Steal her style - our July Style Not Age challenge

Hi there and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge. Set this month by Hilda, the theme is "Steal her style" and has brought about some interesting results. 

I chose Suzi Grant, blogger, author and broadcaster as my inspiration for this month's challenge. I've only recently discovered Suzi on Instagram and was so sorry to have missed her when she visited the Isles of Scilly in May. Maybe we'll get the chance to meet up another time. Find her website Alternative Ageing here. 

Jacqui is no stranger to this lovely copycat game as she plays it once a month with her very own Style Steal. See this month's edition here (I can't believe I missed this one Jacqui!). Her outfit was taken from that wonderful movie Pretty Woman and doesn't she wear this well? Why not pop across to view her backstory here. 

And in a very sweet moment of snap we also have Hilda sporting her own Pretty Woman outfit. Great minds think alike ladies! 

Don't these ladies look rather fabulous in their spotty dresses and hats? I only wish I'd got the memo as I too have one of these spotty frocks! Join Hilda on her blog Over The Hilda to read all about her offering.

Last in this great creative feature is Emma from Style Splash who is copying a look from Killing Eve. I have to confess to never having seen this series, but if you nip across to her blog there's a link to Villanelle for you to compare. I'll see you over there!

And so back to my copycat look of Suzi's. My paisley print top was a hand-me-down from Sasha some time ago and seemed like the perfect piece for this month's challenge. It was from H&M and is looking good considering how often I wear it. The pink chinos are from Boden earlier on this summer - see here. My Puma trainers were a TK Maxx find when I was in London. I love the fact that they have silk ribbons instead of ordinary laces. I'm partial to a stylish twist. The retro sunglasses are a real signature piece for Suzi - mine are from Topshop.

Many thanks to Polly for this cute hairband which helped to finish off my Steal her style look.

And on a finishing note, I'd like to pass on a bit of advice I was given this weekend - that being not to leave your electrical items running when you go out. We had a small fire in our kitchen this weekend when our dishwasher motor burnt out, eventually bursting into flames. Our local fire brigade tackled the fire and all we were left with was a gaping hole where the appliance used to be, plus some charred worktop and smoke damage around the area involved. Sooty residue and a lingering smell of smoke will take a bit longer to get rid of. Had my husband not popped home when he did the fire wouldn't have been discovered so quickly and things could have been quite different. Washing machines, dishwashers and tumble driers all ought to be used when someone is at home - please pass this on.

                                                                                              Anna x

Flaming June!

Hello and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge! Flaming June is the theme set by Jacqui and goodness I do hope she enjoys the irony of my offering in this less-than-summery month. When she suggested this topic, Jacqui proffered tips on any fire bright colours from flame yellow through to brazier bright orange and all the way to sizzling shades of red. That seemed to be simple enough I thought. But as we all know, life rarely goes to plan and the minute I started to line up this outfit, well the weather seemed to take against me! Polly and I finally accepted that we'd shoot the gorgeous outfit regardless of the fickle British weather.

I've been trying a new style strategy to counter these grey summer days which is simply to wear bright colours on dull days. The resulting lift in mood has been remarkable helping me counter the blahs with a blast of colour confidence I've not experienced before on these rainy days. My default setting has previously been to wear black or at least dark colours when it rains, goodness knows why, but I've been drawn to these dour shades almost as if I've been reflecting the grey skies. My fashionista friends may have been luckier with the weather for their photo shoots, so let's see how they fared with this month's quest.

As this is Jacqui's challenge I thought we'd start with her and goodness, it's a fantastic start!  Her daughter's wedding and a holiday in Majorca seem to have fallen back to back, so goodness knows how she's found time to pull this great outfit together. Read the back story to the look on her blog Mummabystylish.

Emma never fails to impress me with these monthly tasks and this month she is as cute as ever. Not only does Emma have a great sense of which colours flatter her, but she has the most stunning figure to showcase the outfit too. Emma, this is fab-u-lous! See more on her blog the Style Splash. 

