Anna Scholz Blog

I’m loving this new website called If Shoes Could Kill documenting some of the more outrageous shoe designs out there. Some are amazing works of art, some are amusing and some are just plain wrong.

Here are a few choice entries in this entertaining addition to the world of fashion websites.

–Winnie

“Life is full of tough choices,” the commentary reads.

“Do you get a hamster so it can live a life of joy and happiness with its little wheel and wood chips and slurpy vertical water bottle in a cage?

Or do you get a hamster so you can put it in your shoe and give it a concussion with every step you take?”

These flip flops are for “When You Want to Feel Like You Are Eating Donuts in the Park”.

Not sure if these really work as footwear, but you’d definitely be popular!

If Shoes Could Kill is brought to you by the same brilliant people who do the Lolcats website and FAIL Blog.

This week in the Daily Mail online, “Big Girl in a Skinny World” columnist Alice Dogruyol chronicles her unhappy attempts to find a dress to wear to her sister’s wedding. Dogruyol is as clever and witty as ever. Finding the right dress that will photograph well, not add pounds, etc. etc. is a daunting task that is familiar to us all.

Alice D. has lovely things to say about Anna’s dresses for special occasions, however. During her epic shopping spree, she falls in love with Anna’s crepe wrap maxi dress.

“But it’s electric blue,” laments Alice,  “and my sister says it will clash with her colour scheme. …Thank heavens for a designer who knows how to cut a dress to suit a womanly figure. Anna Scholz calls it ‘curvaceous couture’ and I’m a huge fan. … All her dresses are made using the most beautiful fabrics and they do just nip you in and drape in all the right places. Every time I put one on, I feel a million dollars.”

Thank you for your kind words, Alice. Could we recommend the silk georgette pleat maxi dress in Anna’s cool digital swirl print? It’s elegant and modern, flattering and a little edgy. We love it!

The June issue of French Marie Claire is just about to hit the newsstands and will feature two curvaceous beauties. It’s always great to see the usage of curvy models in high end magazines. (Not that they’re wearing much clothing in this particular issue!)

Laura Catteral is beautiful as always in a sensational nude/beauty story shot by Bruno Juminer.

Readers will recognise Laura as the face of Anna Scholz’s Spring-Summer 2010 Black Label collection on the web shop! She is truly versatile.

Hayley Morley is simply stunning in a fantastic swimwear fashion spread for French Marie Claire shot by Thierry Lebraly.

Anna also has worked with the lovely Hayley in the past.

Once again 12+ UK Model Managment is leading the way in breakthrough fashion moments for curvy girls.

After being shut out from this year’s Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, a number of plus-size models staged a protest outside the event in Sydney. The models sported t-shirts saying,  “I love my curves” and “We love real women.”

Big Gal Models agent Darrianne Donnelly accused the industry of taking a disappointing step backwards after over a dozen plus-size models were showcased at Australian Fashion Week last year.

However, designer Alex Perry snapped, “Nobody is going to tell me how to pick models.”

To read more, visit: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/fashion/plus-size-models-squeezed-out-of-sydney-fashion-week/story-e6frfn7i-1225863347918

Congratulations to Nicole Grundy: our April blog photo competition winner.

Here she is looking lovely at her son’s three-year-old birthday celebration.

She wrote to us, “Here’s my ‘happy dress’ as my husband calls it and I think you will agree: the shirred dress is a winner! P.S. still very hot in Melbourne.”

Blog readers: keep sending us your photos of you wearing Anna Scholz designs. You can even enter a new photo each month for your chance to win a £100 shopping voucher.

Glamour Magazine recently published an online article in response to all the feedback they’d received regarding the June cover photo of Crystal Renn, Brooklyn Decker and Alessandria Ambrosio.

One reader wrote in to Glamour: “Thank you, thank you! Embrace your own body and all its uniqueness.” But other readers debated whether Crystal is looking too thin. “You have three very thin beautiful famous women on your cover…Shame, shame, shame,” read another posted comment.

Crystal herself describes the Glamour cover as “one of the proudest moments of my career,” the article reads, but says she gets where the debate is coming from. “When it comes to my weight, I understand the public’s confusion,” …. “Like all women, I fluctuate. Especially considering I had just come back from a 3 week backpacking trip in Patagonia. In the past I have been quite open about the fact that I haven’t started an exercise regimen since having the eating disorder because of the uncomfortable feelings associated with it. However, because I am in such a good place with my body and mind I have been reintroducing it back into my life through adventure travel, and plan to continue this in the future. I am in the best place with myself and want to assure everyone of that! Also when it comes to my exact size, in the past I was a size 12-14 and I just said 12; now I am a 10-12 and have to just say 12, because I tend to fluctuate around that number. I find that no matter what I do, there are going to be people who have an opinion; however, my message is as strong as ever….to help women everywhere appreciate their own bodies and continue to be inspired by the images I get to create.”

We still find Crystal’s attitude very inspiring. But what do you think? When is a model too thin to be “curvy”? Or should we dispense with such titles all-together?

To read the full article, visit: http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/2010/05/on-the-cl-how-curvy-do-you-hav.html

This photo of Jessica Alba was taken (and then retouched!) in 2008, not long after she gave birth to her daughter. As you can see, there’s not much difference at all between the two! Go, Jessica!

So, why do the media continue to feed us images of impossibly plastic women? It’s boring and insulting. Especially since so many of these women look great a naturel.

On a different note, we really like these photos from Marie Claire of a make-up-less Jessica Simpson. She looks very pretty and seems refreshingly egoless.

This is an interesting diagram showing which colours are associated with various qualities in different cultures.

For example, yellow is a  happy colour in the West, whereas green is happy in Hindu culture…

All to be taken with a pinch of salt, I’m sure…but the chart itself is quite amazing to look at.

–Winnie

To study it in more detail, visit http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/colours-in-cultures/

I think these paper eyelashes are really cool! Very intricate– would look great with any of Anna’s current horse print pieces!

Designed by Ting yu Wang, the lashes are inspired by the art of Chinese paper-cutting.  As the website Paperself describes, they “blend an element of traditional culture with contemporary design.”

Each pair also has special meaning in Chinese culture, according to the website: horses represent success; peonies symbolise happiness and good fortune; and peach blossoms convey love and romance.

–Liz

To see more, visit http://www.paperself.com/ps%20%20all.html

Cat and the Cream make the best cupcakes ever!  In a world where everyone is making cupcakes, this is quite a statement but one that I (as a long-time cake fanatic) feel qualified to make.

I ordered a yummy selection of Cat and the Cream cupcakes last year for my birthday. Since then, I’ve  found myself actually looking forward to being a year older just to have them again!

Not only do they taste amazing– it may have something to do with the fairtrade organic ingredients — but each one is a mini work of art. They’re so beautiful, I  have to think twice before taking a bite. (But no more than twice!)

–Kate

Find out more at www.catandthecream.com