Each week DailyVenusDiva.com interviews curvy fashion companies and designers. The goal is for you to get to know theses designers and companies as well as find out what inspires them to look their curvy best by adapting trends and timeless classics into their wardrobe. Today’s spotlight designer is Emma Plus Ltd.
Share Your Name: Emma Hayes
Company Name: Emma Plus Ltd
Website Address: www.emmaplus.co.uk
In Business Since: 1990
Sizes You Carry: UK size 20 to 34
In your opinion, to be fashion forward this season, what are the one or two must-have trend pieces all women should have in their wardrobe?
Of course, there are a number of answers to this question. Depending on a woman’s body shape, taste and personal style, these items will vary. An example of a must-have piece would be, for this autumn/winter, a shorter-length smart-casual day dress. This year, many of these dresses are high waisted with drape, and are often made from jersey. This is a great item which is very versatile, and can be worn with opaque tights, boots or even leggings. We’ve recently had such a dress in from Italian collection Marina Rinaldi, with soft draping from the neck, pulled in just below the bust. It comes in black or wine.
Another of this season’s particular looks is the luxe knit. This would be, for example, a gorgeous, soft cashmere, like the German Sallie Sahne cashmere animal-print twinsets we are stocking at the moment, which come in grey and black.
What is one timeless piece all women must have in their wardrobe without fail?
There are some eternal must-have items that every woman will always need (for instance, the little black evening dress, and the tailored suit)… pieces which are always there in the wardrobe, yet which must be updated every few years. A really good suit, bought from a super designer, will be very fashion forward, and will look relevant for quite some time. However, eventually it will start to look pase, and its owner will seek to update with the latest look. This season, tailored suits have a sharper edge, with more pointed shoulders and crisp revers, and a fitted silhouette. The classic black evening dress is also updated: at the moment it is short, with shoulder or bust detail, a high waist and drape. We have some wonderful examples from the British designer range, Anna Scholz (see picture). This crepe dress is high waisted, with a drape detail at the neck.
I also think that everyone needs a really good coat. A short, soft, yet warm coat is a must, and a particularly good one for this season is another Anna Scholz treasure, this alpaca striped one .
Are there really any fashion no-no’s?
Personally, I think it is absolutely essential for every woman to try items on before purchasing, and if they do not fit properly, ensure that they can be made to fit with alterations, if necessary. I absolutely hate to see a mis-fitting item on any woman, but particularly on a larger woman, where the bad fit can emphasise a part of her figure that would make her uncomfortable or insecure.
What is your favorite piece of style advice and who did you learn it from?
It isn’t advice: it is observation. I recently went to the Grace Kelly Style exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where they were showing some of Princess Grace of Monaco’s dresses. In the main, her dresses were superb: however I realised that many of her dresses, in real life, look either frumpy or quite ugly. Yet set beside each item of clothing were photographs of her actually wearing the garments, looking radiantly beautiful and effortlessly stylish. I felt quite humbled and I realised that if you really know how to work a style (and she did, from the tip of her wonderful hairstyle, through her clever choice of jewels, bags, gloves, shoes or any other accessory), you can create a look that is unique and lovely. I also realised that she had the ability to recognise something that I (even after a lifetime of working in fashion) cannot see in certain garments. Genius.
Tell us about an outfit that you own that makes you feel drop-dead-gorgeous.
I have an Anna Scholz cobalt-blue full-length dress and jacket, which I feel gorgeous in. It shows a little more decolotage than I am used to displaying: so much the better for that. To be taken slightly out of your usual look, and moved into a more glamorous, sexy image, is very good for the soul. I have attached a picture of myself wearing the dress (on the right), with my store manager Jaq, who is also wearing an Anna Scholz dress…we were going out to a party!
Who inspires you?
Every season I go to fashion shows and I see the new collections. I am so incredibly inspired by the way the designers create such gorgeous looks, combining silhouette, fabric, colour and fit, to move fashion forward. I am inspired by all those designers working in the field of plus-size fashion.
What’s your favorite quote or personal life philosophy
I love the words of the song:
She can wait if she wants; she is ahead of her time,
She never gives out, and she never gives in,
She just changes her mind…
You could say this is the matra of the fashion store owner!
You can visit Emma Plus Limited on her blog www.emmaplus.co.uk/forum or on Twitter: emmaplus
Editor-In-Chief, Stephanie Penn-Danforth -- Daily Venus Diva.
Oh Steph, this was brilliant. Thanks to this feature I discovered EmmaPlus and what an amazing line she has.
I love that she caters up to the larger sizes.
I do wear a 22/24 but most stores stop at 24 and depending on the fabric I might need an extra size bigger.
EmmaPlus rocks and I know she will become a bigger success with each passing day.
Loved this designer feature.
Curvy kisses.
Olga
Hi Steph!
Thank you so much for this feature…which I hope will help to forward the progress of plus-size fashion.
I feel that there are so many gorgeous designs and talented designers out there, and so many women who long to know about what is available in plus-size. It’s wonderful that you are bringing them together!
Please keep up the good work!
Emma,
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and experience with the readers of DailyVenusDiva.com. We really appreciate everything that you do.
We have an exciting update…one of our major national newspapers in the UK has created a competition to find the best independent fashion store, and we have been nominated.
If any readers of the fabulous Daily Venus Diva have seen what we do, and would like to support us in succeeding with the award, we would be so grateful if they would vote on http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/7992321/Telegraph-Magazine-The-Best-Small-Shops-in-Britain-2010.html . Just to remind everyone of our details, we are Emma Plus, Church Street, Brighton.
It would be such a positive thing for a plus-size boutique to get some coveted recognition for once!
Emma,
You have my vote, and count us in for anything you may need. Wishing you the very best.
Curvy hugs,
Olga