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The plus side of bold design

Anna Scholz takes a walk on the wild side with a collection that

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By Andrea Byrne
Sunday Jan 18 2009

What makes plus-sized fashion designer Anna Scholz the most successful of her kind is her refreshing and non-discriminatory approach.

She designs from a purely fashion perspective, rather than just putting together a collection that caters for big sizes. The German-born, London-based designer is not afraid to experiment with pattern, fabric or cut and doesn't feel plus-sized women should be restricted as to which styles they wear. Take this season's key trend: the one-shouldered dress. People would presume that women larger than a size 14 shouldn't wear such an item. Not Anna. "It's quite daring. Usually, we tend to sell our sleeveless dresses with a little shrug to give people the option to cover up their arms. But with this one-shouldered dress, I just thought, 'sod it', and we have sold it really well."

Today, Anna is accompanied by Aimee Casey, owner of Style Plus boutique. Aimee was the first retailer to bring Anna's collection to Ireland and up until this season, she was the only one. At a time when fashion boutiques are closing down at an alarming rate, Aimee has just opened her second boutique in Oranmore, Galway -- such is the demand for her service.

Six feet tall, full-figured, immaculately turned-out and wonderfully gregarious, Anna Scholz is a walking advocate for her brand. She's wearing a tight-fitting, plunge-neck black dress -- her swooping decolletage is hard to avoid. Admittedly, she's all on for showing a bit of flesh. Mid interview, she playfully mocks Aimee's modesty in choosing to wear a vest under her dress.

Things are going well for Anna at the moment: her mail-to-order collection for Simply Be, which includes everything from bedding to lingerie to swimwear, is a massive success, while her own line is reporting a 40 per cent increase in sales.

Anna's talent as a designer is reflected in her long list of celebrity clients, which includes Macy Gray, Gabrielle, Alison Moyet, Dawn French, Roseanne Barr, Queen Latifah and singer-of-the-moment Adele.

She studied fashion design at Central St. Martins in London and was the only student in her graduate class to produce a plus-sized collection. A decade on, and things haven't changed too much. "I have been in business for 12 years and I thought, by now, at least, I would have had a lot more competition. But it is a little bit more difficult and challenging than doing straight sizes, because you can't just get skinny models to walk down a catwalk and make anything look beautiful. A lot of people don't even have big women on their radar. They don't think of them as being anything to do with fashion. They think it's an older customer who doesn't go out, who doesn't enjoy life," she says with a pronounced German inflection.

When she first started her eponymous label, she was met with resistance from buyers, who couldn't quite understand, never mind appreciate, what it was she was trying to do. "The traditional plus-sized boutique liked the layered look -- everything big and oversized. They didn't know what I was doing at all. It was too fashionable, too modern."

In the past two years, however, there has been a positive shift in public opinion. Plus-sized women are getting new-found airtime. The fashion world is realising their worth, recognising that, as Anna puts it: "There's a lot of money to be made!" Perhaps, it has to do with the advent of programmes such as Gok Wan's How to Look Good Naked and more recently Miss Naked Beauty. In one episode, some of the contestants managed to convince senior management in Debenhams to use a plus-sized mannequin in the shop window.

As Anna Scholz matures as a designer, her collection has got noticeably younger. "I don't feel I need to be so safe anymore, that I have to produce the bread and butter pieces. I don't think about it as much. I think more about having fun with my collection. I want to enjoy it. I want to have bright prints. I want to do a gold leather jacket, and if only 10 people buy it, I don't care, because I enjoy it. Now that we're a bit more financially secure, I can actually afford to do some pieces like that," she says.

Her Spring/Summer 2009 collection, which is available in sizes 12 to 26, is representative of this new-found freedom and fun. It's wildly colourful -- lots of green, pinks and coral. Prints are big and bold. Fabrics are typically luxurious. You'll find everything from halterneck maxis to embellished kaftans to functional summer trench coats.

In terms of advice, Anna says: "People need to learn how to experiment with their shape a bit more. It's about enjoying fashion," adding: "For everyone to aspire to be a blonde, thin thing is just boring."

- Andrea Byrne