Homage to Iris, our Style Not Age challenge for March




Earlier this month the designer, decorator and style icon, Iris Apfel died at the age of 102, leaving behind a wealth of imagery to inspire the fashion lovers amongst us. Her viewpoint that "colour can raise the dead" sums up her dedication to powerful dressing. Iris enjoyed finding a bargain and never paid full price for her clothes or jewellery, trawling shops, flea markets and bazaars for unique pieces to add to her immense collection. To quote the Guardian Obituary, "She is the most decorative sight in each shot, her ensembles put together with complex cadenzas atop an underlying, tailored, structure - they are like jazz - not a statement, but a conversation."




A chestful of jewellery was her most favoured look and one that I've taken to heart for this month's challenge. I felt I simply had to choose Iris as our theme this month for all the right reasons. She stated that money couldn't buy personal style - according to her all that mattered is "attitude, attitude, attitude". Curating her clothes and improvising an outfit was her daily ritual, a joy, resulting in a 'zingy pzazz' unlike any other. 




I love Hilda's interpretation of this month's theme - I'm sure Iris would have approved too! The colourful shirt is fabulous adorned with bangles, beads and baubles in excess. See more from Hilda on her blog here. 




Another splash of colour in these citrus brights comes from Gail in her sporty homage to Iris. Catch up with all the latest from Gail on her blog Is This Mutton? 




Jacqui has taken a monochrome twist for her homage to Iris. Beads and bangles inject that signature pzazz to her dress and boots combo. See Mummabstylish for Jacqui's latest news.




Emma is sporting her Iris Apfel suit from the H&M collaboration (which I too proudly own) plus matching slippers topped with a fabulous jacket and Iris earrings. What a fitting homage to the Queen of Style! Emma carries the look off with true panache. See more on her blog The Style Splash. 




I bought this new suit with today's feature in mind as the colours and pattern are as bold as you get. Purchased on Vinted for the bargain basement price of £10 I thought it tied in with Iris's shopping philosophy too. 




The leather boots were also Vinted bargains at only £6 leaving me feel rather pleased with myself. I only managed to wear them for a few hours, but I felt they were essential to finish off the outfit.




Dressing fancy and fancy dress could so easily be confused, but hopefully I don't cross that line with my outfit of the day. I wore this to work last week to our first Timeshare drinks party and it did garner me some compliments rather than raised eyebrows.




I'm currently waiting for my copy of the book Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverant Iris Apfel and can't wait to feast my eyes on her exuberantly idiosyncratic style. 
 I was a latecomer to her fan club, but she epitomised all that I aspire to be - bold, bright with I-couldn't-care-less-what-you-think-of-me style where age is totally irrelavant to how one ought to dress. Every photo of her spoke of her joy in dressing up for the day, the pleasure to be had in mixing colours, fabrics and textures, no matter from what era or corner of the globe. I admired her strength, her self-knowledge and complete disregard to the self limiting rules of dressing. She truly was an inspiration and an icon. 

                                                                        Anna x

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Most loved outfit of the week




Hi there! How are you doing? Did you watch much of the TV coverage of the Coronation this weekend? I did. I watched the entire thing on Saturday and then enjoyed the concert this morning as I was doing some hand sewing. It's been a really uplifting time; makes me proud to be British. 




So, this was my most loved outfit of the week at work last week. I received so many lovely compliments on this trouser suit. Hurrah for the Iris Apfel and H&M collaboration of a year ago! This is probably only about my 6th time of wearing the (almost famous) Pea Pod Trouser Suit, but every time I do, I try to mix things up so that the accessories are different giving it a fresh look. This time I've popped on my Frida Kahlo tee shirt which has the same aqua colour as the suit and looked pretty fab, I must admit. The other addition are my new boots from MOMO in New York, recently bought on Vinted. They were brand new, with the labels on, and I saved $200 buying them second hand - result!




The tiny patch of aqua on the toe of the left boot was all it took for me to know that these would be a dream pairing, well that plus the ornate design and little pearls too. I'm thrilled to have these in my shoe collection. They are made from old sari's which appeals to me for its recycling.




The pearl belt is my go-to piece to wear with the suit, simply to match the pearl pea pods. I found it on Amazon and think it was a great buy. I've layered up necklaces, three this time, along with bangles and rings in turquoise and aqua. You'll probably recognise my old favourite sunglasses by Quay Australia too.




On the home front, I've spent most of the Bank Holiday weekend sewing. I'm all a bit OCD about this latest hobby of mine. I've nearly completed my second linen dress, this time in aqua, but am being held up waiting for interfacing to finish the neckline. It's all very frustrating as I know how easy it would be to find this in a shop on the high street if I lived on the mainland, but hey ho, such is island life! In the meantime, I'm finding lots of alterations I can do now which is quite exciting. I'm not sure if the word alteration is a bit grand as sometimes these are more along the lines of a botch job, but mostly they're wearable which is all that matters.




