Among must-see New York City destinations, The Strand bookstore sits at a unique sweet spot. Beloved by generations of New Yorkers and tourists alike, the retailer is a place that offers something unique and inspiring visit after visit — not a trend, but a solid classic. The same can be said for Anna Sui, who showed her fall collection inside The Strand’s iconic Rare Book Room. Each season she does her own thing, outside of the endless trend cycle yet offering a new take on her brand’s special sauce of downtown grunge cool. She is a stalwart of New York Fashion Week.
A serendipitous deep dive into the world of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, while Sui was feeling under the weather, gave her a starting point for the season. “I got obsessed with watching all the Agatha Christies back to back to back,” she said, adding Clarice Cliff’s ceramics and Virginia Woolf book covers as additional contributions to her lineup of styles seen by her front row of friends: Marc Jacobs, Sofia Coppola, Debbie Harry and more.
A faux suede jacket with lamb trimming over a stretch velvet cropped top and Fair Isle maxiskirt set the mood with a wondrous mix of unexpected textures and print. The theme continued through a palette of orange and mustardy hues to blues, creams on outerwear, nubby knits and silk slipdresses. It added up to a magpie mix of several decades of English country and city dressing. She rounded out with evening takes, like a black sequin and tulle jacket, black bralette and sequin maxiskirt.
Spend time on fashion TikTok and the topic of vintage will present itself, a conversation Sui has been a part of for decades — her New York City store had a cabinet of curated finds. Acutely understanding that modern dress means mixing decades and vintage into a wardrobe, for fall she collaborated with Eveliina Vintage, styling one-of-a-kind lingerie finds into her collection. She sourced tapestry Gladstone bags and vintage souvenir scarves and gave each look argyle socks, cementing the modern magpie bookish grunge theme that felt entirely of-the-now. Once found at flea markets, Sui will launch Anna’s Vintage Closet online delivering her finds directly to Gen Z — who no doubt are already fans getting lost in the decades-long good story that is Anna Sui.
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