and fairies, laughter and friendship."
The seemingly lofty aspirations are grounded in reality, as Sui explains. "There's a festival I go to every summer in Cornwall, England, a long weekend where we celebrate life with music, literature and now there's a fashion element going on there. And I thought, why not do something inspired by all of that? All in all, it's about friendship. See in this whole theme, a fairy-tale element.
Fairies are the ones that can answer your dreams, which can make your wishes come true. So why not have the fairy as a symbol?"
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| Anna Sui |
在善變的時尚界，Anna Sui 經受住了時間的考驗。她與 P. Ramakrishnan 一同暢談仙子與好友。
「世界公民」是一個經常被濫用的詞彙。但對設計師 Anna Sui 而言，這個形容詞貼切不過。「我的父母在中國出生，但在巴黎相識、在歐洲生活，隨後移民美國。我在底特律郊區出生，伴隨着流行文化、電視和搖滾樂長大，」這位風格多元的創作者說。「我是美國人還是亞洲人？我覺得自己是一個世界公民，而本質上我們所有人都在走向這一點。」
坐在香港四季酒店花團錦簇的套房裏，Sui 此行訪港旨在推出 Fairy Dance（漫舞精靈），這是名為 Secret Wish（許願精靈）香水三部曲的最終章。Sui 指出，精靈能讓夢想成真。
這次發布代表着在她漫長而豐碩的職業生涯中，又一個微型里程碑。Sui 的設計風格蓬勃張揚，將維多利亞時代牛仔、安迪·華荷（Andy Warhol）以及芬蘭紡織印花等截然不同的元素熔於一爐。她是少數榮獲美國時裝設計師協會（CFDA）終身成就獎的精英之一，同獲此殊榮的巨擘還包括聖羅蘭（Yves Saint Laurent）、佐治奧·阿曼尼（Giorgio Armani）、拉夫·勞倫（Ralph Lauren）及狄雅·馮·費士廷保（Diane von Furstenberg）。她曾被《TIME》雜誌評選為「近十年五大時裝巨星」之一，據《財富》（Forbes）雜誌估算，其同名品牌已發展成為價值約 4 億美元的全球時装帝國。除了標誌性的香水系列，產品還涵蓋服裝、美妝、眼鏡和飾品。Sui 在 8 個國家擁 50 多家專門店，並在 30 多個國家的 300 多家店舖發售。
香水逐漸成為品牌的增長引擎與盈利靈藥，其中的諷刺意味 Sui 自然瞭然於胸。「香水是時裝屋的皇冠與榮耀，」她說。「它的觸角能延伸至比服裝和時尚更遠的地方。現在人們把我看作一種香水；它超越了現實中的個體。」
正如任何具前瞻性的創作者一樣，Sui 的衣櫥——曾穿在蘇菲亞·哥普拉（Sofia Coppola）、素兒·德香奈（Zooey Deschanel）和克里斯汀·斯圖爾特（Kristen Stewart）等名流身上——是狂野大腦與嚴謹眼光的結晶；她既是時裝學生，也是研究型購物狂。
她的最新系列靈感源自插畫師兼攝影師安東尼奧·洛佩斯（Antonio Lopez），完美體現了這種理念：「洛佩斯將紐約時尚的狂熱帶到了巴黎，還帶着一眾模特兒，他們席捲了巴黎所有的夜店。他啟發了像卡爾·拉格斐（Karl Lagerfeld）和聖羅蘭（Yves Saint Laurent）這樣的人物。正因為洛佩斯，高級成衣（prêt-à-porter）應運而生，歐洲設計師開始追求更即時、更年輕的時尚。當中也有復古靈感，像帕洛瑪·畢加索（Paloma Picasso）和［模特兒/演員］瑪麗莎·貝倫森（Marisa Berenson）等女性會穿著來自跳蚤市場的服飾。所有這些影響在這個偉大的時代交相輝映——那是極大的靈感來源。」
因此，該系列注入了對復古印花與深褐色調（sepia-tones）的精緻致敬。「我喜歡香水營造氛圍的方式——色彩同樣可以做到。我會不斷翻閱影響着我的那個時代的照片、畫作和電影，試圖捕捉那種色彩並將其搬上T台。」
Sui 從自身的調色板中取材，此系列亦重返花草與動物主題。「有幾個季度我試着不做花卉圖案，因為大家都知道這是我的標誌，但這個季度，全是花卉。」
正如她對敘事和文化歷史的迷戀，Sui 的故事就像是現代神話中重新演繹灰姑娘：邪惡的繼姊妹讓位予氣場強大的超級模特兒。她畢業於紐約帕森設計學院（Parsons School of Design），曾與攝影師好友史蒂芬·梅塞爾（Steven Meisel）合作做造型，也曾為運動服公司做設計，隨後於 1980 年創立了自己的品牌，並在八十年代不斷發展。T 台女王納奧米·金寶（Naomi Campbell）和琳達·伊萬格麗斯塔（Linda Evangelista）對此深感佩服，她們不僅鼓勵 Sui，更主動提出免費為她在 1991 年的首場時裝騷走秀。
至今仍與兩人保持聯繫的 Sui 回憶起這些往事時微笑著說：「我不像以前那樣經常見到她們，因為她們不再走秀了。但我確實會見到她們，Naomi 的男友在紐約有地方，所以我們會聚在一起吃飯。Linda 有時住在紐約，所以我偶爾會碰到她。我們以前是老友。比起模特兒，我更多地把她們當作朋友，多年來我們培養了深厚的友誼。」
這場時裝騷的成功讓 Sui 於 1992 年在紐約蘇豪區（Soho）的格林街（Greene Street）開設了首家專門店。店內裝潢將黑色維多利亞風格家具、紫色牆壁和搖滾樂收藏品融合得精采紛呈，為 Anna Sui 此後所有的專門店定下了基調。
如今，瑞典名模費利達·古斯塔夫臣（Frida Gustavsson）成為了 Anna Sui 時裝、美妝和香水的面孔，這對 Sui 來說簡直是完美的契合。
「Frida 是那種每隔許久才會出現一次的模特兒，她穿起衣服來是如此優雅迷人，甚至不需要任何修圖。她是完美的。」
面對 Sui 的激情與熱誠，人們難以不感到喜悅與溫暖。她是精靈教母，是時尚大師，也是夢想家，對一個如此腳踏實地的人來說，她的想像力極具幻彩迷人。
象徵與理念
Anna Sui 的 Fairy Dance 是 Secret Wish 旗下的第三款香水。「我們想要一種像其他幾款香水一樣輕盈清新的味道，但這款帶有水果元素：柑橘和芒果，」她邊說邊用頂部帶有仙子瓶蓋的華麗香水瓶向空中噴灑薄霧。「我們想喚起陽光的感覺，當你看到香水本身時，它有一種陽光般的光澤。我們試圖透過玫瑰、玫瑰園、精靈、歡笑和友誼來捕捉夏日節慶的感覺。」
這些看似高遠的追求其實植根於現實，正如 Sui 所解釋的那樣。「每年夏天我都會去英國康沃爾（Cornwall）參加一個音樂節，那是一個長週末，我們用音樂、文學來慶祝生活，現在那裏還融入了時尚元素。我就想，為什麼不以此為靈感做點什麼呢？總括而言，這關乎友誼。你看這整個主題，都有著童話的元素。」
「精靈是能回應你的夢想、讓你的願望成真的存在。那麼，為什麼不把精靈作為一種象徵呢？」
—— Anna Sui
