Pretty in Pink, our Style Challenge for September

Hello and welcome to our monthly Style Not Age Challenge! We're back again and this month my style sisters and I are all Pretty in Pink, thanks to the theme choice from yours truly. I've recently purchased this glorious pink frock from Hush - it's called Kloe and is still in the sale here. I've been having a pink moment, searching for the perfect pink trouser suit which then led me to find this loose and airy summer dress which is an absolute joy to wear. More of that later, but first, let's catch up with the others shall we?

Jacqui from Mummbstylish has been shopping recently too, buying these fab pink trousers and animal print shirt, both from M&S. Such a cool look! 

Gail from Is This Mutton has embraced the pink theme completely. It turns out that pink is her favourite colour and therefore wasn't too hard for her to find in her wardrobe. Those metallic pink boots are right up my street! 

And here's Style Splash's Emma sporting the most fabulous dose of pink! The trousers and jacket pulled together make the most pretty trouser suit indeed leaving me green with envy.

Hilda has brought out an old faithful pink coat for this month's challenge. The maroon handbag and pale pink are a very pretty pairing aren't they? See more on her blog Over The Hilda. 

This was me, last Monday on the beach just below The Old Blockhouse Castle on Tresco. We'd had a lovely run of Indian Summer weather making my day off perfect for this photo shoot. I've been wearing this lovely pink dress to work at least once a week since I bought it about a month ago. I'm smitten with the bright fuchsia colour as well as the flounced shape. The fabric is Hemp, making it cool and yet not flimsy; I usually wear an underskirt if the fabric is very see-through, but that's not necessary with this dress. 

I love the self-coloured spots too.

Colour therapy at its best is how I see this kind of dressing. It gets me lots of compliments, but more importantly it makes me feel happy and self-confident. As you know I primarily dress for myself and it's a bonus if that earns approval from friends or family. As I said I've been searching for the ultimate pink trouser suit ever since I saw the gorgeous Louise Minchin on Breakfast TV wearing a rather fabulous version. I've found a similar suit on the ME+EM website - see it here. Stocks of this are low due to it being in the sale and I've ended up ordering the jacket and trousers in different sizes which may be a stupid idea. I'll let you know how that pans out...

Lots of lovely pink accessories here today. The pink Candy Bag gets aired whenever I can justify it and this was the perfect excuse! Pink pre-loved rings and a pink and silver bangle from a girlfriend all add to the pink lusciousness of the look. My silver hooped necklace was from Melissa James at Gallery Tresco and sits perfectly in this neckline, don't you think? And last, but my no means least, are my long-term favourite Quay Australia sunglasses.

 

Another joyful purchase from this summer has been these floral Converse boots. They're super comfy thanks to a cushioned insole, and of course they're just the most pretty pair of shoes I have at the moment. Paired with this flamboyant frock the whole effect is pure fun.

As usual, you'll find me hanging on to summer here on the blog. I've got another lovely summer frock to share with you next time taken during the recent balmy golden weather, so please do drop by again soon.

I hope you've enjoyed this month's challenge and that you'll find time to check out the blogs of my fashionable friends too.

                                                                    Anna x

The year of the trouser suit

Hello my lovely readers. How are you today? I do hope you're feeling better than me currently. The photos belie the fact that I'm in the middle of a horrible head cold. I'm surrounded by tissues, paracetamol and throat lozenges as I wallow in self pity. To be perfectly honest I'm really lucky that I hardly ever get colds, but when I do I always feel that it must be worse than anyone else.

Steve took these shots on Sunday during the lovely sunny spell and when I was feeling pretty sunny-natured myself. He steps into the roll of photographer when he can and we always bicker back and forth as I boss him about. My laughing face is preferable to my resting face that's for sure, so I'm happy to have the banter. 

Anyway, this is the year of the trouser suit according to me with this one being the second I'm sharing with you. The first was the glorious pink version I wore on Mother's Day, see here. The white and black checked suit is from Primark, bought separately and as far as I can recall it cost about £30. The fabric is man made and is a summer weight so I expect you'll be seeing it again later with sandals and a colourful tee shirt. Today I'm sporting a simple white tee from Dorothy Perkins from many moons ago.

