Cómo LEER el TAROT desde CERO | Guía Fácil para PRINCIPIANTES

Hey, who are we listeners? I feel like people have been talking about selling on eBay a lot lately, and the more I hear about it, the more it makes sense. Because we all have those things. The jacket from a very specific phase, the lamp that only worked in your last apartment, the pan you bought for the version of you that was definitely going to cook more. And from what I hear, selling on eBay is actually really simple. It's basically just a few photos, and suddenly, the stuff that's just been sitting there has a chance to find millions of buyers who are genuinely excited to have it. That's what I like about it. On eBay, the things that no longer fit your life can still be exactly right for someone else. And you get a little more space, a little extra money, and maybe a better sense of what fits your life. Now, find what you love, sell what you don't. And eBay, the place for things people love. Welcome to the Who What Wear Podcast. I'm Who What Wear is Editor-in-Chief, Cat Collings, and today on the podcast, I'm sitting down in the studio with designer Anna Sway. Anna has made over 90 collections and still retains sole ownership of her iconic brand. Today, her designs have been embraced by Gen Z in full force, including celebrities like Olivia Rodrigo and Addison Ray. Today, Anna joins us to talk about the inspiration behind her latest collection, her new Gen Z audience, and maintaining her point of view over the years. It's all coming up on Who What Wear. Anna, welcome to The Who What Wear Podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. You couldn't be more excited than me because you are a living legend. You need no introduction, but I'd still like to take things back to the beginning for our listeners and watchers and hear about the early days of your origin story. So how were you first introduced to fashion? This is the crazy thing. I was a flower girl at my aunt and uncle's wedding and it was in New York City. I was probably four or five. And when I got back to Michigan where I'm from, I said to my parents, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a fashion designer and move to New York." I spent my whole childhood in early teen years trying to figure out what that even meant and how to do it. And you attended Parsons School of Design, but you didn't graduate. You dropped out. Do you think leaving school early helped you learn faster? Yeah, actually, I got hired at the end of my second year. I heard seniors talking about a job opportunity and I thought, "Oh, I love that brand." And I ran up there with my student portfolio and I got the job. And I think it was really invaluable because the designer, Erica Elias, was known in the business as the toughest boss in town. And she was very, very demanding. But I learned so much about sourcing fabrics. She gave me my own design room. I had a draper. I had two sewers. And so I learned it all how to be a designer like all on the spot like that. For a stand. And how old were you? I was 19 still. I think. Wow. And she just saw the talent and was like, "Come work with me." She just loved my portfolio. Yeah. And you had the audacity to be like, "I deserve to be here." So how soon after you left school, did you launch your brand? I worked for like two or three companies, like very big sports warehouses. And then I had these friends. This is during the punk rock era. And they were making this great jewelry out of vintage findings. And I thought, "Oh, that's what I want to do. I want to sell the kind of stores they're selling." And at that point, they were really cool rock and roll stores throughout the US in every major city. And they would do these trade shows and sell their jewelry. So they said, "Well, why don't you put together a little collection and let's share a booth, which is what we did." But I didn't end up selling all the little rock and roll stores. Macy's and Bloomingdale's came to me and placed orders. And I ended up with a New York Times ad for Christmas. And I got fired from my job because of that. So that's how I started my business. They're like, "She's kind of interested in doing her own thing. She's not wanting to design the athletic ware anymore." So you had your sights on one thing. And then Bloomingdale's and Macy's just kind of took you in this really kind of a wide exposure moment. At that point, they had what were known as swing shops. And they would do like the most happening trends that were going on. And so they had me designing clothes for their trend shops. How did the Anasue Purple, I think of purple, I think of butterflies like that world and these emblems that are so individual and distinctive of you? How did that come about? As a little girl, I saw a movie and there was a princess with a purple roll's voice. And I said to my mom, "I love that color purple. Can I have my birthday cake in that color and my birthday dress in that color?" And I just made a distinction that that was my favorite color. Yeah. So when we decided to do a shop, I had put together these files that we called my genius files and they were just pictures from magazines and newspapers that I saved throughout my whole life. There were shops in there that were boutiques like Beba and also like favorite things. And so I just used a compilation of those and developed all these icons from my brand, like the butterfly, like the carved