Podcast Summary: The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein

Episode: Anna Sui: Designing the Nineties

Release Date: September 24, 2025
Host: Dan Rubinstein
Guest: Anna Sui

Episode Overview

In this richly detailed conversation, Dan Rubinstein interviews iconic fashion designer Anna Sui about her new book The 90s: Anna Sui, her creative influences, and her pivotal role shaping the fashion of the 1990s. Together, they delve into Sui's Midwest upbringing, her relentless ambition, the texture of New York’s creative scene, the genuine spirit of her era, and the cyclical nature of taste, trend, and nostalgia. Listeners are taken on a vivid journey through music, club culture, flea markets, and fashion history, with Sui illuminating both the mechanics and magic of making it in fashion before the age of Instagram.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Anna Sui’s Early Life and Determination

• Family Backstory
  Sui was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, to Chinese parents who met as students in Europe before settling in the U.S. Her upbringing, while international, was focused on adaptation rather than tradition.

  “We weren't real strict on any kind of Chinese superstitions or even the holidays… we celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving and Easter.” — Anna Sui [04:15]

• Musical Influences
  Anna’s older brother took her to see Detroit's music scene:

  “In the 60s, every band passed through Detroit...Iggy and The Stooges, MC5, and then all the British Invasion were passing through.” — Anna Sui [05:16]

• Early Ambition
  Anna was unequivocally focused from a young age:

  "I was always very determined to be a fashion designer...I would sit and read Vogue magazine in school all day long, sometimes getting in trouble about it." — Anna Sui [06:37]

• Challenges and Family Support
  Sui did not have role models, but was driven by a singular dream. Her parents’ support—her father working extra jobs and attending every show—was pivotal:

  “My father took pictures of every show...He and I would walk to the Photoshop...to see if there were any reviews.” — Anna Sui [08:11]

Breaking Into the Fashion Industry

• Learning the Business
  Anna describes her early career, learning resources and industry infrastructure, and the importance of relationships in procurement and retail:

  “I knew resources, knew how to source, not only fabric, but buttons and trims...I developed relationships with a lot of the textile companies and found out who the owners were and started befriending the owners.” — Anna Sui [11:23]

• The Importance of Teamwork

  “Just because your name is on the label, it's not just you...you need that team and you need that infrastructure and family to make your brand.” — Anna Sui [00:00]

New York in the 1990s: Culture, Clubs, and Creativity

• Organic and Collaborative Scene
  The conversation reveals how the fashion, music, and art worlds intersected organically without corporate gatekeeping:

  “It wasn't completely dominated by huge corporations...We were all that generation that probably 15, 20 years before had experienced New York and like the true...underground New York.” — Anna Sui [18:30]

• Flea Markets and Vintage
  Sui recalls the powerful influence of vintage shopping and flea markets on both her personal and professional aesthetic:

  “The flea market in New York was incredible. I furnished my whole stores and apartment with all the amount of furniture they had there.” — Anna Sui [24:38]

  She also notes the commercial and generational shifts that caused the decline in this scene:

  “So many of the vendors...retired...People changed, didn't care about those antique or kind of vintage things that my generation loved.” — Anna Sui [26:14]

The Grunge Revolution & Shifting Tastes

• Defining Grunge

  “It was a reaction against the big hair bands from the 80s…everything was very quiet. There were flannel shirts and T shirts and baggy jeans.” — Anna Sui [28:29]

• Industry Resistance and Boutique Breakthroughs
  Sui recounts retailers’ confusion over how to categorize her aesthetic, which led to her opening her own boutique to communicate her vision directly:

  “You need to open a boutique. You have to showcase what your clothes are about. And that's when I opened my boutique on Green Street.” — Anna Sui [30:52]

Music, Community & Inspiration

• Musicians as Muses and Friends
  Anita Pallenberg, Mick Jagger, Nick Rhodes, James Iha, and Anthony Kiedis were not just icons but also clients and friends:

  “Bands started asking me for clothes. And so I dressed a lot of the different bands during that period...Anthony Kiedis bought like the satin kilt skirt and he wore it through his whole tour.” — Anna Sui [33:13]

• Playlist as Inspiration
  Sui describes tailoring her listening habits to inspire each collection:

  “I was listening to all that music and researching as much as I could...Just to kind of get the flavoring of what those women were about, what the sound was like.” — Anna Sui [34:52]

