“It’s kind of like how I put the collection together. It’s very collage-y,” Anna Sui told WWD of resort 2027.
Titled “The Only Blonde in the World,” the season began with Sui’s fascination with Pauline Boty, the lone woman associated with London’s 1960s Pop Art movement. But rather than simply borrowing imagery, Sui adopted the artist’s approach, assembling references from Marilyn Monroe, lingerie, denim, Western wear and cocktail dressing into her collection.
The lineup unfolded in distinct chapters built around color stories pulled from Boty’s paintings — rich chocolate and nude tones, vibrant jade green and Sui’s signature lavender-inflected romanticism. Throughout, the designer demonstrated a talent for connecting seemingly unrelated ideas. Crushed velvet jackets trimmed with lace were paired with patchworked denim, embroidered mesh dresses mingled with fringe-trimmed knits and Western-inspired separates were softened by florals and rosettes.
What gave the collection its emotional weight was its conversation with Sui’s own history. Lace camisoles created with artist Ellen Berkenblit revisited designs the designer once coveted at the cult SoHo lingerie boutique Le Corset. “I was her biggest customer,” Sui recalled, describing weekly visits to discover new pieces. Elsewhere, patchworked denim appliqués were developed with Michelle Kim, a former design assistant who worked alongside Sui in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The collection also reflected an evolution in the business. Sui noted that retailers, including Net-a-porter, are increasingly embracing separates alongside the dresses that have long defined the brand. That shift was visible throughout the lineup, where skirts, jackets, knitwear and layering pieces received equal attention.
The result felt less like a themed collection than a map of Sui’s creative universe, where decades-old friendships, personal obsessions and cultural references coexisted comfortably. While nostalgia remains fashion’s default setting, she always offers something more personal: a collection that revisits the past not as a source of replication, but as an ongoing dialogue that is reflective, lived-in and 100 percent Anna Sui.