roses, like the black lacquer. I had to come up with some concepts for the store. So the black lacquer came from buying pieces of furniture and wanting them to all to match. So I painted them black. Yeah. The red floor came from my apartment and then the lavender was from my favorite colors. We did the walls. Everything became icons of the brand as well. So the type of furniture that I was sourcing was this roca co, sort of furniture with curves and roses. And then I collected a lot of butterfly images and butterfly mirrors and we painted them black and put them on the walls. So all those things went into the product as well and became the signature of the brand. And then that became kind of what my brand apart from like what other things look like. And also gave like the cosmetics company and the fragrance company when I got those licenses, something to go by and something to build the brand about. And so that's stuck with me all these years. How do you research for collections and things like that? Remember that I started before the digital age. So I spent time at the library. Because I said I saved all these clippings from magazines, I would go and buy old magazines or look for books at the library and make copies of everything like on the Xerox machines. And I would put together these boards and folders for inspiration. And I still kind of do the same thing. I have like a board in my office that I build my whole collection on. And it starts out with the theme of the collection. And also I build my color story that way, finding images that are in the colors that I'm thinking of and putting it all together, which clues in my staff and then also all my licensed people, what the collection is all about and gives them perspectives to kind of research as well. It's just kind of a language that we have that brings them along on the journey that I'm trying to build. But I want to talk about the 90s similar because I feel like you arguably had one of the most splashy, a supermodel clad fashion show debuts in 1991. And for anyone who's not familiar, can you describe what a conventional fashion show looked like at that time and how years was different and why it made such a big impact? Fashion in the 80s was all about power-addressing. It was very shoulder pads and miz clothes like for work. I had this whole idea to do things that sold in boutiques and that had the kind of a rock and roll feeling to them. And this whole phenomenon happened in the early 90s where all the arts were changing and music switched to alternative rock and films switched to independent films. And the fashion world suddenly there were new designers and we were the new guard taking over from the Donna Karen, Calvin Klein, established designers of 7th Avenue. The brands were all very small houses and kind of like started using some of the supermodels that worked from that earlier era and giving them a new look. And what happened was it kind of rang a bell for those models that finally hear clothes for them. They weren't mommy's clothes because they were all like in their late teens early 20s. They felt more comfortable in these clothes. And I remember that summer before I did my first show going to the flea market with Naomi and she was talking about, oh, I want to get like a baby doll top, you know, like from a night gown and like maybe we could chop it off and I can wear it with my jeans. And then there was a model making chokers. These were models that were wearing head to toe designer clothes like Chanel Versace and suddenly they wanted this other look. And I knew that maybe this was my time. What do you remember about working with models like Naomi Campbell and Linda Vanjelista? I mean, they were so seasoned and professional and knew exactly what was going on. They would come in when you had your fittings and they would count how many outfits they had in the show. They're like doing other people's jobs. And how come I'm not opening the show because I see who's opening the, I mean, they just knew exactly where through the rest of the years, most models weren't that conscious of that setup and didn't challenge you on it. Sure. But those supermodels knew exactly. They have ambitions and they're there. I love that. And when you talk about the brands that were kind of part of this new wave alongside you and a sweet brand, what were some of those names? Well, Mark Jacobs and Todd Oldham and Isaac was around then and there was a new concept going on. like Barney's co-op. Yes, of course. And so that's how I really got my start and what really helped me build my business is that they were really supporting me and they were the ones that bought my baby doll dress and they bought it in so many different versions and kept asking for a new fabrication every season. And it was geared at a different customer than let's say designer. The problem like stores didn't know where to put my merchandise so I didn't really sit next to Calvin Klein. Right. So they were always kind of putting me next to the escalator on or on a single rack and it never really fit in until they developed this whole contemporary fashion. It's incredible that like your work was so disruptive that there wasn't a place for you in a show. And then the space had to be created. I'm still waiting for Barney's comeback. I feel like everybody is ready for it. It was the best. And I lived next door so it made it really convenient. Like I used to go