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 The New School for 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 in her youth, which gave her clear direction on her goals for her future. Sui moved to New York and attended Parsons.