Getting the fashion industry excited about an event is no plum task. And yet season after season, Anna Sui does it with her thoughtful and fun runway shows. Blame it on her ability to transport her audiences deep into her world full of references that range from Pre-Raphaelites to Diaghilev to disco. (Of course, the retro soundtracks and top models don’t hurt, either.)

Lately, Sui’s been sharing her passion for fashion history with a wider audience by taking on many collabs, the latest of which is with O’Neill, in stores now. Just in time for summer, the designer crafted a selection of swimwear and cover-ups that echo the bohemian mood of her main collection but also target a new kind of customer. We caught up with Sui at her Soho store to reflect on her career, her favorite muses, and texting with Anita Pallenberg.

You’ve been doing more collaborations in general lately—why is it important to you to diversify into these arenas?

Well, there are certain limitations that we have as far as production for what we’re able to do. A great way to overcome that is to work with somebody who has the expertise in that product. So working with Frye, they make the coolest, sturdiest boot that you can imagine, and so I think this is my third time collaborating with them. They’re just dreams to work with. It takes you to another place. And also you learn so much, because we’re so limited as far as resources now that it opens up new avenues. I did the same with the Coach bags and with the luggage with Tumi and now this collection with O’Neill.

How did you get involved with O’Neill?

Our sales manager knew somebody at O’Neill, and she started thinking that it would be such a great pair-up between O’Neill and Anna Sui because O’Neill is very much our girl. They’re very print-oriented and known for their surfer style, but we wanted to incorporate our bohemian style with it. I think that we’ve blended it so well. The clothes are just so dreamy; we were all just oohing and ahhing over these lace pieces.

That perfect white lace dress is a very necessary summer item.

It’s so true. I remember one summer I was looking at Naomi [Campbell] pictures on a yacht on Daily Mail or something, and every day she had the most beautiful, little white baby-doll dress. I thought, Where did she find all those?! But she can just zero in on something, too. That’s always been my dream, to have all those gorgeous white baby-doll dresses.

You have the best references season after season—who was the beachy surfer girl that you looked to for this collab?

We wanted to capture that true bohemian feeling of the ladies of Laurel Canyon: Joni Mitchell, Michelle Phillips, all those girls you put pictures on the wall and are like, “I hope I grow up and look like this.” So what we tried to capture was that dream.

I think fashion in general is really swinging toward the Anna Sui vibe, very bohemian.

It’s exciting. It’s kind of like a new beginning again. We’ve had so much reaction from all the stores and press—it’s like when I first started. It’s got that same feeling. It’s wonderful.

How do you define who your customer is and continue to change and grow with her over the years?

I think that somewhere I never grew up, and it’s still that same dream as when I was looking at the pictures of Michelle Phillips. It’s still always that same thing, and no matter where I go with the collection, Vikings or Pre-Raphaelites, there’s still that bohemian girl there. That was always my ideal. As much as I try to veer away from it, there are always a couple of those Michelle Phillips and Joni Mitchells in the collection. Through every collection you can find them.

So what’s the secret to staying young forever then?

I think loving what you do. You can’t ask for more. This is what I wanted to do since I was 4 years old, and just the fact that I’m able to do it and do it globally—I work in Japan and I work in Europe and I work in New York—it’s kind of a dream. It’s a lot of hard work and I’m very, very dedicated to it. I do a lot of sacrificing of other things, but it’s what I’ve always wanted.

As someone who’s been in the business for so long, how do you stay inspired and not get worn out or jaded?

One of the things that I love the most is research—learning new things and exploring new things. That’s what I do when I work on a collection: I find something that sparks my interest and then I’m obsessed with and I just go into it. It’s like going into the rabbit hole. Then all of a sudden you find out all these other things because one thing leads to another. Like when I did the Ballets Russes collection [Fall 2011], I saw that beautiful Diaghilev exhibit at the V&A; and I thought, OK, now I can be inspired by those Léon Bakst drawings. I remember one of the Ormsby Gore sisters was telling me that the way they started wearing vintage was because of a sale of the Ballets Russes costumes in, like, 1968. They couldn’t afford the principal costumes, but they could afford the costumes of the Sugar Plum Fairies, all these crushed velvets. So they started wearing them on the street, and all of a sudden the Beatles and the Stones and everybody else started following what they were doing. Well, don’t you know, in the Diaghilev exhibit, there was a film of that auction. I was just like, “Oh, my God.” That’s what sparked that whole thing where everyone was looking romantic and medieval. I love finding that connection. That makes my day—that makes my season when I find that out.

Do you feel like it’s harder or easier today to communicate that to your customer? I feel like with the pressures to make Instagrammable moments, it’s become very hard to get people excited about the history of fashion.