there all the time after work. Just check on your clothes. It sounds like such a legendary moment in New York in the 90s. Are there any behind the scenes sort of moments that people don't know about any little anecdotes or stories? This is before the internet and everything was word of mouth. Everything was like who you knew and who you would run into. Who was dating who and like that was my audience. Like models were dating a lot of the young Hollywood actors and they would ask can they come to the show. I would go out to a concert and invite the guys from the band to the show or to model. It was just kind of all word of mouth and we kind of all gravitated towards the same restaurants. So at night when you went out to a restaurant it wouldn't be like a room full of strangers. It would be almost you knew everybody in the room or wanted to know them. It was all connections like that. Very organic it sounds like. And genuine. It was more like friendships. Now everything is so digital and so fast. Yeah and so corporate and so influencer driven. You know it's been 35 years since your runway did be and your work still feels just as relevant and I want to talk about your most recent collection. Let's talk about the inspiration behind that. I had seen Lady Chatterley's lover with Emma Corn and I just loved the costuming in that and also her character. How she started out is this very like traditional Victorian wife and from falling in love with this man that worked on their premises. She became undone and her close done of becoming undone. So I wanted all the models to look like they just had a role in the hay. So the hair was messy. The clothes were kind of like disheveled and wrinkly and so it just made it very sensuous. And so that was the fun part of like trying to put the whole collection together is capturing that look and feeling. Is there a look in that spring summer 26 collection that you can walk us through like the specific inspiration and how it kind of came to life as a look in your show? Because Lady Chatterley was always running off in the middle of the night. It was like a lot of nightgowns and little wraps like our robe. And so there's a lot of that feeling of like a nightgown or a slip and then she's got some sort of cover up with it and we even made the shoes look like bedroom slippers. John Fluevog did these beautiful brocade shoes. And then we put these lace pom-poms on them. Everything was meant to look like that. She was like running from the bedroom to the farmhouse. Yeah, absolutely. That makes a lot of sense. I feel like it was also the Neu Romantic era in the 1980s, right? That was another difference. So can you explain what drew you to that era? So for the fall collection I had been in London and there was this great exhibition about Blitz, which was a fantastic club that happened right after punk. All the new romantic music. It was the beginning of MTV and music videos. What I loved about the exhibition is everything was pre-digital. So the pieces on view were flyers, fanzines, ticket stubs and photographs of people at the club. And the only thing digital that was in the exhibition is they recreated the club by projecting on walls and the four walls. And when you walked into that room you felt like you were walking into the Blitz club. That's cool. Yeah. You could see the DJ Rusty Egan playing spinning records in the corner and people walking around. And everybody was dressed up. It was kind of the flip of punk where everybody wanted to portray these romantic characters, like swashbucklers or historical people. And there was a lot of makeup on the boys and the girls. And capes and feather hats and Steve Strange was kind of like the leader of this whole thing. And I met him when he was a punk, which was probably six months before that. And then I ran into him and he said, oh, we have to come to my new club. And he was working in this store called PX. And they specialized in kind of romantic clothing with capes and bucking near shirts. And he was dressed completely differently than when he was a punk exploring that club and all out to those stores. It was just a whole new look. And I love that feeling that you had this dress code that you had to follow. And it was such a fantasy. So I wanted to capture some of that for fall. Hey, who are wear listeners? I've been talking about selling on eBay a lot lately and honestly, I get it. The jacket from a very specific face, the lamp that only worked in your last apartment, the pan you bought for the version of yourself that was definitely going to cook more. It's basically just a few photos. And suddenly, the stuff that's just been sitting there has a chance to find millions of buyers who are genuinely excited to have it. Find what you love, sell what you don't on eBay. I want to know like your top few books or films that you think would be inspiring to a fashion person. I think a lot of it is musical and punk is my favorite era. But I liked the mod period. I liked all of the 60s, the psychedelic period. So depending on what I'm feeling for the season, I kind of gravitate towards that. My all time favorite film is Performance with Mick Jagger and Anita Palinberg. And I just love this like fantasy world that they created. He was a retired rock star and they lived as recluses in this beautiful old townhouse in London. Music, it just shifts with the collections. And two seasons ago, I did a lot of 