Anna Sui Spring 2009

NEW YORK, September 10, 2008
By Nicole Phelps
As rents up and down Seventh Avenue become more expensive, clothing manufacturers are getting pushed out. If the "Save the Garment Center" T-shirt Anna Sui put in her goody bag—what, no free hairstyling products?—and wore to take her bow don't do much to stem the problem, her Spring collection, with all of its beading and appliqué work, might just keep a few factories in business. Sui took inspiration from the way that textile designer, shopkeeper, and New York Mexican restaurant pioneer Alexander Girard and his doll-maker friend Marilyn Neuhart made the folkloric modern. "Their work was very colorful, optimistic, and happy, which is what I'm pushing these days," Sui said