Anna Sui: Funky phantasmadelic fashion at NYFW

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Feb 16, 2021

If any fashion house has got its act together deep into this pandemic, it has to be Anna Sui, who unveiled another swish, upbeat collection and charming video on Tuesday morning, the halfway point of New York Fashion Week.

 
A collection that looked forward to better times by harnessing the optimism of 1960s, in particular Joe Massot’s cult flick Wonderwall, which stars Jane Birkin as a pop-art femme fatale (named Penny Lane) and Jack MacGowran, Samuel Beckett’s favorite actor, as a mad professor obsessed with her beauty.
 
Pretty prairie dresses; astutely chosen pop-paisley frocks and great picnic dresses worn with matching print tights. All with a touch of wackiness and whimsy that one associates with Sui – from the daffy faux big-cat-print faux-fur coat and matching hat to the brilliant psychedelic Navajo blanket coats.

The cast dancing before a fab circus-fair backdrop of stars and planets, painted by Sarah Oliphant, to the tune  of George Harrison’s sitar-soaked Flower Power pop soundtrack.
 
When it gets dark, Sui’s sirens hitting the clubs in micro-sequin pantsuits or flirty lace dresses, finished with river boat gambler string ties.
 
“As we wait 'on pause' for the new world that will emerge from this pandemic, my mind is awhirl with visions of the vibrant world that lies just ahead – I can’t stop thinking of that “black-and-white to color” moment. The limbo that we are living in will turn psychedelic, exuberant with color and pattern—it’s going to be Phantasmadelic!” thrilled Sui in her program notes.
 
Aided by an excellent cast of a quintet of junior veterans – Hanne Gaby Odiele, Lara Park, Issa Lish, Dilone and the perfectly pouty Cristina Piccone – all perfectly made up by Pat McGrath.
 
Sui had easily one of the best collections and videos in last season’s largely virtual New York fashion season back in September. She just had another one in the current fashion week.