Preppy, Clueless, and the Reinvention of Mainstream Style

• Subverting the Classics

  “It was kind of my way of perverting it…There’s like little jokes throughout the whole collection…colors that people hadn’t seen that style before.” — Anna Sui [37:14]

• Influence on Popular Culture
  Anna Sui’s designs influenced the aesthetic of films like Clueless:

  “If you look at my first show, those little plaid kilts and matching jackets and the little cap that all kind of precluded [Clueless].” — Anna Sui [39:19]

Nostalgia, Sincerity, and the Pre-Internet Age

• Genuine Connections
  Sui contrasts the sincerity and underground exclusivity of the 90s with today’s digital immediacy:

  “Everything felt more genuine, more sincere…there was a whole movement of art and film and music all kind of coming up together.” — Anna Sui [43:10]

• Word of Mouth and Nightlife

  “You went to the place for dinner, but then you would hear about if there was a party or a club…That was kind of great. Where now everything is just on your phone.” — Anna Sui [43:10]

Collaborations and Friendships

• Steven Meisel
  Sui recounts meeting the legendary photographer at Parsons and their adventures in the New York club scene:

  “I remember walking into his drawing class…this is the most beautiful man I've ever seen…we'd all get dressed up and we'd go out.” — Anna Sui [45:00]

• Marc Jacobs
  Anna describes knowing Marc as a fixture in the New York scene before a genuine friendship and professional collaboration developed in the 1990s:

  “We started going to those events together. And then we ended up doing freelance together in Italy. So that's how we got really close.” — Anna Sui [49:30]

Business Lessons & Personal Reflection

• On Support and Teamwork

  “You need that support system and you need that team...just because your name is on the label, it's not just you.” — [00:00]

• Work-Life Balance
  Sui admits to being driven, sometimes at the expense of simply enjoying her moment:

  “Maybe try to enjoy it a little more. Because I was very driven and working really hard...I always felt like, I've got to go home.” — Anna Sui [47:36], [48:37]

• Self-Description

  “I think lucky, grateful, and obsessed.” — Anna Sui [51:50]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the 90s Scene:
  “It was such a golden age—we didn’t answer to a big corporation…there was a camaraderie of word of mouth.” — Anna Sui [43:10]

• On Grunge:
  “Suddenly there were these shoegazers, these shy people…Everything was very quiet. There were flannel shirts and T shirts and baggy jeans.” — Anna Sui [28:29]

• On Her Unique Vantage:
  “Just because your name is on the label, it’s not just you...you need that infrastructure and family.” — Anna Sui [00:00]

• On Collaboration:
  “I remember seeing Valentino and the Warhol crowd...and then suddenly, one of Stephen's best friends...it was Patti Smith.” — Anna Sui [46:21]

• Self-Reflection:
  “Maybe try to enjoy it a little more. Because I was very driven and working really hard.” — Anna Sui [47:36]

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Teamwork & Support Systems in Fashion | 00:00 | | Midwest Upbringing and Early Ambitions | 02:16–07:52| | Parental Support and Rituals | 08:11 | | Breaking into Fashion & Garment District | 11:23–13:41| | 1990s New York Culture, Clubs, and Shopping | 14:23–16:57| | Flea Markets and Vintage Influence | 24:38–26:14| | Decline of Flea Market Culture | 26:14 | | Grunge: Definition and Industry Impact | 28:29–30:52| | Opening Her Own Boutique for Creative Control | 30:52 | | Music as Inspiration (Influences and Friends) | 33:13–36:40| | On Preppy Style and Pop Culture (Clueless) Influence | 37:14–39:19| | Sincerity and Pre-Internet Community | 43:10 | | Steven Meisel and Parsons/Club Days | 45:00–47:30| | Balancing Ambition and Enjoyment | 47:36 | | Friendship & Collaboration with Marc Jacobs | 49:30–50:43| | Anna Sui Describes Herself | 51:50 |

Tone and Language

The tone throughout is candid, nostalgic, and reflective, peppered with pockets of humor and sincerity. Anna Sui’s voice is warm, detail-rich, and animated with the excitement of someone who still deeply loves her craft and the era that shaped her. Rubinstein draws out anecdotes and larger cultural insight, keeping the conversation personal but also rooted in the history and mechanics of fashion and creativity.

This episode offers a textured time-capsule of the 1990s creative scene through Anna Sui’s eyes: its community, style, sincerity, and lessons for rising designers today.