Lovely Linen our SNA challenge for August!




Welcome once again to our Monthly Style Not Age Challenge! This month I chose the theme of Lovely Linen which was led mainly by this recent Vinted buy. The dress had no label but also no pockets and at the weekend I set to creating some by using orange linen fabric left over from a dress I made previously. 



Here's the work in progress and I'm delighted to say that despite putting the first pocket in the wrong way round, I finally managed to fathom it out and ended up with two perfectly acceptable and functioning pockets! But, let's take a look at my fashionable friends and see how they approached this month's challenge...




Gail's Lovely Linen dress is a classic shape from Boden in a zingy shade of turquoise. For the past three weeks Gail has been on LEJOG, a cycling adventure from Land's End to John O Groats - so please do swing by to catch up on her news on Is This Mutton blog. 




Emma's wearing a linen mix co-ord from Damson Madder, worn with old sandals and a bag by Skinny Dip. Catch up on the latest from Emma on her blog Style Splash here




Jacqui's jacket and trousers may look like a suit but are simply a very good match - well done that girl! She's added a toning tan top to complete the look - see more on Mummabstylish.




There's nothing new from Hilda with her animal print dress by Whistles, but that's not to say it's not on trend - it looks fab. She shopped her wardrobe for this look - see more on Over The Hilda




I'd walked for a mile or so to the far end of Pentle Bay in the hope of getting out of the fierce North wind, but still it played havoc with my colourful frock! I wore my orange denim jacket by Forever 21 to keep the chill wind at bay and my blue Lazy Dogz sandals worked very well with the mulit coloured dress. 




The smock dress has a shirred back and sweet puff sleeves and is a lovely cool shape to wear on a summer's day. I wore a simple white beaded necklace with silver heart - a gift from my sister which has been very useful indeed.




My rings are old as as my sunglasses (from Radley London). 




Hiding down below the rocks I almost managed to escape out of the wind. Once I'd taken my photos I lay down and read my book for an hour which was a lovely way to end my day off.






As ever it's been fun to take part in this monthly challenge. I do hope you've enjoyed this month's offerings from us all. Did you find any new ideas? Or was there something that is so typically you? Whichever, thank you so much for dropping by and please do leave a comment if you've been inspired.

                                                                        Anna x

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Dreamy dresses our SNA challenge for June




Hello and welcome to June's Style Not Age Challenge where five friends throw down the style gauntlet month after month in rotation resulting sometimes in angst other times in joy. Jacqui came up with Dreamy Dresses which seems to have been a happy choice this month. Mine is yet another second-hand find from Vinted and I'm delighted with what's surely going to be a very useful summer frock. But let's look at my fashionable friends first shall we?




A very dreamy setting for Jacqui's summer dress, a new purchase from Matalan worn with old sandals and handbag from New Look. Catch up with all of her news on Mummabstylish




Emma's Dreamy Dress comes from TK Maxx worn with sandals from Coast and bag by Fenella Smith. Read her back story on the Style Splash




Gail wore her Dreamy Dress to the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at Christies recently and didn't look at all out of place. See more from her on Is This Mutton




Hilda's Dreamy Dress is from Whistles (not new) but worn when she was taken out to dinner recently in Derry. Find out more on her blog Over The Hilda.




This lightweight dress is made from polyester making it easy to wear and cool on this bright sunny day at work. I'm sure this will earn its place in my wardrobe this summer.




This pretty frock has a myriad of colours making styling so very easy. I've added these fuchsia flatforms from last summer which are super comfy. Then I took orange as my next lead colour adding this stretch belt from Amazon, again purchased last year.




What's not to love about a dress that says Love on it?




The lemon mini bag with beaded handle by Dune was a TK Maxx find last summer - it's uber cute don't you think? My rings are old, pre-loved too.




My sister Dianne recently sent me this pearl and heart necklace, in fact two of these, one in white pearl and the other with grey pearls. This is perfect for today's look.




Another splash of colour comes by way of these old sunnies by Zara. It was great fun putting this outfit together, where it was all about colours and as many as possible. Thanks for joining us this month - I hope you've enjoyed our challenge!

                                                                Anna x



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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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December is for Dressing Up, our Style Not Age challenge this month




Hurrah and Happy Christmas to us all! I do hope you're having a wonderful time. Our challenge this month has a festive theme and was chosen by Gail. I'm not averse to a bit of dressing up as you may know and so it wasn't a terrrible hardship to push the boat out for this most special of posts. Let's see how the others fared and come back to mine later...




