Fashion world wisdom dictates that a collaboration either happens between two megabrands on a massive global scale—see Gucciaga or Fendace—or between an established brand and an upstart—like Sacai x Tomo Koizumi or Microsoft x Priya Ahluwalia. Rarely do two peers come together to create a collection on a local, personal level. But Anna Sui and Batsheva Hay aren’t designers who play according to the rules.
Today the iconoclastic New York designers are introducing a small-scale capsule of signature Anna Sui shapes made in Batsheva fabrics and iconic Batsheva silhouettes made from Sui materials. The pie-crust tops and lace-up vests are like a fashion freaky Friday, marrying the best of each designer’s world.
Like most good partnerships, this one was born out of friendship and mutual respect. Sui and Hay met each other several years ago, introduced by mutual friends, including the stylists Bill Mullen and Christopher Niquet, and model Hailey Benton Gates. Soon after their initial intro, Sui and her nieces, actress Chase Sui Wonders, director Jeannie Sui Wonders, and Isabelle Sui (who works with Anna in the family business) were at Hay’s apartment trying on Batsheva dresses for their family Thanksgiving. “We were in Batsheva’s bathroom and putting on these dresses and twirling around in the living room,” Chase recalls. “It felt so special, like such a New York moment.” (Of the final Thanksgiving looks, Anna says with a smile, “It was very Brontë sisters.”)
The idea to share materials for a collaboration was simmering for a while. During the darkest pandemic days in New York, back when we were Cloroxing our vegetables—Sui and Hay met up in the garment district. “Even in the thick of it, we always had this dialogue. She would come to my office, I would go to her office. We had masks and gloves on,” recalls Hay. “Anna has always been so generous with information about cuts and silhouette and material.”
“You were up at my office and we were just talking about fabrics and problems with production and contractors and things,” picks up Anna. “Then I said, ‘Do you ever want to do a collaboration together?’ And you said yes. It was very spur of the moment.”
The collection’s imagery and film, directed by Jeannie and starring Chase, captures the instantaneous magic possible in New York. In the short film, Chase is tasked with transporting rolls of fabric between Sui’s and Hay’s studios to fun but disastrous effect, part of which has to do with her method of transportation: roller skates. “The garment district really is a crossroads for trade,” says Jeannie. “Hearing Anna and Batsheva talk about contractors, patternmakers, suppliers that they work with...it just made me realize there is this deep network of people in the area who make clothes with such a rich history.”
The film spotlights not only the ease of collaboration between Sui and Hay but also the many people who helped make it happen, from the DHL deliveryman—“Eric, who, by the way, is very single,” Hay says with a laugh—to assorted other characters that hang around the West 30s.
“I think it’s a lesson that spontaneous things can be done,” says Hay. “We are now in an era, even though we’re still taking wholesale orders, where we can really be flexible and just make a couple of pieces and make a video. That’s an interesting change in the business, and we’re both exploring how to reach our audiences in different ways and with different projects. It’s no longer: Here’s what you’re going to wear for the season from head to toe.”