My lovely husband coined a great phrase about me recently, saying I was born audition ready as I appeared in yet another over-the-top work outfit. I love his total acceptance of my need for all that's glitz and glamour. I recounted this to a friend who visited me at work the other day when she said I looked as if I was about to go on stage! The gallery surely acts as my everyday stage, hahaha.




Thanks for swinging by and I do hope you have a great week ahead!

Anna x

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Ready to party...




Hello lovelies, and how are you? Today's blog features a dry run for an upcoming party. Steve and I have been invited to join a gathering for a surprise party on the mainland on Friday and this is one of my possible outfits. I'm not sure how dressed up this party will be and can't decide if I'm wanting to be too 'out there' amongst lots of people, some of whom may not know me or my penchant for dressing up. 




Is it just me who feels more confident on home ground? Or even simply with friends? On Tresco I'm known for my over the top dressing and often have people drop in to the Gallery just to see what my outfit of the day is. It's an easy talking point and a great lead-in to more in depth conversations. In some ways, this suit could be an ice breaker at the party, but it also might backfire if I'm seen as an old bird (heck, I am 64 after all) doing the proverbial mutton dressed as lamb thing.




Anyway, to the outfit - this is my (almost famous) pea-pod suit, a gem of a find from H&M in the spring of this year. In case you missed the reveal of this you can read the post here. Over the months I've had readers of my blog and Instagram followers turn up at the Gallery requesting that I wear my suit sometime during their stay - how lovely that is! And thank goodness, it has never failed to please and even astonish. I've never had so many compliments in response to an outfit, even from men! In fact, it seems that the dapper nature of the trouser suit is what's so eye-catching for the menfolk.




I've glammed up the suit by adding a sequinned vest and bejewelled belt along with silver high heeled boots. But maybe I'm guilty of trying too hard? In my head, the word party does mean pushing the boat out and this is my boat well and truly out!




I leave Tresco on Thursday and will be packing my bag in the morning. I would have liked to showcase some other party options but I've been busy this weekend doing my big six monthly clothes changeover and still haven't quite finished. The good news is that this ensemble is close at hand. The bad news is that my confidence levels are dropping as time goes by. One less jazzy outfit I'm considering is this one - see here - a Joe Browns dress. And another is this one - see here - another trouser suit, but much less bling. 




So, here's where you come into play... Please send me your thoughts - drop me a line in the comments box below as to which of these three outfits you would suggest I wear, or anything else you've seen on the blog. This far, I only know that the venue is within a pub, although not the actual pub itself. I know I'd be happy to wear my pea pod suit here on Tresco in our local pub, but beyond that I'm not sure at all. And on a purely practical point, I am more than a little worried that something dire may happen to my precious pea pod suit, like someone spills a glass of red wine on me or I sit on some chewing gum in the taxi. Have I just persuaded myself not to venture off island with my beloved Iris Apfel ensemble or am I missing the opportunity to showcase this spectacular outfit beyond the shores of home? 

                                                                                  Anna x

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Friday is fun day!




Hello again! This was my work outfit from Friday, hence the handbag-on-the-beach situation which might appear odd otherwise. Fiona and I wandered off to find a quiet corner for the photoshoot, ending up here on Cradle Porth our favourite swimming beach. It was pretty much low tide so we made our way across the sandbar down to the water's edge first of all.  We found ourselves in the teeth of the wind, but the backdrop is pretty idyllic you have to agree.




Just in case you've missed the back story to my over-the-top trouser suit you can see it here. I'm planning on wearing the amazing get-up once a week to showcase it and share the love for this most amazing bit of tailoring. The feedback is wonderful and creates lots of opportunity to share the tale of my luck in securing such a fabulous two piece.




This week's variation has the joyful addition of a satin blouse which my daughter gave to me last month. It's from Zara although I can't seem to find it on their website now. The pink colour isn't an obvious partner to the aqua suit and yet it does have accents in this same shade. I put the two things together as they lay on the bed and it was a beautiful "this works!" moment.




My recent extravagance hasn't stopped at the trouser suit. I've treated myself to this gemstone necklace with silver and gold cowrie shells. It's from a range by jeweller (Julian Warrender) that we stock in Gallery Tresco and it really caught my eye as the sea colour of the gemstones were such a great match for the suit. How could I resist? Both the necklace and trouser suit are investment pieces which at my time of life seem more important than ever. I shall cherish them both while making  point of wearing them regularly throughout whatever remains of my working life.