1930s music, a lot of crewners and singers from that period. And what I do is like sometimes I'll look up old films and then I'll listen to the sound tracks of the old films. I'm always learning and I'm always like going off on these tangents as I'm curious about the period or how else I can enhance my knowledge on something. To me, that's my favorite part. It's like not only discovering new things but figuring out what inspired something else too. Obviously your brand is beloved by all ages and it's kind of become a symbol of youth culture and you've gained a newfound audience in Gen Z. When did you first notice that a new generation was gravitating towards your clothing? Well, it started happening during like Christmas holidays when my nieces were raiding their mom's closets and wearing some of my pieces from the 90s. Oh my gosh. And it looked so great on them interpreted in a new way and they would come to me and say, "Antiana, you have to redo this. You have to do this cut again. This fits so well. I love this print. It's just started me thinking. But you know, before that, we had never even looked back. Even though you had this incredible archive, did Olivia Rodrigo come to you and say, "I love to wear this item?" She started asking about pieces from the archive, the baby doll and then those wrap tops in the mesh. Of course. If we didn't have them, we recreated them for her. It sounds like she had done her research around your line. It was so exciting that she knew about those collections. I'm curious if this popularity with Gen Z has impacted your creative process at all. Have you started thinking about who you're designing for differently or are you always just laser focused on the Anna Sweet Girl, whoever that might be, even if that person changes? Get out with my original concept and really focus on that. As we're creating pieces, I'm always thinking of different characters. It could be anybody from a Gen Z person to myself or my mom or somebody that I saw on the street. I'm always thinking about what the outfit's going to be for the person and the personality. With such a massive body of work, I feel like you've become an inspiration for other designers. Are there any pieces that you see referenced? A lot. Things are in the air. So I think that we all inspire each other. It wouldn't be fashion if you were the only one doing it. I've always kept that in mind. I like fashion too. I like other designers too. I shop all the websites first thing in the morning looking for something new for myself. I'm sure I'm inspired by other people as well. Do you like to shop? I like vintage. I do a lot of eBay. Yes. You have some good, saved searches. I do, but it's like a quest. I have something stuck in my mind that I was obsessed with the Prada Fairy bag. I spent almost two years researching it, figuring out who had the best color at the best price. Eventually, I ended up buying one. What color? Actually, just the beige because the other colors were just not available in the year. It was an obsession. Every morning, I'd look and see if anybody else posted them. I know that game. It's kind of a beautiful way to shop because it tests your interest in it. At least for me, we cover trends in shopping. If your interest is sustained over a period of time, then you know that you really need to have it. Exactly. Something I think that's so special about Anna-Sweet is that you've retained this whole ownership. I feel like that independence shows in the clothing, right? What's a benefit of being an independent brand? I didn't have a boss. Yeah. You're the boss. For years and years, I didn't really analyze. I didn't really reflect on what's sold. I just did what I wanted. I think I was really, really. fortunate that I had licenses. I had a very good distribution deal in Japan, almost 12 licenses from Japan. And then I got a fragrance license having these licenses gave me freedom and a steady flow of income to support anything that I was doing. So I was really able to have that luxury of like being able to do what I wanted. Yeah, that's an interesting blend to have these licenses that support the creative work and the independence that way. Well, I think Coco Chanel always said you know, designer has to have a fragrance. And I think that's the most successful Chanel product too. Was it surprising to at all how successful the beauty portion of your brand is? It was and really exciting because I think that the packaging everything was so unique. Yes. And people would buy two, one to save and one to put on there. Yeah. And then having the store and so how we had a constant flow of people coming to see what the new cosmetics were, and the new fragrances were. That packaging is just iconic. Who at where we've been talking a lot about how consumers today are really looking at creative directors to kind of build an entire world, make more than just clothes. And this is something you've been doing since the beginning I feel like. I always looked up to Beba, which was such a great concept that was so visual and so complete. And there was the Big Beba store that had not only beautiful clothes and accessories make up, but they had children's mans furniture. Those were always the things that I wanted to do. And then also decorating my own apartment gave me a different world to research and kind of help me conceptualize design ideas and play with them with like the wallpaper that I have or