I'm a big fan of the trend for paper bag top trousers and find them very forgiving with the post lunch tummy syndrome. Sitting high on the waist then that frill plus bow they distract the eye from any secrets that may lie beneath. 

I have a very small weight tolerance allowance which in normal speak means that I only allow 7lbs as my personal fluctuation limit. At the top of that range I'm fat and at the bottom I'm thin. Feel free to call me crazy, but after years of struggling with my weight I've found that this tightening of the belt as it were keeps me on an even keel. Currently I'm at the top of that range, but today in the midst of this head cold I've fallen into that old adage of "Feed a cold, starve a fever". The fruit bowl is my sofa companion - a shrunken satsuma and two wrinkled apples are all that's left.

I chose contemporary silver jewellery to compliment this crisp simple look - silver and onyx rings (old) along with silver chain by Melissa James and my favourite sunglasses from Quay Australia. 

I was torn between wearing my white kitten heel boots or these pink sock boots (from H&M) and decided that pink just added a bit of pizzazz to the outfit. They weren't ideal for traipsing across the boardwalk here though. Steve poked fun at my footwear not being quite the thing for the big outdoors and yes, he was right - this is gallery garb! 

Thanks for your company while I wrote this today. I had to drag myself off the sofa and think of something other than my scratchy throat, runny nose and outbursts of sneezes while I challenged my brain to write a few words. I'll be back on Monday with the Style Not Age Collective as we take on "Pastels". That had me stumped for a while then I remembered a lovely pastel offering for you all. Steve and I had a laugh with the photo shoot for this one too. In fact I can't wait to show you!

Until then, have a great week!

Anna x

Fluffy, feathery dress

Yes, here I am doing my own thing again, all the while thinking how much I miss Polly and her photographic skills. But I know she's not missing me. And why can I be so sure of that? Because today Polly is flying to New York for eight days holiday with her boyfriend. She promises to send me some snaps, but won't that just make me even more envious? New York is most definitely on my bucket list - what about you?

This was the backdrop that I wanted to have for this photo shoot, but as you can see the light wasn't working for this direction. Such are the compromises that must be made when you're working alone, ho hum! Anyway, it was a gorgeous sunny day when I took this and you have to agree that the view is pretty lovely isn't it? This is taken from my front garden which faces the island of Bryher - not too shabby eh?

I've worn this shaggy mini dress before, well quite a long time ago - it was the star of a Ping Pong Post many moons ago (see here). The excitement of these wonderful boots has me rooting around in my wardrobe trying to find a new outfit created from something old. I'm chasing a look, a feel, and as yet it's eluded me. But in the meantime, I'm having fun trying things on, testing how it all feels.

I even put a lovely little montage of accessories together from which I was hoping to build my perfect tartan showcase outfit, but the main features eluded me. All of the jewellery is charity shopped and of course, you'll remember my fabulous Candy Bag by Furla. If you know of something I've forgotten, something that would make these boots sing, then do feel free to prompt me!

The mustard Zara cords (see here) were bought with the idea that they would be the right thing, but somehow they miss the sweet spot.

But. Back to the outfit in hand. This is fine, don't you think? I was really pleased to dig out a teal pair of tights from the depths to compliment the feathery, fluffy dress, disguising the mini-ness of it. For those of you who don't know the island you'll see the gallery is just a stone's throw behind me as I do a little shimmy here in my front yard. My commute kills me some mornings!

My old faithful sunglasses from Quay Australia compliment the striped top and I chose some pre-loved rings to go with my silver chain necklace by Melissa James. 

Today's photo shoot did actually have a musical accompaniment as there was a band playing at the New Inn (just some 25 metres away). I jigged and shimmied about in my front yard, stopping and starting whenever someone went past. It was a Sunday afternoon Jazz session which went down a treat with everyone, including me.

Stop the press! I forgot to include this shot of my lovely friend Sheila who wore the sister (aka more groomed) version of my dress on her blog recently (see here), but be warned - Sheila's weekend posts require a cup of tea and a very comfy chair as they are mighty big!

Last weekend we had an island wedding and fingers crossed, I hope to share some photos of it with you as an extra post on Friday. I just need to double check with the bride that she's happy to be featured, so do pop back to see how that unfolds. And on the 19th of this month I have another special post coming up with an offer that you might not want to miss...

In the meantime, have a lovely week!

Anna x