Last, but by no means least is Hilda from Over The Hilda showing she's pretty hot stuff too in her Flaming June ensemble. We've clearly all been inspired by this one! Join Hilda on her blog here to see more of this super outfit.

My fabulous yellow trouser suit is from JD Williams (not gifted, please note) and was on my wishlist for months after I saw Evon wearing it during the trip to Cape Town for the spring fashion shoot. The scene in the TV commercial where she throws those big doors open wearing this suit won me over immediately - I just knew then that I'd have to buy it! The jacket and trousers are actually on offer now see here. 

Evon's silver sandals are still available and also on offer currently as seen here.

My own styling twist for the zingy trouser suit has me wearing these brocade trainers by Replay for a practical workaday outfit. I've injected another burst of colour with my Frida Kahlo tee shirt from Primark. You couldn't get a more summery look could you? Well, maybe if the sun actually shone I suppose.

Polly and I did this photo shoot at the end of the day on Tuesday last week and I fancy if we'd held off until the weekend the weather might have been a bit brighter. However, this weekend I may well be in London, but that my dear friends is another story as they say ...

Accessories comprise of heavy gold chain (a gift from Sasha) and these gold coloured rings are both pre-loved. 

One of the best features of these trousers is the stretch fabric - no tweaking and pinching when they have that extra bit of give in them! I wore the suit all day long and there's hardly a crease to be seen either. This is the first time I've worn it and that was a real bonus to find it after a long day at work it was still sharp enough to withstand the scrutiny of these close up shots.

I'm sure the ladies from the collective will be laughing at my usual out-of-step offering for this month's challenge. I would have loved to showcase this fabulous suit in sunny weather, but life truly conspired against that. The photo shoot for last Thursday's post took place on Wednesday and on Thursday I had a whole lot of packing to do. As I write, my plans are just coming together for a quick weekend trip with Steve to London to see a concert. 

By Monday he and I will be back on the train hurtling back south to Cornwall for an overnight stay in Truro. And when I say Truro, you know what that means - it's my favourite stamping ground for a bit of charity shopping! I'll only have a couple of hours, but goodness, I'm pretty adept at speed shopping as it's one of the skills I've honed to perfection after living on an island for over 40 years. As the summer exhibition period is fast approaching I could do with some new inspiration in the party frock department. Look out mainland, here I come!

                                                                                               Anna x

Recycled fashion, our May Style Not Age Challenge

Hello again and welcome to this month's challenge with my blogging friends as we present our Style Not Age challenge for May. Recycled fashion is the topic this time, as chosen by yours truly which I thought was very fitting given my love of charity shopping. So without further ado let's see what the ladies made of my suggestion shall we?

Jacqui of Mummabstylish has been tied up with a family wedding this weekend, but has still found time to put a post together. Her offering is an M&S dress with a story behind it, so do skip across to see exactly what ...

Emma features a denim jacket, gifted from a girlfriend which she has customised with patches and badges - see more of this over on her blog Style Splash.

It's another denim jacket from Hilda of Over The Hilda with hers being a charity shop find paired up with this cool maxi dress borrowed from a girlfriend. See more of this plus the update from Hilda regarding her TV debut - quick, get over there to see it!

My recycled fashion comes in the shape of this fabulous blue suit that I bought recently in a charity shop in Truro. It has no label, but the tailoring is top notch making me wonder if it's a sample suit. I found it in the ladies section, but when I took it to the tiny changing room to try it on, why the shoulders of the jacket nearly filled the space! It's either a very small men's suit or is a wonderful 80's piece. Whichever, I don't mind as I think it's rather sexy. Sexy for me isn't about cleavage or thigh skimming skirts, no it's about that feeling an outfit imbues and this is cool and sexy to my mind.

The bright pink chiffon top adds that feminine touch to this masculine suit. The blouse is by Shubette Separates and is a vintage piece. I've done a search on the Internet and most of these pieces are coming up as 1940's. 

