Anna Scholz Blog

We’ve just had an update from our sales and production manager, Darren, who is in New York City showing Anna’s Spring-Summer 2012 collection.

He’s had a little time to see the sites, shop and enjoy the city before his appointments kick in. He sent this photo of him with a super-duper lemon zinger drink at a diner called Big Daddy’s near Union Square.

And, of course, the way Darren has arranged the collection looks amazing!

We’re loving these photographs of tattoos from Katie Ell’s exhibition entitled A Piece of My Mind. Some are humorous; some are haunting; all are meaningful.

The talented Katie Ell is the photographer behind the campaign imagery for Anna’s Black Label collection for Autumn-Winter 2011. The photo shoot for the Black Label took place in Anna’s London home. We had a lot of fun creating a 60s mod vibe with Katie.

Visit Katie Ell’s website to see more of her fabulous work.

When it came to choosing music for the video for Anna Scholz’s Autumn-Winter 2010 White Label collection, there was no contest. Singer-songwriter San Glaser has just the right mix of sultry soulfulness to convey the luxurious glamour and sex appeal that Anna’s White Label represents. Watch the video on the homepage of the annascholz web site and you’ll be instantly transported to a world of vintage-inspired elegance and chic femininity.

Like Anna Scholz, San Glaser hails from Hamburg, Germany. She completed her studies in jazz voice, harmonics and vocal pedagogy. She then went on to sing for Jazzkantine and to work with the band of soul entrepreneur Stefan Gwildis. Glaser made her solo debut with the 2005 album, Never in Vain. Her second album, New Road, has been described as “full of honesty, balmy tonality and profound substance, with a decent pinch of pop added to her very own interpretation of jazz.”

New Road treads many musical paths as well as documenting an internal journey for San Glaser, who sums up her natural style by saying, “I always prefer looking at the pure sky rather than fireworks”.

We had a lot of fun putting together the informal “Meet the Team” video, where customers are introduced to the members of the Anna Scholz team and get a behind-the-scenes look at the design studio and photo shoots. The music for the video is by the Dutch band Room 11, which has been described as “a catchy mixture of jazz, pop, funk, blues and a touch of folk”.

In 2001, singer Janne Schra posted a notice at Utrechts Music College’s message board seeking someone to write songs with. Arriën Molema responded, and Room 11 was born. More members joined over the next few years and the debut album Six White Russians and a Pink Pussycat was released in 2006. Mmm…Gumbo? followed in 2008. Though they acquired numerous fans, toured extensively and performed twice at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Room 11 ultimately disbanded so the members could pursue their individual interests.

The ethereal, pixie-like Janne Schra now performs with a new band under the name Schradinova. Arriën Molema works as a music composer and producer and imports and sells Japanese green tea.

View the Anna Scholz “Meet the Team” video.

Read more about Room 11 and Schradinova.

We just had a photo shoot for the Spring-Summer 2011 collection pieces that will be on the annascholz website next season. We couldn’t resist teasing you with a little sneak preview of Anna’s digital jersey elasticated tunic in the fire flower print. Cool, isn’t it? And our model, Gina, looks as lovely as ever.

We’re very excited and looking forward to spring already.

What do you think of this tunic?

As you all know, we’ve been introducing Anna’s Autumn-Winter 2010 collection to the website over the past few weeks. Anna always gets numerous complements on the way that the models on the website are styled. So we thought we’d give you a little behind-the-scenes peek at the hair and make-up artistry that goes into the photo shoot.  We’ve worked with the lovely and talented Julia Krajnakova for the past several shoots and she was kind enough to share her secrets with us.  I do love it when she gets technical!

Julia and Gina

To create an overall natural look, some of my favourite cosmetic brands are Laura Mercier, By Terry, Chantecaiile, Shu Uemera, Christian Dior and Estee Lauder.

I always start by cleansing and moisturising as a skin prep is important for a natural skin glow. To refresh and clean the skin, I used A Rose Delight, the rose gel cleanser from By Terry. On both Gina and Natalie, I used a light moisturiser from Chantecaille called Flower Harmonizing Cream, suitable for any skin type. I followed it with a primer with sunscreen in colour Beige by Shu Uemura.

