Anna Sui: Nobody loves pilings of girly stuff more than Anna Sui, yet for fall, she wanted to rein it all in. The challenge, she said, "was to get away from the things I'm known for, the ruffles and femininity, and go for more haberdashery." Yet this was hardly a butch fest, as Sui's masculine ideal, the dandy Beau Brummel, had his own way with frills.
From him she took witty cues and endless liberties, tempering her typical abundance without sacrificing its appeal. She offered the playful swagger of a metallic plaid shirt over shorts or a windowpane jumper over matching knickers, and worked up dresses and skirts in an endless array of mannish patterns — plaids, stripes, paisleys, geometrics — some with matching tights.
In addition to toning down, Sui had another goal: To source as much as possible locally, in homage to the Seventh Avenue of old and in support of the companies that still turn out laudable products. "I wanted to look at the heyday of Seventh Avenue, Donald Brooks and Chester Weinberg, and what they did with what they had available," she said. "You wanted soutache, you could get soutache without waiting a month." Some of that is still available, she noted, "even if the machines are 40 or 50 years old." Thus she commissioned smocking from R & C, located "on the next block," and Venice lace, redone for her in heavy, unfussy weights, from Larry Mari at Arco in New Jersey.
One group of textiles, however, she took as is: ivory lace tablecloths, their geometric motifs worked into dresses that were at once restrained and decorated, perfect for Beau's feminine counterpart.
shes a doll B)
