110 ELLE DECOR
WHEN THE AMERICAN FASHION DESIGNER ANNA SUI
moved into her turn-of-the-century Greenwich Village
building almost two decades ago, she found a close friend
and, eventually, a second apartment. Her next-door neigh-
bor was Murray Lerner, an Oscar-winning documentarian
known for his films on Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and Itzhak
Perlman. The two bonded over their shared love of rock
music, and Sui even used her neighbor’s wrought-iron bal-
cony as an alternate entrance to her apartment whenever
she forgot her keys. (“He was always up late,” she says.)
Sui always told her neighbor that she wanted his place
if he ever left. Sure enough, when Lerner moved out a
few years ago, she took over his space and embarked on a
three-year renovation to create a home out of two distinct
spaces. Connecting the two apartments was a challenge,
since they are technically part of two different buildings
that share a facade. Sui’s solution was to insert two hidden
doors on either side of the library that allow her to move
from one apartment to the other. The inconvenience is
outweighed by the benefits: Sui gained a dining room,
a living room, a master bedroom, two bathrooms, and,
perhaps most crucially, considerable closet space.
Building your dream home is an enterprise of patience
and tenacity—both qualities Sui has possessed since she
was little. Born and raised in Detroit, she is the daughter
of two Chinese parents who met while studying in Paris.
When Sui was a young child, she attended a wedding in
New York and returned to Michigan declaring, “I’m going
to be a fashion designer.” In the 1970s, she moved to New
York to attend the Parsons School of Design; she started her
eponymous line in 1981 with a five-piece capsule collection
of space-agey Lycra separates she sold to Bloomingdale’s
and Macy’s.
From the start, Sui gained notice for her uncanny ability
to mix disparate, obsessively researched references into har-
monious splendor. It’s a talent that resonates not only in her
clothing designs but also in the decor of her apartment addi-
tion, inspired by the chinoiserie apartment in Auntie Mame.
For example, in her fall 2019 runway show (which she cheer-
fully dubbed “Poptimism”), Sui blended a Warholian pal-
ette with influences ranging from vintage psychedelic rock
posters to Motown. Similarly, in her new library, she com-
bined Chinese cloisonné screens (refashioned as cabinet
doors) with a 1930s églomisé desk and a lacquered love seat
re-covered in yardage from a textile sample.