"The World of Anna Sui”
Cranbrook Art Museum
Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Through Feb. 28, 2027
“The World of Anna Sui” at the Cranbrook Art Museum.
Fashion may not often be considered fine art, but as someone who has been to around a dozen fashion exhibits this year — including one at The Henry Ford — I beg to differ, and so does the Cranbrook Art Museum. The museum’s newly opened “The World of Anna Sui” is its first fashion-focused exhibit in recent years — perhaps ever — and worth the hype.
The exhibit is a retrospective of the work of internationally renowned designer Anna Sui, who is a source of added local pride as a Metro Detroit native. The exhibit has been touring internationally for nearly a decade, but this is the first time it’s been displayed in her home state, and the exhibit has been lovingly personalized for the occasion.
“The World of Anna Sui” features more than 100 looks including full runway accessories like hats, bags, and shoes that dazzled me from the moment I walked in. Vibrant colors, patterns, and textures fill multiple rooms, with a dizzying amount of detail that’s impossible to take in all at once. Her style is playful, quirky, and heavily inspired by the punk rock and grunge scenes of her youth, with contrasting concepts that somehow work to create daring, cohesive looks.
The exhibit is divided into 12 “archetypes” that capture different sides of Sui’s vision: Americana, Androgyny, Fairytale, Grunge, Mod, Hippie/Rockstar, Nomad, Punk, Retro, Schoolgirl, Surfer, and Victorian. But all feature a clear point of view of someone with an infectious optimism, someone who sees the beauty in the bold and who wants others to see it, too.
One of my favorites was a vibrant pink, orange, and yellow plaid mohair jacket and skirt set — an eye-catching ensemble in a room of eye-catching ensembles. Another was a simpler — though far from simple — white babydoll dress with delicate, ultra-feminine embroidered patterns, closer to my personal style. I also loved “First-Place Equestrian Finale Dress” — a fussy, gold floral-patterned dress with funky patches and a first-place ribbon on top, paired with tall, yellow-gold boots and red-and-white striped socks. It’s an impressive combination I never could have dreamed of and wish I had the eye to pull off.
In addition to the looks, the exhibit includes displays on Sui’s creative inspirations, along with Cranbrook-exclusive items that highlight her Detroit ties. Among them: a wall of rock band posters from Detroit’s former Grande Ballroom from Sui’s personal collection, plus a display of images of the old Hudson’s department store and Chinatown neighborhood, where Sui spent time in her youth. The Cranbrook exhibit also introduces a yellow uniform dress for Jack White’s Third Man Records stores and another babydoll dress worn by singer Olivia Rodrigo.
As I write this from my couch in a mismatched green sweatpants ensemble and bright yellow socks, I’d classify my own aesthetic as colorful, quirky, and feminine, with touches of laziness and a fairly dominant throughline of comfort. But you don’t have to be fashionable to appreciate the artistry in fashion. “The World of Anna Sui” is charming, fun, and perhaps an opportunity to appreciate clothes in a new way. Don’t miss this one.
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