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| The finale of the Anna Sui lingerie launching show © ALVIN |
By Kim Bo-eun
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| Anna Sui speaks during an interview with The Korea Times' W magazine |
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The show marked the launch of the American fashion designer's lingerie line in Seoul, which has up until now been most familiar with her cosmetics and fragrance lines. Highly consistent with her feminine yet mysterious fashion line, the undergarments featured romantic butterfly and rose motifs and glamorous oriental prints in a toned down palette of hues.
Each of the spring/summer (S/S) and fall/winter (F/W) collections that were showcased were inspired by the designer's fashion collections. The looks of the late Chinese-American movie star Anna May Wong were visible in the F/W lingerie designs, from the mystic Asian prints and beads to the models' hairdos. Wong was Sui's muse for her 2014 F/W collection.
"Everything comes from my fashion line – if you saw the 2014 F/W fashion show, you can see the inspiration came directly from that for the F/W lingerie collection, not only in the way we styled it but also all the elements we used for embroideries, color and so on," the designer told The Korea Times' W magazine after the show.
The lingerie line is the latest addition to the designer's fashion, accessory, fragrance and cosmetics lines.
"Anna Sui fashion is ideal for lingerie because it's very girly, flirty and ultra feminine, but with a little touch of rock 'n' roll – a little bit of bad girl mixed in," Sui said. "You can see the same elements in the lingerie today – the sweet sexy. There's the flirtiness, but there's a little bit of mystery behind it."
The show was hosted by importer Alvin, which is in charge of the distribution and licensing of Anna Sui fashion here, and the Korea Model Association, which partnered with the importer for domestic marketing earlier this month. The lingerie designs will be available at the Anna Sui flagship store, which will open in Cheongdamdong by the end of July. The store will also feature the designer's seasonal collections of garments, bags and shoes.
The launch of the lingerie line follows the debut of Sui's latest fragrance, "La Nuit De Boheme." The fragrance, which succeeds "La Vie De Boheme" introduced in 2012, captures the sensuous and mysterious spirit of a bohemeian woman.
"It's the same bohemian woman (of La Vie De Boheme) taken into the evening, so she's a little more glamorous – like a modern day princess," the designer commented.
A launching event for the perfume took place at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul a day prior to the lingerie show, on July 14.
Meanwhile, Sui hinted her next venture will involve home products. The designer is currently working on licenses for home accessories in Japan.
"When people come to my store they want to buy the furniture, and when they see my apartment they want the interior," she said. "The licenses we're doing in Japan are currently for bathroom items such as towels, but we'll gradually build on that portfolio," she said.
She added that while home products are launching in Japan, Korean fans will eventually see them here as well.
