“Her apartment is like a hidden gem. You just don’t know
what room is coming up next,” says the supermodel Naomi
Campbell, who has known Sui for 33 years and considers
her “chosen family.” With each new space you enter, Camp-
bell adds, “You feel like you’re walking into a different
era—even when you’re going to the bathroom!”
Indeed, for the master bath, Sui chased down poppy-
patterned tiles from a company in New Zealand; a shower
curtain was fashioned out of black lace sample fabric left
over from one of her collections. Both this bathroom and
the second one that came with the Lerner apartment now
also have windowpanes in marbleized glass that almost
perfectly match those in her first apartment. Finding the
glass was a treasure hunt for Sui’s patient contractor,
Petrit Coma. The original windowpanes—from Bendheim,
a family glass business since the 1920s—had become
difficult to source.
The considerable attention and love Sui pours into
her fashion creations will be on display this fall in the
retrospective “The World of Anna Sui.” The exhibition,
which debuted two years ago at London’s Fashion and
Textile Museum, arrives in New York on September 12
at the Museum of Arts and Design, where it will be on
view until February 23, 2020. The show highlights Sui’s
distinctive mash-up of pop-culture references—from punk
to grunge, Americana to Victorian. “Her talent is almost
indescribable because it’s instinctive,” says another friend,
the fashion designer Marc Jacobs. “I never question her
choices. It just always works.” ◾
Artist Hilary Knight
hand-painted the mural
in the dressing room,
which was formerly a
bedroom. Sui bought
the cheval mirror at the
Rose Bowl flea market
in Pasadena. The walls
are painted in Benjamin
Moore’s Tropicana
Cabana. BELOW: The
master bath’s Signature
Hardware tub has a
lace curtain made by
Sui’s fashion workroom.
The vintage chinoiserie
chest is topped with an
inlaid Indian tray, and
the marbled window
glass is from Spectrum.