My pistachio jumpsuit

Hello and how's tricks? This week I'm featuring my new (to me) jumpsuit from & Other Stories, bought from Vinted for £30. I've checked out their website and found one similar for £125 see here. I'm particularly pleased with this purchase due to the great quality of both the fabric and the construction. The fabric is a lovely weighty drape (polyester, viscose and elastane), quite thick too and holds its shape really well. I wore it for the first time here which was for our last drinks party of the season. Afterwards I joined the team at the pub for a celebratory drink and noted later how well the jumpsuit looked after sitting down in it for an hour - hardly a crease in it and no bagging at the knees either.

Rachel and I have hosted these Wednesday night gatherings since the spring with only a short break over July and August and it was with a feeling of a good job done that we rallied for the last time before we closed for the winter. Note that we are so in tune we didn't even have to send a memo about the colour theme for our photo shoot.

Another aspect of this outfit that particularly pleased me was the wonderfully matchy-matchy suede trainers, again found on Vinted (ASOS is the brand) and worn for the first time here too. I bought these at different times and couldn't believe how well they sat together. My usual ploy would be to choose my footwear in the same colour as my accessories but I love the leg lengthening effect of keeping it all in the same colourway.

Once again I'm showcasing my fabulous velour knitted bag here with its brooch by one of our jewellers, Caroline Kelly Foreman. I thought the use of orange as my secondary colour was a great choice. I replaced the jumpsuit belt too for an orange leather one, old, and my perspex necklace from over a decade ago makes yet another appearance along with an orange resin ring and silver scribble ring by another of our jewellers, Emily Nixon.

I've been itching to show you my new winter coat and here it is at last! The pea green cotton velvet coat is by White Stuff and came from Vinted at the cost of £30. You've no idea how much I love this coat already. Let me show you it on...

Isn't it cute? And doesn't it work beautifully with this outfit too? As hobbies go, this one of mine really does give me immense joy which surely is what it's all about. This dressing up for work and play is my passion and hopefully my joy becomes yours too as you join me week by week to see me ring the changes. Thank you so much for dropping by and I look forward to catching up again soon!

                                                                        Anna x

Another blast of colour!

Hello-ha! How are you? As you can see, I'm still holding on to my summer colours and my only concession to autumn is that I'm wearing tights. You'll have seen everything before, apart from my rather fabulous new handbag...

My hand knitted velour handbag is a recent find from Vinted, costing a mere £15! Being orange meant pretty much love at first sight. It's always exciting when parcels arrive and this was part of a rather large influx last week. At this stage I feel it might be fitting for me to say "Hi, my name's Anna and I'm an insomniac shopper!" 

Honestly, I have these spells when I fall into an online retail vortex and can't escape until I feel replete. Currently, I'm over the latest episode, until the next time of course... 

Anyway on to the handbag. When it arrived I discovered that it really would have benefitted from two handles as it didn't hang straight. Customising was the only answer and so started my endeavours to fix it as best I could. The result is that it now hangs fine and looks even more quirky. I threaded a gold chain through the handle and clipped it off to one side to stabilise the balance. The resulting gape in the stitches was covered by my Carmen Miranda brooch.

The tweed shorts co-ord is from Primark, bought last year and the boots are old too, from the MOMA shop, but found on Vinted. Sunglasses are from Radley London. The ruffle front blouse was also a Vinted buy and the orange tights are from Snag.

As you can tell, as long as the sun keeps shining I'll be wheeling out another burst of colour for you. The end of the season is fast approaching so I'll be snapping away at my outfits of the day to store up for the dark autumn days in the hope of spreading some joy via the blog.

I'll add another shot of this from a previous week, taken in the Gallery this time - I think it shows up the vibrancy of the outfit much better. Different accessories and top, but that's only what you'd expect of me isn't it?

Somehow I feel much more in context within the workplace. I may be a bit flamboyant, but against this colourful backdrop it all seems pretty normal eh? My wearable art ties in my surroundings as I'm often told.

                                                            Anna x

Primark trouser suit

This is my outfit of the week, a Primark trouser suit that I've had for almost a year now but rarely worn. Initially that was because the trousers were too long and I finally got around to altering those in the spring when I was having my sewing moment. Thereafter I wasn't terribly inspired by the two piece simply because it was a) very plain and b) quite boxy in shape giving a masculine outline. 

Anyway, I've recently aired it a couple of times and haven't exactly fallen in love with it, but am trying my best to convince myself that it deserves to be worn. What do you think?

I feel that the citrus colours work really well together making the whole outfit pop which is a point in its favour. I've worn my orange and lime Dr Martens to add a funky edge too.

I bought this fabulous brooch especially to add as a permanent feature to the suit as I feel it really does lift it out of the ordinary. The maker is Caroline Kelly Foreman, one of the jewellers we stock at Gallery Tresco - you can see the full range of her work on her instagram page here. Caroline works in recycled aluminium and resin to great effect and sells through her Etsy shop too.

So what do you think of this outfit of the day? Is it a tangerine dream? The jury's out on my part and I'd love to have your opinion to help me decide if this is a keeper. I probably didn't help myself by wearing this on one of the hottest days of the year! The lime green (shows up as more lemon here) Primark bodysuit acted as a second skin, one that got hotter and hotter as the day went on... 

                                                                        Anna x