just even buying furniture. Like I always looked for the same kind of roca co furniture or mirrored furniture. And so all those things we always incorporate into my products and my fragrance company or my cosmetics company will want to come to my apartment and photograph the rooms and use some of those things for packaging. And we had to talk about the reason why you're visiting us here in LA. The ASU Fit a Museum is featuring your designs in an exhibition called Obsessed Fashion and Estalja in the 90s. Any of your work is being shown alongside Vivian Westwood, Ejampal Gautier, Franco Moschino and Gianna Fersacci. Tell us a little bit about the pieces that are on display. I'm sitting next to Mark Jacobs from his Grunge collection. I just sent him a picture of it today. It's his birthday. And there's a baby doll dress and iconic baby doll dress. It's in white eyelet. And then next to it is a rainbow striped long vest over pants. And again, these were from my Grunge collection. And they look really perfect next to Mark's Grunge collection floral print. With the striped t-shirt underneath it. And you've had so many big moments over the past several months published a book on your work in the 90s. Barbie made up doll based off of your likeness. You released a collaboration with Old Navy. Yeah. It's been exciting. What's next? Hopefully more of the same. My exhibition, as I mentioned, is going to open in Detroit in October. And hopefully we'll be able to bring it out to the West Coast. Yeah. Which I've been trying for for a while. I just want to keep designing. I mean, there's nothing better than living your dream. And I feel that's what I've been doing. Are you hoping to bring Antisweet any new audiences? What about Jen Alpha? Are they next? I have some new, I guess, her grand nieces and nephews. Ah, beautiful. So they'll be wearing Antisweet as soon as possible. Your next music. Yeah. I love it. In fact, some of the kids are wearing the t-shirts already. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. But the black font. Okay. I have a few lightning round questions. Looking back, is there any advice you'd give to your younger self starting out in fashion? I kind of like not knowing what I was doing because it gave me a fearlessness. Yes. And because I didn't know what the pitfalls were. Right. And I think that that's something that people should keep in mind. Like not let the things that you worry about or are afraid of hold you back. Right. Just go for it. You create your own obstacles. And I think that that's that's when you don't accomplish it. Like you have to just go for it and figure out a way. And if you get no for an answer, you figure out another way. And you just get your foot in the door until you get the yes answer. Music is such a big part of your world. You've mentioned it a good bit. What are you listening to lately? I think it was really exciting when I was researching music for the last collection. Listening to all these new Goth bands. And I was really surprised to find so many. But then it was again really fun to revisit like all that blitz period music because I forgot about the early days of MTV and how exciting it was to have a visual with the music. Yes. And how yeah. And like ashes to ashes. Yeah. When Bowie like picked some kids from the club scene to be in his video. I mean, it was just so of that moment. Right. Right. Is there an emotional moment at a fashion show that you remember from years past? I guess really the first show. Yeah. Because it seemed like it was the most impossible thing because when I came back from seeing my first Paris fashion shows and Steven, my Zal said to me, okay, now it's your turn to do a show. And I said, how can I do it? How can I compete with what I just saw? And he's like, don't worry. We'll help you after thinking that it was impossible and having friends helped me. And all my family there, I think at the end of the show, I remember Paul Cavacco who owned KCD looked at me and I looked at him. We both just started crying because it was just like, we did it. You did it. Something that you thought was impossible or how do I even go about that? Yeah. When there's an exhibit in the future called Obsessed Fashion Estlogia in the 2020s, what designers do you predict will be on display? I think the people that are really shaping fashion now are like Prada always, always the new Chanel is so exciting. And Dries is one of my favorites. Yeah, always. I mean, the color, the pattern and the wearability. You're not getting dressed up. It's like incorporating into your clothes, which I think is so important. Well, thank you so much, Anna, for being with us today. This was such a treat and I feel like you transported me. Oh, thank you. Thanks so much. A huge thank you to Fashion Designer Anna Sway. Make sure to subscribe to our show wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss an episode. And while you're there, I'd also be so grateful if you would rate and review us. You can now watch all episodes of the pod on our new Who Up Wear Podcast YouTube channel, so please subscribe and check us out there. If you have any guest suggestions or any other feedback, find us on social at Who Up Wear. See you next Wednesday on the Who Up Wear Podcast. This episode was produced by Hillary Perne, Summer Hammeres, and Natalie Thurman. Our audio engineers are at Glen Canyon Audio, and our music is by Jonathan Leahy.