This Old Thing, our Style Not Age challenge for April

Hello lovelies and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge! Gail has come up with this month's theme of This Old Thing sparking a variety of offerings. Mine is an old thing that my sister Dianne saw on a mannequin in the window of a charity shop and immediately thought of me. Someone had clearly tired of it and decided to move it on, but their loss is my gain - I love it! Let's see what everyone else has to show us with shall we?

Jacqui has shopped her closet for this month's feature coming up with her old favourite this denim jacket, paired with cream culottes and matching boots - read her back story on Mummabstylish.

Hilda seems to have gathered together a host of oldies but goodies. The trenchcoat is over 40 years old, boots are 20 and jeans are 15. A self confessed hoarder, Hilda was more than prepared for this month's theme. Read more from her on Over The Hilda blog.

Proving that Emma is as trim as ever, here she is wearing a pair of cut-off shorts that she's had since was 13. Wowee, how fab she looks too! Catch up on her story on the Style Splash.

Gail is sharing her grandma's jewellery for the challenge and noted that her cat also falls into the category of an Old Thing as she's 16! See more on Is This Mutton blog.

Another week, another photo-bomber! This time it's my dear friend Jilly who stopped to collect a painting on the way past.

Jilly thought the all-in-one delivered the wow factor and I must admit it did earn me a few compliments at work. There's no brand label, but the care label did say AX Paris SS19 denoting it's three years old.

The jumpsuit has a zip up back and an under the bust tie which cinches in at the waist making for a very flattering silhouette. I popped an old sweater from Primark underneath for warmth and  added a long wooden animal necklace, found in a London charity shop 4 years ago.

My rings are pre-loved and the rose gold watch is by Michael Kors.

My Zara boots are quite old, so much so that I've forgotten how long ago it is since I bought them, but they're still looking sleek as ever.

Probably the most notable feature of the jumpsuit is the additional front layer of fabric that floats about flapping in the breeze in an eye-catching manner. Fiona insisted that I hold these out to let you see these better. I do hope this has proved to be another inspirational post for you, maybe giving you some ideas for this week's outfits.

Keep well everyone!

Anna x

Two in five million

So, here's the explanation for my recent absence. Steve and I were two of the five million people in the UK who reported having Covid19 last week. And that's just the five million who reported it, not those didn't. It's alarming isn't it? And yet, this is indeed our new normal where businesses are closing temporarily or paring down their services to accommodate the prevalence of the virus. Tresco, like the rest of Great Britain, is awash with the illness. Steve and I are still at home waiting to show a negative test result or at least feel well enough to return to work. What about you? They say that one in 14 of us has the virus currently so we all know someone who has it. If it's you then I'd say stay home until you're well, keep warm, take paracetamol to control your temperature and pain, drink lots of fluids and suck on ice chips to soothe an inflamed throat.

Today's post is from last month, Mother's Day to be precise, when we went to the beachfront Ruin Cafe at Old Grimsby for lunch. Our table view was pretty idyllic and being indoors meant we were out of the driving Easterly wind too. I had flowers and gifts from my children, including a gift card for TK Maxx, but more of that later. I dressed a la 70's style for my lunch date.

It's been a while since I've worn this flower power jacket by Anja Rock. I remember I bought it when I was in Manchester four years ago on my modelling stint with JD Williams - read all about that here. TK Maxx in the centre of Manchester was a wonderful haven full of all sorts of fashion delights and bargains. See the first time I showcased the jacket here - it was a fabulously bright and breezy post that's worth another look if you missed it.

Steve and I had taken a stroll home through the woods after our leisurely lunch when we hit this golden pool of sunlight. Too good an opportunity to miss, eh?

The heart patterned flares were from Asos, the sweater is totally ancient, and the stone coloured boots of the moment are also from Asos. The observant amongst you may have seen that my pre and post-lunch sunglasses are different, but both are from Quay Australia.

My 70's jewellery collection is all pre-loved charity shop finds. 

My print clutch bag is from Zara and was actually part of the gift packaging of a new blouse, a birthday present from my dear friend Bo in January. See here for that. 

My boots of the moment are these chunky ecru dreams from Asos. The beautiful Chelsea boots can be found here. 

So, in between Mother's Day and Covid19, I've been to the mainland again for another health appointment, this time for some pre-cancerous cell removal on my face. The upside was that I went off clutching the lovely gift card and oh my goodness, what a super time I had! Not only did I shop there, but I snapped up some fab charity shop purchases too. 

These beaded sandals were from TK Maxx and the almost matching necklace was a charity shop find, hurrah!

Gradually I'll showcase these and give you the lowdown on where and how much etc, but in the meantime you'll just have to feast your eyes on the pretty colours and textures of my new springtime wardrobe. The fact that I've ousted 32 boxes of clothes and shoes out of the house means that this has been a guilt-free splurge - whoohoooo!

Wishing you a super week ahead!

Anna x

The last weekend...

What last weekend? you may be asking. Well, the last weekend before we re-open for another season. On Friday the island of Tresco will be welcoming visitors once again, so this was my last weekend before I have to start dressing as the Gallery Manager. 

It was a weekend spent batch cooking for the freezer and also a time for catching up on those admin jobs you never really feel are important enough to make it to the top of the list - namely, getting in touch with every single company who sends me unsolicited brochures and flyers. I hate to see all that paper going to waste so I finally spent an hour contacted each and every one to politely ask them to remove me from their mailing list. It gave me a lovely sense of achievement.

