"I got really lucky," recalls Sui. A Parsons School senior told her about an opening for assistants at Charlie's Girls. Sui applied and was hired on the spot. For the next 18 months she worked for the woman she now calls the toughest boss she has ever had. She demanded perfection and thorough research. Sui was always the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave.

The business folded after 18 months but Sui learned invaluable lessons about the fabric market, how and where to get the best quality at the best price. This knowledge, she feels, is essential to a successful design house.

For the next five years she hopped around various junior-sportswear companies learning about sweaters, bathing suits and fabric. In 1980 Sui made four outfits and displayed them at a boutique show. She got orders from Macy's and Bloomingdales. Macy's featured one of her creations in a full page ad in The New York Times. Unfortunately, her employer at Simultanee, a women's sportswear company, saw the ad and issued an ultimatum. Either design only for them or be fired. "The decision," says Sui, "was made for me at that point."

Her last paycheck went toward buying fabric. Sui filled the orders and used the proceeds to buy more fabric. After displaying at two shows and making many cold calls, Sui hired a sales rep. The advertisements by Macy's and Bloomingdales gave her fledgling fashion business a huge boost. Fashion directors recognized her name when Sui called. Since she was forced to make all material purchase C.O.D., two years into her business Sui was forced to borrow $30,000 from a bank. Her credit was established when it was paid off within six months.

"I always paid all my bills," says Sui, "although it hasn't always been easy."

As soon as she could afford it, she hired part-timers to do her sewing. For the first ten years Sui's business was run out of her apartment which was notorious for its leopardskin carpets and purple dining room, with boxes piled to the ceiling. To this day Sui's apartment is a shrine for offbeat furniture and vintage accessories.

To help make ends meet Sui often worked as a stylist for Steven Meisel. For a couple of years he was getting regular photography jobs for Lei, and Italian fashion magazine. "Why don't you bring a suitcase of your stuff and play," Meisel would suggest. Even when Italy began sending trunkloads of clothes to photograph, Sui had to putt together the accessories. Sui's professionalism prevented her from taking advantage of these opportunities to showcase her own designs. Styling one or two stories a month was a big help financially.

In the mid-80s Sui did entertain thoughts of giving up. She could have worked as a fashion editor at Italian Vogue, Sui says, but, "that meant U had to work for somebody again." She stubbornly clung to her business, feeding herself through freelancing and occasionally calling mom for financial help. During slow seasons, she even flew to India to do freelance design work. "Somehow I made it work," Sui says.

By the late-80s the orders became more regular. Many of her suppliers began granting credit terms, which helped immensely with cash flow, though to this day some sell only C.O.D. Sui had begun visiting Paris fashion shows with Meisel. She was exhilarated by the pace of the runway scene.

As the 80s crashed to an unceremonious close, Sui saw the fashion scene change. At parties models and editors were no longer wearing head-to-toe designer gear. Sui knew her time had come. "It was more my sensibility," recalls Sui, "I had stuck in there long enough for it to be my time. The excess of the 80s I knew were not my style, but the backlash from that worked well [for me]."

At the urging of friends Steven Meisel and Paul Covaco, a PR specialist, Sui put on her first runway show in the spring of 1991. It was a joint effort, and proved to be a watershed for her business. Supermodels Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell, whom she had met through Meisel, agreed to be paid in Sui dresses. What's more, they helped round up other top models to work the runway. By the end of the show, the crowd was cheering. By the year's end Sui could, at long last, move her showroom out of her apartment.

In 1992 Macy's gave Sui her own 600-square-foot in-store boutique in its Herald Square designer department. Later that year, her designs were picked up by Bergdorf Goodman. In September Sui opened her own Manhattan boutique.

The 70 to 80 looks Anna Sui must design for each of her two shows a year take more time and effort than one might imagine. She starts by choosing a fabric for each item. "I see the whole collection in my mind when I see fabric," says Sui. "If I see one muslin, I may see four [designs]." I work the fabric into designs. Evolving the designs involves doing little sketches, for example, in line at a bank or while on the phone."

Each item is then placed into the suits, evening wear or casual category. This process is repeated dozens of times until a collection has been assembled. Hundreds of sketches have been made by the time she goes into planning for the show. During the final few weeks, she works through weekends. It's at about this stage that accessory needs become defined.

To keep up with the demands of her now far-flung business, Sui is up by six each morning. A milk-and-cereal breakfast lets her make it to the office by eight. Lunch is taken at the office. It's seven by the time she leaves the office for a dinner out. Whatever free time she may have is spent watching CNN and catching up on news from the world of fashion by reading magazines.

The work of building her business once left no time for steady relationships. She prefers musicians. Her ideal male physique is reflected in the type of men she picks for her runway shows.

When Sui isn't crunching numbers or preparing for her shows, she's scouring flea markets and going to rock conerts. "It's really a dream career," Sui reflects with a real sense of gratitude, "because everything I do is incorporated into what I do. What I see, hear, you never know when it'll effect you. This was my dream."