Welcome to the Jungle our Style Not Age challenge for May

Welcome to our style challenge for May!

This month Emma chose "Welcome to the Jungle" as our Style Not Age theme, a great idea if I may say so. I was delighted when she suggested this as I've had the perfect outfit waiting for this very opportunity. But first, let's see what sparked her challenge shall we?

Style Splash's Emma has nailed it with this fabulous trouser suit by Scotch and Soda. In fact, I love everything about this outfit - the cute tee shirt, matching necklace and the orange accessories all amount to blooming perfection!

Hilda from Over The Hilda is a woman after my own heart by borrowing her daughter's cardigan for this feature. I'm partial to a bit of clothes sharing too! The beautiful cardi is by designer Hayley Menzies, as stocked by Liberty amongst other stores.

Gail from Is This Mutton is sporting a snazzy palm tree print jumpsuit with mules from Topshop. A neon see-through clutch and statement necklace finish off the look.

Jacqui from Mummabstylish played a great move here by borrowing her jumpsuit and scarf from her daughter too and boy doesn't she look great in them?

My silky and comfy two piece is from by George at Asda and was a charity shop find last year. I picked up the trousers while I was in Truro at one of my favourite shops. On taking them to the till, the assistant asked if I'd seen the matching top .... Well, I hadn't, but was delighted when she flicked through the racks and yes, it was still there! Both the trousers and top are loose fitting with elastic waistbands making them just right for lounging around or getting out and about on hot days. The two piece cost me £7.50, so what's not to love?

Just a quick mention to my artistic director of today's shoot for capturing these jungle shots. My long suffering husband gets dragged out twice a week for the blog photos and it's all done with good humour, but isn't one of his favourite tasks. I gave him the jungle remit and he delivered this great backdrop. I spotted this fallen log on what looks like a jungle swamp and said it would be great to stand on this for some atmospheric shots. This entailed him carrying me down a slippy bank and across this marshy bog to plonk me atop the slightly rotting tree. Thank goodness no-one saw me getting a piggy back especially as he nearly tripped as we were navigating the downwards slope. I was impressed that he lined up the Montbretia flowers to add to the shots - hurrah for my darling hubby!

Here's a better look at the outfit. The short sleeves have a cute bow as adornment. 

All of my jewellery is pre-loved. The sunglasses of the day are by Quay Australia.

The perfect footwear for today's outfit, these flower sandals were from Primark a couple of summers ago.

Thanks for joining us again this month and I do hope you've found some inspiration from the collective. I'll be back on Friday with the weekly Dress Up Friday feature so I hope you'll join me for that too.

Wishing you a lovely week!

Anna x

Style Not Age does Comfy Casuals

Welcome to our monthly Style Challenge!

Thank you for joining us for our end-of-month challenge, this time being that of Comfy Casuals which is very pertinent under the current circumstances. Jacqui chose the theme this month and it really couldn't be more relevant as the majority of us are housebound and therefore are spending our days in comfy clothes. I'm sure that when we exit lock-down from the Covid-19 crisis, one of the most noticeable things for us all will be the effort we make in our appearance once our normal routine comes back. I, for one, can't wait to get back to my daily dilemma of what to wear - what a lovely problem that will be again!

Jacqui starts us off with her comfy chiffon camo top with elasticated waistband paired with 3/4 length chinos. See her backstory on her blog Mummabstylish.

Gail from Is This Mutton blog is looking very sporty in her casual gear. I love those leggings and reckon they'd be pretty inspiring to get you up and at 'em!

Hilda is looking quite sparkly in her diamante bows sweater and neat checked trousers. Do catch up with her take on comfy casuals on her blog Over The Hilda. 

Emma of Style Splash mixes comfort with style here. Sparkly Peter Pan collar and metallic espadrilles are a lovely counterpoint to her utility trousers. 

This is a great easy to wear outfit and fulfills my requirements for comfy casuals: I like to feel comfy, but also want to have a splash of colour to help buoy up my mood. Everything here is relatively new (bought within the past 6 months), but hadn't made it to the blog as yet. The entire outfit came from TK Maxx (sobbing quietly as even their online store is closed). 

I particularly love these trousers for lounging about due to the elasticated waistband and voluminous shape. These also wouldn't look out of place on some exotic holiday would they?

Steve and I walked to the bird hide along Pool Road for our photo shoot, but again were prey to the mixed light that kept changing and making our shots a bit challenging.

Minimal jewellery today, just this ethnic necklace (charity shopped) and a ring from a girlfriend.

This was the first outing for these funky Converse boots. Soooooo comfy!

 Sunglasses by Radley.

The mustard jacket was also from TK Maxx last year and I'm very pleased to showcase this Orla Keily bag that I was given as a Christmas present from my dear friend Bo. We share a love for the colourful designs of this iconic brand. Cheers Bo!

I hope you've enjoyed this month's challenge and maybe been inspired too for your stay-at-home outfits? Please make a note in your diary that I'll be back at the end of the week with my latest ensemble for Dressing Up Friday. See you then!

                                                                                        Anna x

Denim Directions, our Style Not Age Challenge for March

Welcome to this month's style challenge!

A very warm welcome to you from our Style Not Age Collective, which seems even more important than ever this month. We all are in need of a bit of a distraction from our new reality and I hope that this colourful line-up with provide just that. Gail chose the theme this time so let's see what she came up with herself.

I totally love this combination of denim and fuchsia - it really pops. Catch up with Gail on her blog Is This Mutton for more about this fabulous outfit.

