Anna Sui (; born August 4, 1964) is an American fashion designer. She was named one of the "Top 5 Fashion Icons of the Decade", and in 2009 earned the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), joining the ranks of Yves Saint Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and Diane von Furstenberg. Her brand categories include several fashion lines, footwear, cosmetics, fragrances, eyewear, jewelry, accessories, home goods and a gifts line. Early life and family origins Sui is a second-generation Chinese-American born in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, Paul Sui () and mother, Grace Sui Fang () met while studying at the Sorbonne in Paris where Sui's father was studying engineering and her mother, painting. Her paternal grandparents were Xiao Yulan (), a Tahitian-Chinese businessman, and his wife Qiu Daidi (). Her maternal grandparents were Fang Chih, a Chinese diplomat and his Japanese wife Fang I-chih (born Masue Ueki). Sui is a matrilineal descendant of the prominent Fang clan of Tongcheng, Anhui, notable for its many scholars and philosophers. She is an 18th generation descendant of Fang Bao, an influential Chinese poet who founded the Tongcheng School of literary prose popular throughout the Qing Empire. Notable ancestors also include Fang Gongcheng, tutor of the imperial palace, and Fang Guancheng, Viceroy of Zhili seated at Tianjin from 1749 to 1768 amongst other Qing era scholars. Her niece is actress and model Chase Sui Wonders. By the time she was four years old, Sui knew she wanted to be a fashion designer. Sui's mother taught her about putting together a wardrobe, bringing a young Sui with her to shop for fabrics. Sui would spend hours watching her mother sew and would collect the fabric scraps to clothe her Barbie dolls and her brothers' army action figures. Through this process, Sui learned the basics of making clothing and soon she was putting together her own outfits. This was accomplished by buying pattern pieces for the sleeves of a dress, and swapping them to match other dresses, to create her own look for the garments. As a teen, she read an article in Life magazine about the achievements of Mia Fonssagrives-Solow, who graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City and then moved to Paris, where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton opened a boutique with the girl. Sui credits reading this article as a pivotal moment