Brogue love

Winter can surely be no better time to show you some brogue love. These beauties are from Office and must be about two years old, but are still in great condition. I clean, polish and buff my shoes before storing them in the box which helps to keep them ship shape until next time. (Does that make me goody-two shoes or just OCD?)

I've dragged these photos out of my draftbox, where they've languished for months. This may have been the last photo shoot Polly and I did together before she took her leave for another winter. And now it's just a matter of six weeks until she'll be back in my employ - hooray! Of course I see her all the time - she's working just along the road in the local grocery shop - but it will be lovely to have her in the gallery, buzzing about, getting things ready for another season.

The Michael Kors jacket isn't new either and yet really came into its own when I was in London recently. In fact, there seemed to be a bit of a trend with these studded and even pearl adorned jackets, although mine was bought two years ago. Good 'ol MK was surely the trendsetter and it's taken two years to catch up with him!

The skirt and blouse are both pre-loved; the skirt from Primark, the blouse from H&M, rings are also pre-loved, Tiffany silver necklace was a find in a charity shop in Ireland, tights are very old and sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

Black, red and grey are the simplest of combinations to play around with. I have a red tartan skirt that I could have swapped in, replacing the tights with a plain black pair and still have the same visually interesting outfit. Another combo could be my red sweater and leather pencil skirt with the tartan tights, but maybe that would need some high heels to balance things out. 

And sure, I really just ought to have shown you all of these permutations, but that would have required some forward planning and to be perfectly honest, I'm just flying by the seat of my pants at the moment. So much so, that if the weather doesn't sort it self out at the weekend, I'll be delving even deeper into my draft box to find something else to amuse you.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with some brogue love. These ones are pewter, but Office have the black version on sale now - here, so go! Hurry, before you miss them!

Anna x

Happy New Year!

Hello and welcome to 2017. I hope you're not too groggy after a big night of celebrating, and if you are, may I suggest dark glasses, a mega dose of vitamin C, lots of fluids and a nap as soon as possible. A week away from the blog, and to a lesser degree from social media too, has done me the power of good. The pressures of delivering the perfect Christmas are challenging enough without dipping into the internet to see how amazingly well others are pulling it off. Much as I love the imagery of instagram, it's so easy to get dragged into the slipstream of others who are zipping along in a cloud of marvellousness. Our 2016 Christmas will be remembered for being the one where the oven element blew half-way through cooking our post Christmas gammon resulting in a comedic dash to my son's house, oven gloves clasping hot roasting tin in yards of foil along with steaming jacket spuds, all compounded by the cover of darkness while my husband masterminded proceedings wearing his brand new head torch. (No street lights here on this tiny island.) None of this was like the adverts featuring the perfect Christmas scenario from Iceland, M&S or Lidl!

And so on to the outfit of the day. Yes, it's totally rock chick with no apologies. Well I say no apologies, but I will admit to one final sneaking in of these glitter trainers which had a lot of you voicing your opinions in 2016 and not necessarily in their favour. See those previous posts here, here and here. However, I really, really think this may be their finest hour. Call me biased, but the liberal dose of leather, lurex and studding all seem to enhance these sweet little trainers in their best styling yet. I've ramped up the glitter factor with this fabulous lurex top which is by Versace, found in a charity shop for £4.99 no less! The studded Michael Kors jacket doesn't get out much and is the ideal finishing touch for this look today. So here's wishing you a very peaceful and happy New Year and do enjoy the last few days of the holiday!

Outfit details - trainers: B3D (TK Maxx), trousers: H&M, jacket: Michael Kors, top: Versace, sunglasses: Quay Australia, rings: charity shopped.

Linking with

Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish

Anna x

Friday fun

Yay, it's Friday! And this was a rather lovely Friday with Polly as the autumn sun shone down on us. We had nothing in particular to laugh about, apart from the fact that I always speak and she always tried to shut me up - very good of her too, as my speaking face is not in the least photogenic! My dear assistant and brilliant photographer extraordinaire is currently packing for her trip to New Zealand, an event that is pretty much a bolt out of the blue for her. Within the space of a week, she's had an invite to join a friend on the South Island, has been to the travel agents, booked her flights, and is now frantically shopping, flapping and packing, ready for the off on Tuesday. I hope to goodness she comes back!