Jacqui's showcasing this new denim boilersuit from Matalan. A dash of glamour comes by way of her rainbow shoes. See more from her on Mummabstylish blog.

Sleek as ever in denim, Hilda is striding out in style with leopard print and fur gilet too - such a funky combination for our blogger Over the Hilda.

Emma's Style Splash plumped for a brilliant splash of pink as well as leopard print to go with her denim jacket to stunning effect. Do swing by the blogs to read the back stories for each of these outfits this month. 

And so on to my offering. The only new piece were my jeans (TK Maxx) which are actually quite old now. The silk kimono cost me £3 in a charity shop in Truro a couple of years ago, the red leather cowboy boots were another charity shop buy as was the denim shirt and red leather belt. 

As for my jewellery, the rings are both charity shop finds too.

Let's please just take a moment to admire my haircut shall we? I only draw your attention to it, as from here on it's all downhill! My social circle comprises now of my husband and my son, neither of whom are going to be able to help me maintain a spiffy old haircut for the next 3-6 months. Boooo-hooo! I do love to have a sharp haircut and wonder what my hair will look like at the end of this. I know I'm not alone with this and to be perfectly honest think it's good to have something so minor to focus on in the current climate. I've seen self haircut tutorials cropping up across social media and will probably have to avail myself of these to cut my fringe, but I fancy that once it's too long to resemble a style, I'll just have to scoop it up in a pony tail. And let's see how many grey hairs populate my hair colour within the next 6 months too...

And finally, here's yet another pair of new sunglasses from Radley London. I thought the colour was good for this denim feature today.

Thanks for joining us today. I hope our colourful offerings will help to brighten your day. As ever, I would urge you to stay home, stay safe and don't put anyone at risk through reckless or selfish actions. There's still an element of society who seem to think that the safety guidelines seem to apply to others and not them. I somehow feel that my readership aren't of this ilk, but if you know someone who's flouting the rules, then do call them out - it might just save lives.

                                                                                 Anna x

Flower Power - February's style challenge

Welcome to our style challenge for February!

Hello and welcome to our monthly challenge with the Style Not Age Collective. As we hurtle towards March the promise of spring is in the air echoing this month's theme of Flower Power. As usual we've managed to come up with varied offerings, ranging from elegant through to playful as we showcase our very individual style. I do hope we're going to inspire you!

Style Spash Emma has created a chic look with this black and pale pink dress, topped with a stylish felt hat and fur scarf that looks soft and cosy. The big blowsy blooms of the frock are offset by the teeny dotty pattern play. Do please keep me in mind when you're ready to pass this one on Emma!

Jacqui from Mummabstylish looks lovely and also very summery in her offering this month. She carries off this pastel hued outfit with a girlish flair - adorable eh? 

It was Hilda's turn to choose a theme and how fab this choice turned out to be. We're seeing a fair bit of the 70's influence amongst us and Hilda's embracing the look perfectly. See more of her backstory on the her blog Over The Hilda.

This month we're welcoming back the familar face of Gail of Is This Mutton blog. If you're a regular reader you'll remember she was involved in our monthly style challenge called 5Over50, the last one of which is shown here. After spending some time away doing her own thing, Gail was keen to rejoin our monthly collaboration and we are very happy to have her back on board. Gail is featuring her favourite floral bomber jacket with an almost identical print top underneath. Do swing by her blog for a catch up when you get a moment.

Fiona and I had to take refuge indoors this week to capture these photos, out of the wild weather that storm Dennis brought to the island. Bright sunshine was at least a help to lift the atmosphere as we made use of the space within the Pavilion in the middle of its face-lift. 

Even though the wind was blasting across the sea, the view from here was still stunning.

With no musical backdrop, I hummed some inane tune to counter the echoing of my footsteps, dancing around creating fun as is my way. Fiona struggled with fluctuating light levels, blurry shots and backlighting slowing down the process as I sashayed around, oblivious. Point a camera at me and I'm in my element!

Flower Power to me stirs up thoughts of those teenage years when I was enjoying my first forrays into fashion, spending my hard earned pocket money on mini skirts and skinny rib tops, hot pants and suede long fringed waistcoats and tent dresses worn with knee high wet-look boots. This homage to those days was quick to pull together from my wardrobe; the dress was a second hand buy last year, the New Look ankle boots were in the sale last spring and the tights are from a huge cache I have of all sorts of colours and designs.

I've featured this floral tent dress (Zara) on the blog before (see here) and I must admit it is indeed a thing of joy to wear. I recall wearing a similar dress - white cotton in a light waffle fabric, with discs of pink, yellow, orange, purple and lime green with three quarter length sleeves and a ring pull zip up the front -  when I was only about 10 years old. We were going to a family wedding and the psychedelic dress was one of the first fashion buys that embedded itself into my memory bank. It captured my imagination and fired up a lifetime of passion for clothes.

All of today's accessories, including handbag and floral necklace and matching bracelet are second hand. 

The finishing touch for today's look was this ditzy print coat (pre-loved) by Kew. The 3/4 length sleeves and thigh high hemline make this a versatile jacket that looks equally good over jeans.

I'll leave you with this final shot of the view across to Bryher and Samson islands. White tops on the sea show how wild these sheltered waters have been lately. We must count our blessings however, that we're not suffering floods like so many regions of mainland UK are. Let's all hope for an improvement this week!

                                                                                     Anna x