There are so many levels in what I do. Somebody like Tim [Blanks] will get the really intricate things, but then the obvious things will be the things that people talk about the most. I always try to bring it all back, make it current, and tie it in to something that’s happening in our pop culture, like the Viking thing. It’s really true—I was watching [the History channel TV series] and I got that idea. It wasn’t an intellectual idea, but that’s really how it happened. I think that you have to put it on different levels.

Is there one specific era or muse you feel like is the most Anna Sui?

My biggest idols are Anita Pallenberg and Keith Richards. So at the end of the day, it’s always like: Is there something that Anita would wear? Is there something that Keith would wear? Is it cool enough for them? And then I usually send Anita an image and say, “This is the outfit that I did for you.”Read more here:marieaustralia.com | www.marieaustralia.com/evening-dresses

A new day is dawning
Been waiting for weeks
Cashed in my pay cheques
To pay for the tweaks

Drawing, deciding,
Doubting my needs
Umming and ahhing
This lust i must feed

Booked the appointment
There's no turning back
Go under the knife
Would you look at that!

Followed the steps
and handled with care
The bigger the better
But same face and hair

Mid-chest attention
They all think I'm dumb
But not enough's changed
So I'll have my *** done

Fourth of July

Its Fourth of July, doesn't matter what year,
Friends  heading over with coolers of beer.
Wife’s in the kitchen makes guacamole,
One look at her you think holy moly

God dang she’s hot; it’s just not fair,
My buddy walks up unfolds a lawn chair.
He sits down, and cracks a beer,
Hands me one, I said glad you're here.

His wife walks up, dessert in hand,
Radios playing, hey what’s that band.
He doesn't know, and it doesn't matter,
I crank it up, the wife hands me a platter.

It’s filled with chicken and shrimp with dill,
I look over charcoal's ready to grill.
Look down at the lake, kids are all swimming,
Splashing and smiling and jumping and grinning.

Washer pit is set up, ready to toss,
More friends arrive; I say what’s up hoss.
I look around, down the cove,
Neighbors getting ready for, a fireworks show.

His wife’s bikini, man it clashes,
Mix match top and bottom, but she's hot as new ashes
We’ll sit out, under the stars,
Oohing and ahhing over flashes and sparks.

When fireworks are over, we'll grab a drink,
Ice Cream and cobbler and try to think.
How this could get any better?
Friends wife walks up, I’m glad I met her.

She says its late, thanks for having them,
But she has a date, with my friend,
And when they get home,
It’s going to be their own, fireworks show.

You grow-up with people
oohing and ahhing over you. And end
up with people leaving you
alone. That’s what it’s like in this

desolate home. Propped up
in chairs and beds in front of television
sets. Each face that I pass has a blank
expression. It’s as if they’re all waiting

around to die. They don’t have the
desire to even cry. Only apathetic looks
on their faces, as if they accepted what someone
has chosen for them. Someone else chooses

when they eat, what they eat, when they
bathe, what they wear – every little detail
just as if they were an infant again. Who knows
the lives that each one of them have lived. Who knows

the choices each one of them made before
they were waiting as prisoners to enter
their graves. Not one smile on anyone. Not one
sound of laughter or excitement.  They all look

like holocaust victims, sitting and
waiting for the end. Maybe if they’re lucky
someone visits them from the outside for a
short time. But it’s only a sad reminder

that there’s life outside these doors. It’s only
a bitter reminder that they no longer have
what they had before – their independence
their freedom. Is there any kind of life without that?

today has been an upside down sort of day. i'd planned to go to the gym twice this week, as i missed last week, and i was umming and ahhing, but finally got a taxi there. got there and Tim at the gym said i was due my review, all done on the treadmill at 3 different speeds at 2 mins on each to measure my heart rate, and ask me how difficult i found it on ap scale from 6 (easy easy) - 17 (call me a doctor "you're a doctor!" aka Help!) original scores were 6-11-17! todays 6-6-6! a devilishly good result! but no horns appearing just yet.....i then hopped (crawled) onto my winged chariot (number 26 bus) and returned to my faraway realm (hastings) went on a wander to ye olde town, and bravely wandered into a dragons lair (tea room/bar/eatery) twas then that i espied a message from the gods (text from my daughter) yaye verily a disaster had occurred, a tsunami had nearly swept her and her prince away when they had ventured to cleanse their hempen wear (got their washing out from the washing machine!) basically the ****** thing is up the creek. i spent an hour googling 'cures' trying them out, and receiving timely reminders of my frozen shoulder, as i had to  contort myself into various positions (my time studying the Kama Sutra finally serving a purpose!) with no happy result, but such was the intimacy with my washing machine, we've decided we should marry in the morn! looking for a wet weekend somewhere nice, my head is in a spin, unlike the ****** washing machine aka fiancee!🙂🦋🦄💕

by Jemia