Anna Scholz Blog

Lola & Gigi is a great little online boutique based  in Canada, which has stocked Anna Scholz for a number of seasons.

The shop recently sent us some shots from a photo shoot they did with some pieces from  Anna’s Autumn-Winter 2010 collection. We love the way they’re styled and how elegant they look!

To see more of what Lola & Gigi has to offer, visit their website at www.lolaandgigi.com

Lisa Conway sent us this photo of her at a work event: “Sending you a pic of me in my black zippy dress, as I call it  – I love this dress. I feel so smart – and sexy!”

We’re a little undecided here at Anna Scholz about whether the meat dress (allegedly it’s bona fide cow carcass) Lady Gaga wore to the MTV Video Music Awards last week is art or just plain offal.

I mean, we’ve heard of skirt steak but never a body con beef dress…and she managed to find a hat, shoes and bag (or should we say carrion?) to match!

After the award ceremony, Gaga said the dress was open to “many interpretations,” including- she offered- a statement about the US military’s attitude to homosexuals.

At any rate,  she certainly brought home the bacon that night by snagging several VMAs.

What do you think of her outfit? Grade-A or gross?

To read more interpretations of Gaga’s look, click here.

I love this site called  P.S. – I Made This… by Erica Domesek. She shows you how to make everything from earrings to decorative boxes to clothing.  She also includes instructions and discusses her influences for the projects. I love her moodboards for each project as well.

Now I know what to do with my collection of coffee stirrers! (I think)

–Kate

To see more, visit this site,  PS – I Made This…

So, by now you all have probably watched the Black Label video on the homepage of the annascholz website and wondered, “Who is singing that kick-ass song”?

Well, Cottonwood Blossom is the name of the talented duo of Rich Watson and Toni Coe, who wrote the song specifically for Anna’s Black Label video. They discussed the look and feel of the label with Anna and viewed the video and came up with an original song! We feel very fortunate to have their talent behind our togs.

I caught up with Rich and Toni recently and they were kind enough to answer a variety of questions on everything from their musical inspirations, to their other band, Deadlight, to their style icons.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED WITH MUSIC?

RICH: I have played guitar since I was 14; since then, music has been my life. I met Toni when I enrolled at the ACM in 2008.

TONI: I have been performing music since I was 5. Somewhere in my teens, I lost all of my confidence and stopped singing. It wasn’t until I decided to attend The Academy of Contemporary Music in 2008 and met Rich that I really became a performer again.

HOW LONG HAS COTTONWOOD BLOSSOM BEEN GOING? HOW DID CB GET ITS START?

TONI: I believe it’s been about 6 months now since we started Cottonwood Blossom. The idea really came into focus when Rich and I  realized we both shared a huge passion for Delta blues. We wanted Cottonwood Blossom to become our main source of income and wanted to begin an authentic function band that offered great music at reasonable prices. This seemed a great opportunity to incorporate our blues influences.

WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE ANNASCHOLZ BLACK LABEL TRACK?

RICH: Anna wanted a Brit indie vibe for the Black Label video so we took influence from bands such as The Noisettes and The Libertines. We wanted a 70’s production sound but with a modern edge.

WHAT WAS YOUR PROCESS FOR WRITING THE BLACK LABEL SONG?

RICH: When Toni and I write together, I always write, record and mix the music first. Toni then writes the melody and lyrics and we record them. After mixing the track we sent it to Anna for approval then made the requested tweaks to the mix.  We wanted the music and lyrics to sync up with the Black Label video so that certain lyrics fall at the right moment in the video.

WHO ARE YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS?

TONI: Billie holiday: It amazes me that through all of her suffering she was able to channel all of that into art and evoke so much emotion through her voice and song writing. Also Ray Charles: His ability to continuously evolve musically is a complete inspiration to me. I admire the talent he had in writing songs, singing and playing piano.

RICH: John Mayer’s album Continuum is my favorite album of all time! I love that he has bought blues guitar playing back into the mainstream. Robert Johnson is another favorite. I love the story that surrounds his life and musically he was just so far ahead of his time.

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OTHER BAND, DEADLIGHT. HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN GOING? HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COTTONWOOD BLOSSOM?