Steve and I nipped into the Abbey Garden at the end of the day for our photo shoot. I love the drama of this blue bridge and thought it would be a great backdrop for my blue and pink ensemble. The only problem was the combination of my silver boots, or rather the stiletto heels and the gaps in the planks of wood - I kept on getting stuck!

Another recycled item is my monochrome clutch. I've had it for a couple of years but it got lost at the back of my closet. Not a bad find for a couple of quid, eh?

The rose gold belt is another charity shop piece - £1.99 for this one.

Both rings are recycled but the rose gold bangles are new - the one with the knot is by Kate Spade and the other was from the gift shop at The Barbican when we stayed there in 2017. See the post here.

More rose gold by way of these Guess sunglasses and the ripple rose gold pendant was from a small boutique in St Andrews when I was there in January.

I think you may well be seeing this outfit again, perhaps for one of my summer exhibitions this year. The silver Buffalo boots add an edge to the look which says more than summer sandals (I tried those and couldn't find anything that worked as well) so it may have to be a complete re-run. But surely that's the point of good fashion? We ought to wear and wear something we really love which is the complete antithesis of fast fashion isn't it? I do hope you've enjoyed our Recycled Fashion feature today - maybe you'll drop in again ...

Wishing you a fabulous week!

Anna x

March Madness, our Style Not Age challenge.

Hi there and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge, titled March Madness. I hope that you've been following the lovely group of ladies so that you may understand what madness means to each of us. Jacqui of Mummabstylish is quite conservative in her fashion tastes and therefore this mish mash of colours and patterns is indeed madness for her.

Style Splash editor Emma has gone all out in her approach to outfit madness from those crazy shoes to the cute fluffy clutch and everything in between. Personally it's something you'd see me wearing any day of the week!

Hilda's offering came from a murder mystery dinner she attended recently. The choice of this month's challenge was hers and maybe that's because she had this natty little number tucked up her sleeve. Do whizz across to her blog, Over The Hilda to read more about it.

Did I get the memo? Well yes, of course I did. Let me explain. The motto for my blog is "Let's bin the beige and have fun with colour" and therefore it's a form of madness for me to be seen dressed head to toe in beige. Beige = boring in my book. For some, such as my elegant friend Laurie of Vanity and Me Style, well beige is the height of sophistication. She looks classy in beige, I on the other hand, feel dull when I don beige. 

I know I look completely out of step with the other ladies, all jazzed up in their mad ensembles, but honestly, I couldn't find anything in my wardrobe, be it a bright pattern clash to some mad mix of colours that didn't constitute an everyday outfit for me. I do hope the collective don't feel I've let them down with this challenge.

Let's get down to details shall we? The boots are by Michael Kors, handbag is by Radley, trousers are hand-me-downs from my daughter, the brand is River Island, the sweater is pre-loved and is by Carolyn Taylor.

As for my accessories, I found the beautiful leather Radley bag in a charity shop last year and the fact that it was in pristine condition helped me get over the colour. I bought the patterned ring at an airport concession in January, the other one is a charity shop find. And I was gifted the Nordgreen watch a few months ago. 

I dug out my old favourite chunky pearls for the shoot too - these were from Debenhams many moons ago. And the mirror sunglasses are by Quay Australia.

I feel I would be letting down my style credentials if I failed to mention the fact that yes, beige is actually the height of fashion currently. Beige Is Back was the headline in January with People magazine amongst others and in the world of interiors beige is the new grey. What can say? Following the latest trend isn't high on my list of priorities, but if something I love happens to be on trend then that's a bonus for me.  Those who slavish follow the tidal wave of trends from one season to another will be easy to spot out and about being seen in all the right places as they sport the various shades of creams, tan, flax and cream. Hurrah for me then, that I've hit the mark this month, but it's all very tongue in cheek and you won't be seeing me in this washed out shade again soon.

I do hope you'll take a moment to visit the other ladies from the challenge to read their back stories too. Thanks for dropping by and I'll see you again soon!

Have a lovely week!

Anna x