On Gina: I started with the water-based foundation no. 763 by Shu Uemera and Estee Lauder’s no. 2 concealer.  I dusted her face with loose-set powders: Poudre Eclat mineral powder with fine pigments and no. 2 skin enhancer, Glowing Rose, both from By Terry. I achieved a slightly bronzed, healthy glow with Laguna bronzer by Nars.  For her cheek colour, I chose a peachy-pink blush from Shu Uemera’s limited edition palette.

For the eye shadow, I went for the Cocoa Rose matte eye colour duo from Laura Mercier; it includes the pale pink colour I used on the eyelids and the deep brown colour blended in the eye creases. To define Gina’s eyes I used Night-Blue gel eyeliner by Shu Uemera and just dotted it along the bottom lashes to create thicker lash line. Her eyebrows I enhanced with the light brown colour from Sebastian’s eyebrow palette.

Only a couple of coats of Long Lash Mascara by Laura Mercier for bringing out the eyelashes. Then I finished off her skin with the fabulous non-sticky Baume De Rose with spf 15 for extra moisture and a sheen of light-reflecting prisms.

Finally, to add definition to Gina’s lips, I used Nuance lip liner by Chantecaille. To add an extra pink colour to the lips I dabbed with my fingers a bit of Laura Mercier’s Camellia shade of lipstick.

On Natalie: I used Laura Mercier’s oil-free moisturising foundation in Toffee Bronze and mixed it with Estee Lauder’s Medium-Deep concealer to get an even skin tone. I then dusted her face with a loose powder in Radiant Beige from By Terry and bronzed all over with YSL no. 4 Iridescent Sun bronzer. To add a bit of pink to Natalie’s cheeks, I applied By Terry’s Blush-Expert in colour Sexy Rose no.1.

On Natalie’s eyes I used mixture of lilac and purple colours. I love the Party Monster lilac eye shadow by Nars. I applied a creamy eyeshadow by Mousson on the inner corners of the eye to give an instant brightening effect. On the outer corners, I blended the deeper purple colour Tanzanite by Chantecaille. Black gel eyeliner by Shu Uemera added extra definition to the eyes and Christian Dior’s Black Out waterproof mascara thickened the lashes. I defined her lips with Impression lip liner by Chantecaille and then applied the pale nude lip colour Promiscuous by Nars.

Throughout the day, I added By Terry’s Lacque de Rose no. 6. purple sheer lip-balm for touch-ups. This colour soon became the signature statement colour of the shoot. By the end of the day, everyone tried some on and we took a photo of the whole team!

clockwise from top left: Naomi, Gina, Natalie, Julia, Nina, Liz, Winnie

All products can be purchased in Selfridges, Liberty and Harrods with By Terry cosmetics available exclusively at Space NK.

Read more about Julia’s craft as a make-up artist on the Julia K Blog

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

The other week I got lost in London…in the middle of Trafalgar Square!

This temporary maze is another example of what London can offer to tourists and locals for free. And whilst walking among the nearly 8-feet-tall hedges, visitors have the opportunity to learn many interesting facts about the capital. What a shame it only lasted a week! How better to spend an hour on a sunny day than to get lost in a fantastical labyrinth and expand your knowledge at the same time?

The only question remains: does it remind you of the adventures of Harry Potter or the scary ending of The Shining?

–Stefanie, pattern cutter

You know we like to share our candids…

No you are not seeing a vision from the future of fashion– you are seeing Liz and Kate in the Anna Scholz studio, modeling their digital jersey pleat dresses that are available to all you forward-thinking fashionistas RIGHT NOW!

We think you’ll agree that Anna’s latest digital print packs a punch and the cool, intricate pleating skims your curves to create a fab hourglass shape.

One of our favourite bloggers, Emma, recently reviewed this dreamy digi-tastic dress for her blog called Oh, The Places You’ll Go! She deemed it slammin’!

“Curvy Girls do NOT have to adhere to rules,” Emma writes. “…If you buy into body shaming pressure and think ‘well, I’m not supposed to wear prints, or colours, or body con…’because of magazines, some idiot on TV or something else…THINK AGAIN.” She goes on to say,”… THIS dress seems to DEFY all those daft rules I dislike so much! Not only is this funky and vibrant – but it is COMFORTABLE too.”

Can I get an Amen?!

To read more of Emma’s reviews of the Anna Scholz Autumn-Winter 2010 collection, visit her blog, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!