At the point when I wanted to become a designer, I didn't think about, 'Oh, but I'm a woman,' just like didn't think about like, well, 'I'm Chinese' or that 'I'm in Michigan.' You know, none of those things were obstacles to me. I just had this idea that this is what I had to do.

A few weeks later those clothes were featured in a New York Times advertisement. For the past two decades Sui's iconic collections have drawn on her travels around the world with inspirations ranging from Belle Époque Pre-Raphaelite paintings Uzbekistan to the American West. Sui rented a small space in the meatpacking district and paid the models by giving them the clothes.

She was named one of the "Top 5 Fashion Icons of the Decade" and earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) joining the ranks of Yves St Laurent Giorgio Armani Ralph Lauren and Diane von Furstenberg. In 2006 Fortune estimated the collective value of Sui's fashion empire at over $400 million. Anna Sui products are sold through her free-standing stores and distributors around the world in over 50 countries.