The brand new geometric print swing dress is from H&M (sim) but was a find from one of my favourite charity shops in Truro. Across the road and round the corner in TK Maxx was where I came across the fabulous stud encrusted jacket by Michael Kors (this one is equally fabulous). It weighs a ton, well maybe not a ton exactly, but you get what I mean. It was so heavy in fact, that I had to post it home to myself. It was February and I was on my way to London, en route to our cruise, and couldn't take it with me as I didn't have enough luggage allowance left to pack it. My leopard print brothel creepers from Office are a bit bashed up after a year of wear and tear, but I still love 'em. The brass bangle is by Almost Perfect, rings are old, and sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

Have a wonderful trip Polly!

Anna x

Pretty woman dress

I recently saw another blogger feature her "Pretty woman" dress and it made me think of this one hanging in the back of my wardrobe. I loved the scene where Julia Roberts wears this dress at the races and decided to give my own spin on that today. This is me dressing up to the nines you might say. That's a little joke for a special someone after her comment on Facebook x

I'm so lucky that my job allows me the creative freedom to dress how I please day in, day out. I love the opportunity to wear something classic like this one day and something completely funky the next. Like this for example. 

These pewter brogues were a late spring arrival (makes them sound like a long awaited baby lamb, doesn't it?) from my most favourite of brogue suppliers, Office. I blame my Scottish upbringing for this unquenchable passion. I've lost track of the number of pairs of these I have, yet there's always another slightly different pair to be lusted after. I'm trying to avoid the Office sale which is currently on see here but that doesn't mean you have to as well. Although I would appreciate it if you at least let me know which ones you've bought behind my back.

So the two outfits are made up like this - spotty dress is from Wallis, jacket by Tabitha, shoes BCBGeneration, necklace from Debenhams, rings are old, rose gold bangle is by Kate Spade, flowery bracelet is from Dorothy Perkins, crocodile handbag was from a charity shop. The trousers are from H&M, jacket is by Michael Kors, top, rings and handbag are from a charity shop, shoes from my beloved Office, sunglasses are by Quay Australia and socks from Primark of all places. Sorry for the lack of follow through links to all of these products. Am hosting our first summer show today, therefore am slightly like a headless chicken this morning. Wish me luck!

Anna x

All in black today

I've only worn this fab jacket once before (see here) and thought I really ought to be trying to get the cost-per-wear down. As you probably know, I don't wear a lot of black as I'm a big fan of bright colours, but sometimes it's good to mix things up and do something different. So here we go with basic black spiced up with a touch of orange.  

I hate to be predictable in my dressing, but more than that, the worst thing anyone could ever say about me is that I'm boring. I may, in fact, be a clothes bore, but that's something I can happily live with! My motto of "Let's bin the beige and have fun with colour" comes from the notion that beige is the most boring colour in the whole spectrum. (I do accept that the beige tones when sported by the the uber-classy Victoria Beckham and her genre can look beautifully understated, and I was one who in her younger years felt comfortable in beige too.)  Middle age however, for some women, heralds the onset of a loss of identity and verve for life often resulting in the birth of the beige years. I know this is a gross generalisation, and if you're a fellow blogger, then we know it won't apply to you, and by virtue reading this, that excludes you too, as you must have an interest in colourful clothes otherwise you'd surely not be part of my readership. In all honesty, I don't level this at anyone I actually know. This generic, beige-wearing, identity-less, style-less, post-menopausal ghost of her former self, is in essence, the me I dread becoming. It's what drives me to suck the marrow out of life; to dress wholly for myself, be the most honest version of me, the flamboyant, colourful self that makes my heart sing when I look at the veritable kaleidoscope of colours hanging in my wardrobe today. 

This look of surprise and delight is because my favourite doggy-driver, Charlie, has just appeared. Polly managed to capture his wind-swept look as he zoomed around the corner towards us. First photo-bomb of the day!

So, to give you a quick run down of the outfit - Michael Kors jacket which I bought from TK Maxx in Feb; harem pants were a purchase again from TK last September and have only been featured once as here; frilled and pleated orange shell top is from Coast, but picked up in charity shop in Harrogate; the boots are new from the sale at Office last month; the Madonna inspired handbag was a find in a charity shop in Truro last month. Rings are charity shop finds too.

Linking with

Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb 

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style 

Anna x