The first models to ever wear original Anna Sui designs were Barbie dolls. As a child, young Sui would fashion doll-sized outfits out of her mom’s sewing scraps. “My friends had more Barbie outfits than I did, so I started making outfits for [the dolls],” the designer says. “It gave me a sense of, ‘Oh, I could make this sleeve with this bodice.’ It helped me dream, helped me come up with concepts of how to put things together.”
Now, Anna Sui is a Barbie of her own. Mattel just announced Sui as this year’s Inspiring Women doll, tied to AAPI Heritage Month. The Inspiring Women series “pays tribute to incredible heroines of their time—courageous women who took risks, changed rules, and paved the way for generations of girls to dream bigger than ever before,” according to the iconic brand’s official statement. Past honorees of the series include Kristi Yamaguchi, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dr. Maya Angelou, Helen Keller, Ella Fitzgerald, Susan B. Anthony, Frida Kahlo, Rosa Parks, and Sally Ride.
“I stand out in the fashion business because I am a woman, and I am American Chinese, and especially when I started, that was a rarity,” Sui tells me, noting she never considered it a disadvantage. “I was unique and different. People would remember me…. It was kind of my calling card.” Ultimately, that’s the message Sui wants to send. “Sometimes being a little different helps people notice you and helps people pay attention,” she says. “You just have to find your own path and your own way, and it’s different for everyone.”
“I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer without really understanding what a fashion designer was,” Sui says. “And that’s why I liked Barbie—because I knew she was fashion.” Sui would tote her fashion magazines to grade school, hungrily absorbing all the information her young brain could take. She examined Barbie’s clothes; “I studied every bit of it and saw how things were put together.” In that way, Barbie was part of Sui’s self-education.
Even as a child, Sui appreciated that Barbie was a career woman—as a teacher, vet, nurse, or sometimes even a designer. “I knew that if I wanted this career, I wasn’t going to end up with a beautiful house and a rose garden; I was going to have an apartment in the city and be at my job every day,” she says. “I remember I met a fortune teller once, and she told me, ‘This time, you got to do exactly what you wanted to do. You didn’t have anything holding you back—there wasn’t a husband, there wasn’t a family. You really got to do what you wanted to do.’ And I always keep that in the back of my mind, that this is what I wanted.”
In addition to her trademark lipstick and eyeliner, the new doll wears a star-print dress and chunky heeled boots inspired by Sui’s 2007 collection. In the designer’s classic style, the doll wears all-black jewelry, including her rocket-shaped earrings, and a pair of sunglasses from this season’s line. The doll’s nails are painted green for added brightness, an ode to the designer’s favorite hue from her polish collection. Last but not least, Barbie Anna holds a tiny version of Anna Sui Classic Eau de Toilette.
As part of AAPI Heritage Month, the Barbie Dream Gap Project will donate to one of Sui’s favorite charities, APEX for Youth, which serves Asian and immigrant kids from low-income families with programming, education, and community engagement for a more equitable tomorrow.
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