Anna Sui may have launched her first collection in the early ‘80s, but she was designing clothing long before that. Not for people, though. As a child, the namesake designer created teeny-tiny looks for her Barbie dolls — even calling herself a “Barbie nerd” on a recent call with TZR. “My mom would make clothes, and we did a lot of home sewing, so I would take the scraps and make Barbie outfits,” she explains, admitting that her dolls probably had a larger wardrobe than she did as a kid. Needless to say, Sui’s new partnership with Barbie is nothing short of a full-circle moment. The designer, who is revered for her grungy yet playful collections, was honored with her own Mattel doll in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Sui’s Barbie is part of the Barbie Inspiring Women Series, which has paid tribute to other trailblazing women who have shaped the world, like Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, Maya Angelou, and Helen Keller. Much like her humble beginnings designing doll outfits in the suburbs of Detroit, the first-generation Chinese American teamed up with Mattel to help bring her Barbie to life. “They asked me what I wanted to wear, so I went through my wardrobe,” Sui says. It only made sense for the creative’s Barbie to rock her favorite dress — a black number enlivened with white stars.

“Their idea was to have my signature [chunky] rings and black jet earrings,” she adds. Fashion buffs may recognize the doll’s black heeled boots as they were inspired by a pair from her spring 2007 collection. Meanwhile, the cat-eye sunglasses — her go-to eyewear silhouette — are a nod to a style from her spring 2025 collection. Her doll’s beauty mirrors Sui’s hallmark look, too. “It has my black eyeliner, red lipstick, and green nail polish.” And they couldn’t forget an itty-bitty version of the designer’s Classic Eau de Toilette.

Considering that she began flexing her design muscles as a child, it’s no surprise that Sui was always determined to make it in the fashion world. “I spent my whole childhood and teenage years trying to figure out how to get to New York and become a fashion designer,” she explains. Sui took a leap of faith and enrolled in Parsons School of Design, where she studied for two years before making her first foray into the industry, working at Erika Elias’ junior clothing label, Charlie’s Girls.

Sui then struck out on her own, introducing her eponymous label in 1981. According to her, Anna Sui Barbie exemplifies her journey of building her fashion empire. “This doll is all about the fact that you really have to trust your instincts and believe in yourself,” she says. “I think those things got me to where I am [today]; I was never part of the norm,” Suit continues. “I always stuck with my look. I was inspired by rock and roll and vintage fashion, and those elements always remained in my design.”

Though she’s still recognized for her ‘90s-inspired punk-chic pieces, Sui, now over 40 years into her label, has resonated with a new generation: Gen Z. In fact, WWD dubbed her the “Gen Z fashion whisperer last year. “I think what resonates with this new generation is that back then, everything seemed very real and genuine,” she explains. “It wasn’t so manufactured and paid for like everything is now. We didn’t have paid influencers.”

Hollywood darling Olivia Rodrigo, for instance, has incorporated Sui’s pieces into her pop star wardrobe — including a cutout LBD from the designer’s Blast From The Past collection with Ssense, which included archival styles from her spring 1993 and 2001 collections. “Everyone is talking about the ‘90s and 2000s, and people are searching for that look for their wardrobes over and over again,” she says about the growing appetite for her vintage designs.

Sui is spotlighting some of her brand’s most iconic ‘90s moments in a new book, The Nineties x Anna Sui, which will be out in September. “You’ll see a lot of unseen photos because a lot of them came from my personal collections,” Sui says about the forthcoming book. What a year it’s been for the designer.