My other new tweak to the ensemble is this rather lovely pearl belt which is another thing of joy. I found it on Amazon. The rest of my jewellery is old, including the modesty brooch which might have to be a permanent fixture on this low neck blouse. My sunglasses are old favourites from Quay Austalia.




My Replay trainers (from TK Maxx) are still looking smart and are soooo comfy, all day comfort in fact. The River Island handbag (second hand) is a great choice for this outfit with lots of embroidery in gold and aqua. 




My weekend has been a mixture of work and play. I've been helping renovate some of the woodwork on our boat - simple painting and varnishing jobs that I can't really mess up while Steve is dealing with more major things like replacing the floor and fixing outboard engines. We are very late to be doing all of this, but our lives are always seem to be this way. On Sunday Sasha and I spent the afternoon on the beach. We went to Rushy Porth on Tresco, otherwise known to locals as Borough Beach. After a while I remembered to slap on some sun cream, but by bedtime I discovered how haphazard that had been. I've got sunburnt patches on my legs, one knee, both shoulders and even a random patch on one foot - honestly I ought to know better!




Anyway, that's pretty much it for this week. I do hope you won't tire of seeing this suit over the months ahead, although I do think I'll restrict it to only the odd time when a variation merits showcasing. In the meantime I'll leave you with some beach shots from yesterday on sunny ol' Tresco.








Wishing you a great week ahead!

Anna x

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7 years of blogging




Hello and welcome to this celebratory post! I can't quite believe that it's seven years since I took up blogging and yet here I am reveling in my self promotion and the excuse to dress up for no other reason than that I want to. If you're a regular you'll recall my recent post Inspired by Iris Apfel. Well, much to my amazement, I somehow have pulled it off and managed to buy the longed-for suit as worn by Iris in the advert (see here). 




On the launch date of the H&M collection I was off-island and unable to get online to join the queue of fashionistas all keen to purchase their own favourite piece. My best friend Bo who lives in Portugal stepped up to join the race on my behalf. She managed to buy the trousers through the Portuguese H&M website which was no small feat. By the time she had posted them off to me I was home again and had fallen prey to Covid. 




Some five days into the virus I had to go online to pay my water bill and then had the idea that I maybe ought to check out eBay just in case the jacket had surfaced there. My first find was a size 16 version which was currently being bid by 6 hopefuls, raising the price to £533...




I continued with my search and found a jacket in a 12, (brand new with the labels still attached) newly listed with 6 days to run and no bids as yet. I had a few minutes to consider if I ought to wait to bid on the last day, pitching it at what I hoped to be the right price. But, really I knew I couldn't risk missing it. So I bit the bullet and clicked the Buy it Now option. I've not had a moment of regret at paying over the odds for what is my dream suit. It is a thing of beauty, a thing of joy and probably the most exquisite outfit I own. I love it and I deserve it.










In homage to Iris I'm wearing more than one necklace again, but have toned it down slightly this time. There's nothing new here, just a few second hand bangles and various pre-loved rings too. My sunglasses are old, from Radley London.




I bought these pristine new Replay trainers from TK Maxx recently once I knew I'd secured the whole trouser suit - I love the simplicity of the white tee and shoes which contrast perfectly against the ornately embroidered and pearl laden suit. The pea pod pearls are divine, don't you think?






And here's another beautiful touch to the design - the 100 year symbol combined with the glasses the style icon wears. 








Anyway, here's the icing on the cake of my 7th blogging anniversary -




The first outing of this most exquisite two piece was last night when Steve and I were invited to join Johnnie Walker (DJ legend of our times) and his wife Tiggy to their Eurovision party. We were in a small party of six at one of the Sea Garden cottages on Tresco where we enjoyed a running buffet of Tapas and local fare with lots of liquid refreshments. Johnnie wore his Sergeant Pepper shirt and I must admit I'm inclined to call my suit by the same name, although pea pod suit does have a nice ring to it ...




The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that I had changed into a pale aqua top and turned up the jacket sleeves. If I'd been able to try on the jacket in store I might have chosen a smaller size, but beggars can't be choosers can they? So I'm sporting this as an over-sized jacket as if I planned it that way. To be perfectly honest I see this as a true collectors item. I totally love it and feel it's totally me in fabric form. 




We had a brilliant evening, much aided by great company and the spectacularly welcome result for Sam Ryder for Great Britain. Every time I put on this suit it will evoke happy memories of the night we partied to Eurovision with Johnnie Walker and co!

And finally. No blog post of mine would be complete with out the obligatory photo-bombers...




And what about this bit of visual trickery? See how I launch this bird from my hand to fly off overhead -




And that's it. My 7th year of blogging and I'm still enjoying sharing my island life with you. Please do take a minute to say hi in the comments box if you'd like to share your thoughts about this or any of my posts - I'd love to hear from you.


See you soon!

Anna x

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