Renowned Fashion Designer and Detroit Native Anna Sui Establishes Endowed Scholarship for CCS Fashion Design Students

Anna Sui was 4 years old when she visited New York City for the first time — and made a bold decision about her future for a girl who had to yet to start kindergarten.

“I came back saying to my parents, ‘When I grow up, I’m going to move to New York and I’m going to be a fashion designer,’” said Sui, who was born in Detroit and raised in Dearborn Heights and West Bloomfield. “I spent the rest of my childhood figuring out how to do that.”

As it turns out, she didn’t need to look any further than her babysitter’s Seventeen magazine, which featured an ad in the back for Parsons School of Design. Around the same time, she read an article in Life magazine about two women who, after graduating from Parsons, moved to Paris, where Elizabeth Taylor opened a boutique for them.

“I thought, OK, all I have to do is go to Parsons,” she said, “and that was my focus.”

College for Creative Studies wasn’t an option for Sui. CCS established its Fashion Design program in 2015 with a focus on fashion accessories. In 2021, its scope expanded to include apparel and accessories, and the full-fledged Fashion Design program continues under the leadership of renowned footwear and accessories designer Aki Choklat.

“It’s amazing that we now have this incredible resource in Detroit, which makes the field of fashion design a real possibility for those who are unable to venture out of state to attend school,” she said.

Sui not only serves as an ambassador for the Fashion Design program’s advisory council, but she has also established the Anna Sui Endowed Scholarship to ensure other aspiring fashion design students can pursue their goals regardless of their financial circumstances.

“I remember when I dreamed of becoming a designer and my father had to take on freelance jobs to support me,” Sui said. “I hope this scholarship will remove the barriers many aspiring designers face and help develop the next generation of talent.”

Of course, Sui’s own experiences in the Big Apple in the 1970s and ’80s could be considered legendary and helped shape her personally and professionally. She hung out with the likes of Blondie, the Ramones, and the Talking Heads at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, even rubbing elbows with her heroes, such as Andy Warhol and fellow Michigander Iggy Pop.

“There was so much creativity,” Sui said. “No one had any money, but everyone looked great. We were all thrift shopping and dressing like movie stars.”

Sui was living her fantasy, even before she left Parsons early to take a job in the fashion industry. (She eventually received an honorary degree from the school.) She started her own label in 1981 and opened her first boutique in 1992 in Soho. She continues to live in New York and her current showroom is in Manhattan’s garment district, above West 38th Street