TONI: Deadlight is our Alternative originals band. We formed in 2010 as a four piece and have spent the summer playing festivals and great venues around the UK. Deadlight, again, is a song writing collaboration between Rich and myself.

RICH: Deadlight is different from Cottonwood Blossom because the music and branding reflects our personalities more personally. Cottonwood Blossom was created for a purpose and is born out of our love for blues music, but Deadlight is our baby! Having said that, we love the diversity of doing both and we have the opportunity to write music in Cottonwood Blossom that we never would in Deadlight (and vice versa!).

JUST FOR FUN:
OF ALL THE MUSICIANS THAT ARE DEAD OR DISBANDED, WHICH WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO TRAVEL BACK IN TIME TO SEE?

TONI: Billie Holiday… that would complete me!

RICH: Robert Johnson.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW?

TONI: At the moment I am reading Supernatural: Meetings With the Ancient Teachers of Mankind by Graham Hancock (not as pretentious as it sounds!). It is an investigation into the influences that shaped the modern human mind (with regards to art, music, religion etc). It’s very good : )

RICH: I’m reading Escaping the Delta by Elijah Wald… it’s making me want to move to Mississippi!

WHO IS YOUR STYLE ICON?

TONI: I am very inspired by the current grunge revival and avant garde look.

RICH: Designers I like include Vivienne Westwood, Unconditional and Rick Owens (if only I could afford it!).

IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY PAINTING OR PHOTOGRAPH IN THE WORLD TO HANG IN YOUR HOUSE, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

RICH: I’d love a painting by Wes Borland. He does great realistic surreal work and is musically a big influence too.

To read more about Cottonwood Blossom and to hear some of their tracks, visit their myspace page.
To read up on and listen to Deadlight, visit the band’s myspace page.

For bookings for functions and events with Cottonwood Blossom, contact the duo at cottonwoodblossom@live.co.uk

I love this video by Miss Platnum for her song “Give Me the Food.” It’s hysterical and funny. It’s also really well styled and she is pretty…

Miss Platnum is a Romanian-German singer. She was born Ruth Maria Renner in Romania but moved to Berlin as a child. “Give Me the Food” was the lead single on her album Chefa, which was released in 2007 and offers a mixture of hip-hop, R&B, soul, pop and Romanian musical flavours. This single reached the top 20 on the Romanian single charts and also charted on the German Media Control chart.

Lisa sent us this photo of her at work enjoying her heart print wrap dress from the Spring-Summer 2010 collection. “This dress has been one of my favourites all season,” she wrote.

Customers: Submit your photos now for the September competition.  Send us snaps of you in your favourite Anna Scholz looks and be entered to win a £100 online shopping voucher. You can enter more than once, so keep sending ‘em each month! We’d love to see you.

Zoë is my good friend and former downstairs neighbour. I have always been fascinated by her profession. And she has great taste in fashion (wink wink!)

–Anna

Looking good for work is important to most women, whether we’re slim or curvaceous. In my work, however, it’s particularly important to look right– mostly because it would be really easy to look wrong!

What do I do? I’m a shamanic practitioner here in London.

Core Shamanism – also called Western shamanism – is a passion that I’ve been working with now for nearly 12 years. Shamanism is the world’s oldest spiritual practice: our cave-dwelling ancestors handed it down to us, and even today it is the heritage of almost everyone on the planet. As a practitioner, I have one-to-one clients and also teach courses to a wide range of people, so I need garments that look good without being either too formal and business-like, or too floaty and “New Age”! Teaching groups involves a lot of moving around: lying down, drumming, rattling and even a bit of dancing! It’s not easy to find the happy medium of clothes that are stylish, comfortable and suit the job!

Luckily, Anna is both a neighbour and friend and so I’ve been fortunate in having her advice (she can’t stand fleece!) and access to her great studio sales. I particularly like the garments that have a formal shape but great detail, like this favourite that I’m wearing in the black and white photos [above]. (And yes, that is Anna sitting behind me on the left!) The revealing vest is by also by Anna (she likes a woman to show off her assets!). The winter coat [below] is unique– a reconstructed vintage garment with felted sleeves and panel designed and made by my good friend, designer Faith Tilleray, from patterns cut by Stefanie, Anna’s wonderful pattern maker.

For more on Zoë and her work www.shaman.uk.com. For more on shamanism www.shaman.uk.net.