I barely think this warrants being called the outfit of the day as it was an at home day, but Fiona kindly agreed to take some photos of this most casual weekend wear. Bejewelled jeans may not be everyone's idea of casual, but hey that's what they are in my book. They're rather old now, but I fancy I bought them at TK Maxx many moons ago. 

The addition of a couple of (pre-loved) knuckle-duster rings did lend a bit of dressing up to the whole affair though.

And the blue animal print sweater is also old, again from TK Maxx. 

The pale pink floral trainers are by Replay, and yes, were another happy find in TK Maxx. 

The white soles are flecked with silver glitter, surely a great reason to buy them!

Every time I wear this fabulous vintage coat it reminds me of Sicily and the wonderful cruise Steve and I went on 6 years ago. If you're new to the blog you can hop back to see that post here. Ah, happy days!

I'm not sure when Steve and I will venture off for another big holiday like that again. This summer we'll be quite content bobbing off in our little motor boat to picnic on the Eastern Isles and swim on our favourite deserted beaches. 

                                                                                                  Anna x

If I Were a Handbag, our Style Not Age challenge for February

Hello and welcome our monthly style challenge! I'll 'fess up straight away - yes the subject was my choice this month. For those who know me, you'll agree that my featured handbag is a good reflection of my character - fluffy on one side and smooth on the other, and exceedingly bright and colourful. I have a scatty fun side away from work, but also a smooth, glossy business side which is how I see myself at work. So how do my fashionista friends see themselves...?

Jacqui's offering for the challenge is this compact satchel bag with ornate front. Not sure what this says about her, but it's a super practical bag. See more from Jacqui on Mummabstylish.

Gail is showcasing a red bowling bag which was a Christmas present. The compact, sleek style ties in with her elegant outfit. Find all of the details on her blog Is This Mutton? 

Hilda's choice is a bright green tote borrowed from a local boutique. The bag is big enough to carry a laptop, in a burst of colour from a local designer. See her back story on Over the Hilda blog. 

Emma's handbag is a funky colourful piece by Angel Jackson which has inspired a lovely mix of colours in her outfit. Read all about it on The Style Splash.

My dear friend Ben found this fabulous multicoloured bag in a market on his travels and immediately thought of me - wild and colourful! I was thrilled to receive such an individual piece to add to my handbag collection. It's been my go-to bag for the past month, inspiring various colourful outfits for my working day. 

The fringed side of the bag is a glorious fuzzy, tufted aspect of this oversized handbag. 

As for the outfit of the day - the leather coat is by Next, a charity shop purchase for £20, trousers are from Topshop (ah, the good ol' days!), turtle neck from Primark, shoes and glitter socks from TK Maxx - none of this is new. 

The ring gold coloured ring is pre-loved and the chunky silver and gold etched In Heaven on Earth ring is by Diana Porter. The mustard gloves are from TK Maxx.

The mustard hues continue with my Quay Australia sunglasses.

So how did we all fare with this month's challenge? I do hope you enjoyed it. I loved the opportunity to show you this glorious bag again and would like to think there may be some inspiration within today's feature for everyone. 

Sending love to you all and I do hope that you're safe. Take care!

                                                                                                Anna x

My pretty new Zara blouse

Hello again! How was your weekend? Mine seemed to go past in a bit of a blur of cooking, cleaning and yes, dejunking. The boxes are mounting up as I clear out cupboard after cupboard, moving out anything that's not useful, beautiful or loved by us. Even poor Steve was involved as I attacked his guilty area of workwear calling on him to help cull his large, but very tired, collection of checked shirts of which there seemed to be many. We're still in the midst of the job, barely half way through the entire house, but as they say, out of chaos comes order!

So, this is my new blouse, a birthday present from my friend Bo who lives in Portugal. It's from Zara, but I can't find it online here. The fabric is lightweight and will be wonderful to wear in the summer (I'm imagining it with white jeans and sandals), but I was so impatient to try it on then decided to winterise it with my pre-loved Ralph Lauren fairisle vest.

I teamed up the blouse with my ochre Kate trousers from J D Williams - see them here on sale now. I love the fit of these slim trousers mainly because of the stretch which makes them super comfy. This is the first time I've worn them despite having them for years - yes, I really mean years. It's only due to the big clear out that I rediscovered them, still with tags on, and decided to try them on. How fab is that to find a great new pair of trousers hidden away? And doubly fab when they match my new blouse perfectly!

My pre-loved perspex rings pick out some of the colours in today's outfit adding to the pattern play too. Dark green pearls and Quay Austalia sunglasses complete the accessories.

Russet platform boots give a bit more leg-lengthening height to the look which is never a bad thing. These are very old indeed and were from Office.

And just to add a bit more pattern to the mix, I wore my Joe Brown's woolen 3/4 length jacket. This one is out of stock now, but I did find another cute jacket - see here.  The lining is a wonderful bit of pattern play too!

It seems that here in the UK we'll all be hunkering down for the rest of the week as we have two gales lining up to give us a bit of a battering. I'd planned to get some outdoor photos taken on the beach at the weekend, but I'll maybe have to come up a plan B just in case. Do take care, wherever you are and thanks for dropping by!

                                                                            Anna x