Gail has totally embraced her prompt by pairing lime green sequins with a gold faux leather skirt to glamorous effect! Catch up with her on Is This Mutton blog for the full story.




This is Hilda's Christmas Day outfit which looks not only fabulous but also comfortable too which is very clever bit of Dressing Up. Read her backstory on Over the Hilda blog.




Gold satin and red wide legged trousers are another successful festive take on December Dressing up from Jacqui.  See more from her on Mummabstylish blog.




Pink, silver, glitter and sequins - Emma's brought it all in her Christmas outfit, even a bottle of bubbly! Find out what she'll be getting up to today on her blog Style Splash.




My trouser suit is a Christmas present from my son (under my instructions obviously) and is by Lavish Alice, a brand I've not come across previously. Its silver and gold pattern screams out festive dressing and I hope to find an excuse to wear it soon. 




I've teamed the suit up with a silver and white sequinned top which is very ancient and was a charity shop find. Sparkly rings are also pre-loved and the silver chain necklace was a Vinted purchase recently. I'm wearing classic black sunglasses by Radley London and must admit I felt red carpet ready in this glitzy lot!




I took myself off the Tresco Abbey Garden for this photo opportunity and think it makes for a lovely backdrop to the silver outfit.  My leather boots are old, from TK Maxx and are utterly fabulous don't you think - the brand is Buffalo.




And just in case you're wondering, I didn't traipse the mile from my home to the Garden dressed like this. I made use of the large loos on site to act as a changing room as no-one was around on the quiet Sunday afternoon. It was a two-for-one day as I captured last week's ensemble and this one at the same time.




And that rounds up another year of our Style Not Age challenge. Thank you so much for joining me and my blogging friends and I do hope you've been inspired to maybe try out something you've seen with us.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

Anna x

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Jeans and Jewels, our Style Not Age challenge for October




Hello and welcome once again to our monthly Style Not Age which this month is led by my choice, that of Jeans and Jewels. I must confess that I stole the idea from the very talented professional Photographer Elisabeth Hoff who posted the details of a photoshoot on her Instagram account recently - see it here. I'm huge fan of Elisabeth's since we met on the JD Williams set some five years ago. I view her account often as she photographs a huge variety of famous models and actors. Elisabeth was incredibly kind to me, helping me to settle into this rather daunting role as fashion model. I worked with her on three campaigns for JDW and she even stepped in to change my outfit on our last shoot together in South Africa as she didn't think it reflected my character. See Elisabeth and I together on location here.




Emma built her Jeans and Jewels look on this fab vintage denim dress embellished with beads to which she added her statement necklace. Catch up on all of her news on her blog Style Splash




I love the layering that Gail has done with her jewels for this challenge. Her Georgian style necklaces are from Etsy and her jeans jacket is from Amazon. To get all the details of her outfit see her post on Is This Mutton blog. 




Hilda's given us a double dose of jewels with her jewel bright coat along with a totally bling necklace (inherited from her daughter). See more from her on Over the Hilda blog. 




A glitzy necklace and beaded jeans are Jacqui's offering from this month's challenge, capturing the essence of this contrasting theme perfectly.  Read her back story on Mummabstylish blog.




My jewels are all old pieces, some vintage, others that have been lurking in the back of my jewellery boxes for years since I started blogging.  I decided to add some brooches to my new Jack Wills jeans jacket. Some of you may remember I have another jeans jacket adorned with brooches too - see it here




I bought my Levi's jeans in Camden Market in September and just love them! The long, lean leggy look is fab considering I'm none of those things in reality. I've added height (and glamour) by wearing these stilletto heeled silver leather boots (old, by Buffalo). 




My bejewelled belt (from Amazon) seemed like the perfect accessory to go with today's look along with these twinkly rings (pre-loved). Sunglasses are by Radley London.




The backdrop to my photoshoot is King Charles' Castle located on the North End of Tresco. I was lucky to have a day off when we had a fine day of weather and took myself off there at the end of the day to capture the golden light (most flattering for older complexions).




I do hope you've enjoyed this month's Style Not Age challenge. Please do pop over to see the full stories from my stylish friends too if you have a moment. 

I'll be back next week with another post, but the subject isn't clear as yet. The Gallery is now closed, so dressing up is no longer essential, but that's not to say I'll be scruffing about in joggers any time soon! Thanks so much for joining me.

                                                                                            Anna x

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