Anna Scholz Blog

Vogue.com recently invited body language expert Lillian Glass, Ph.D. to interpret the way the models held their bags in a number of runway shows from Fall 2011.

While what happens on the catwalk is usually a far cry from daily reality, it is still fun to dissect what statements the designers and stylists are making with the placement of accessories, as every detail in a fashion show is most certainly calculated.

“They’re holding those bags like they’re holding a puppy!” Glass remarked of the runway images from Prada’s Fall 2011 catwalk show. Glass speculates that the models are cradling their bags close because “bags are no longer just an accessory—they are a vital part of our lives!” They hold everything from a lipstick to a wallet to an iPad. They hold all aspects of our lives.

Alternatively, to me, the gesture of snuggling the bag shows that the woman sees her Prada bag as something precious and pet-like. It’s a plush little friend, rather than a bag you sling over your shoulder or hold aloofly down at your side. It also signifies ownership and closeness with luxury.

At Marc Jacobs’s Louis Vuitton show, models held the coveted structured purses in hands that were cuffed behind their backs. Glass thinks this pose represents safety and security, not being careless with your possessions. She also thinks that despite this gesture of nervousness, “hands in back show an extreme amount of confidence and security. [...] It also shows a lot of self-confidence and self-assuredness. When you place your arms in back of you, as opposed to placing them in front, it says you have nothing to hide. Also, it lets the bag stands on its own, without distracting from the entire outfit.”

I think this gesture is also a saucy way of poking fun at fashion obsession.  The pose could be saying, “I’m a prisoner of fashion. I’m a victim.” Or it could be saying, “No matter what happens, I’ll have my fabulous little handbag with me. Even in the wake of disaster, I have my priorities.”

The models at Celine carried their bags from underneath like a sack of groceries, not even using the handles. Glass says, “What I am picking up from this is that in this day and age, women are carrying around a lot more things. It’s like a virtual office in their purses, and the handles make things feels heavier, so this new way of holding the purse may be more practical and less cumbersome.”

To me, this particular gesture seems mostly about the need to come up with some new spin on bag-holding. But it could also be about breaking the rules, about being in a casual relationship with luxury, or about creating interesting, complementary angles with the clean lines of the clothes themselves.

What are your thoughts on what these bag-holding gestures mean? Do you have any other thoughts on the meanings behind certain ways of holding bags? Or is it all just a sack of sugar?

Scott Schuman who helms the widely read fashion blog, The Sartorialist, recently came under fire for describing another blogger as “curvy.”

Schuman wrote of fellow fashion blogger, Angelica Ardasheva, “I loved that she’s a bigger, curvier girl than most of the other bloggers who you see in the press and tend to represent the genre.” He added, “The subtle thing she achieves so successfully in these two looks is to complement the sturdy but beautiful shape of her legs with an equally strong shoe.”

The entry prompted over a thousand responses. Some readers were offended:

Your patronising comments on her style, calling her ‘bigger’, ‘curvier’ and back handed compliment on her dress sense just serve to further alienate readers who are not a sample size, which I would assume is the larger portion of your audience.

Other readers had no issue:

i am a woman with a very similar body type, if not more curvy, and find it hard it exhausting how badly everyone is taking your comments. i don’t see what you said as offensive, if anything i think the fact that you said you loved it is being overlooked. it must be hard to comment on a woman’s body type at all with all of us feeling constant personal evaluation.

Schuman himself rebutted:

A number of the commenters are upset by the word “curvy.” They feel I should have used the word “normal.” However, normal is relative. There is a young lady on my team who is 5′0″, and another who is 5′9″. Which would be “normal”? [...] Remember, curvy is a body shape, not a weight. To be honest, you can’t really see in these photographs most of the curves – chest, stomach, hip – this woman has.

What do you think about what Schuman said? Offensive, or just off-the-cuff?

Read  Schuman’s original post on The Sartorialist

Read other articles about the conversation Schuman’s comment started at The Huffington Post or Jezebel

The last two days of Emma’s Anna Scholz Week on her blog, Oh, The Places You’ll Go built to a fine curvaceous crescendo.

We’ve loved seeing the different ways Emma has styled Anna’s clothes this past week. It’s always interesting and informative to read her thoughts about what makes the garments work for her figure and what to wear them with.

For her finale, she featured Anna’s double silk pleat shift dress in the eye-popping zoomorphic parrot print from the White Label collection. And she sported the black lace cropped jacket and the check print jersey plait strap dress, both from the Black Label collection.

Emma describes the parrot print silk pleat shift dress as having a kind of glow in the sunshine. “It radiates a vibrancy and energy of colour that literally made me keep looking down at my body and going, WOW. … This is a shape, that feels MADE FOR MY BODY. It caters to my breast, pulls in for a high waist and then flows from the hip. If you are new to Anna Scholz and want to jump straight in the deep end for style and class – this is the way to go!”

“You can wear this lace cropped jacket done up or undone,” Emma continues. “You could wear it over dresses or over a plain little cami – like I have. … The tailoring on this jacket is completely spot on and the detail in the lace is really delightful. … If you want coverage, want to feel feminine and need a piece that can transition between both class and sexiness…THIS is the item.”