"He pretended he didn't know who I was at first," Anna Sui says of the time she met Robert Smith of the Cure. "Then he leaned over and whispered in my ear, 'Of course I know who you are. And I'd love you to make me a frock!' " For someone who got into fashion to make clothes for rock stars and "people who like going to rock concerts," that's a good day at the office. Sui's known not only for the rock 'n' roll references she scatters through her collections like so many sequins, but also for her excellent taste in music (the Psychedelic Furs, Nirvana, the Clash, and the Rolling Stones are some of her all-time favorite bands), not to mention her stellar musical connections—both Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins have walked the runway for her. Check out what she's listening to this season…
1. The Cult, Dirty Little Rock Star "They were my favorite band in the eighties—I went on tour with them. I was so excited that they were back together and touring last summer, and then my brother told me that they had this new song."
2. The Greenhornes, Lost Woman "Two of the guys in this band are actually in the Raconteurs, and I had seen them play a couple of times in Detroit. Then two Springs ago, we were doing fittings at the studio and Karen Elson came in and said you have to listen to this band, and I ended up opening my Spring 2006 show with their song, Unnatural Habitat."
3. The Gossip vs. Elastica, Standing in the Way of Connection "This is a really cool mash-up of the two bands together. I actually used the original Elastica song, Connection, in a show back in the day."
4. The White Stripes, Effect and Cause "They're the greatest band around right now. I love the way they look with their black, white, and red outfits, and that it's just two people making all of that sound. It's just a great combination of rock and folk and country. I used a lot of black, white, and red in my last Spring collection because I wanted to bring in the rock 'n' roll element."
5. New York Dolls, Looking for a Kiss and
6. Marilyn Monroe, I'm Through With Love "These songs are both off Biba: Champagne & Novocaine [various artists], which I've been listening to a lot for inspiration for the Spring 2008 collection. It's the songs that the Biba girls all used to listen to when they were hanging out and working at the store—Roxy Music, Tiny Tim, Edith Piaf, Lou Reed. I wanted to make the new collection more whimsical, so we've also been watching a lot of the Busby Berkeley videos—you're definitely going to see some of that."
7. The Kings of Leon, Charmer "This is just a really good, rockin' song."
8. The Ponys, Double Vision"This song has that garage-band quality, which seems to be one of my favorite things!"
9. The Legends, The Kids Just Wanna Have Fun "This reminds me of very early British invasion, which is always a sound that I'm attracted to."
10. Modest Mouse, Dashboard "This song is great because it's very eighties—a little Roxy Music, a little Talking Heads."
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