The peapod trouser suit

If you're a regular reader you'll be familiar with my peapod trouser suit, a super stylish co-ord from H&M in collaboration with the late Iris Apfel to celebrate her 100th birthday. The suit is one of my most prized possessions, a very special addition to my wardrobe. This summer I've been making a point of wearing it once a week as I feel there's no point in having special clothes that simply reside in my closet. 

These photos were taken last night after our drinks party which is taking a break over July and August. My assistants for yesterday's party were Lucy and Issey, two young girls who are spending the summer working at the Garden Cafe on Tresco. The girls are drafted in on Wednesday evenings to pour wine, chat with guests and generally help out with the practicalities of the night. It's lovely to have the youngsters on board - I swear they inject the place with energy!

Issey did the honours taking the photos last night. I was keen to capture the summer flowers that are suddenly in bloom along my garden wall and don't they make a great backdrop to my outfit?

My styling of the suit is always pretty flashy, but that's because I feel it simply lends itself to as much bling as possible. The peapod pearls always get noticed, as they're such an unusual feature. My accessories are: Elvis style bejewelled belt (from Amazon), dancing girl necklace bought from Gallery Tresco many years ago, cowrie necklace by Julian Warrender, another of our Gallery Tresco jewellers, multi jewelled bracelet by Magpie Vintage, again from a Gallery Tresco jeweller and last of all my rings are both by Emily Nixon, one of our best selling jewellers.

My white cowboy boots are by Besson, a purchase from Vinted last year. 

The bracelet is created from lots of vintage jewellery that has been deconstructed and made into a stunning, modern piece of jewellery.

If you'd like to read the first post about my (now almost famous) peapod trouser suit see it here. It was also my post to celebrate 7 years of blogging which means it's now 10 years that I've been writing this my online diary of island life, family adventures and Gallery tales. If you're a long term follower or a newcomer, you're much appreciated and I do hope you're enjoying the journey. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit!

                                                                Anna x

The shoes were the starting point...

Hi there! What do you think about my new shoes? These are by Irregular Choice and were a recent find on Vinted, costing me £45. I'm a sucker for a funky pair of shoes so what could I do but buy them when they popped up on my feed.

I'm in the middle of a huge clothes clearout the likes of which I've never undertaken before. The immediate impact of this was that I didn't manage to find the right pair of trousers to create the perfect oufit to compliment these rather fabulous poodle shoes. Instead I opted for this vibrant skirt which somehow offered the right balance of colour and print to please my sense of style.

The skirt is vintage by Jaeger and I've had it for years. The button on the waistband has been moved in and out as my weight has fluctuated from one summer to the next - this year it's static which I suppose is a good sign. The pink stretch belt ties in with my pink Candy handbag. I added a cream floral lace bodysuit underneath with my cream jeans jacket by Jack Wills to top the look off. 

The large blue ring is old, pre-loved from a charity shop many moons ago and my other ring is a gold gemstone one with aqua coloured sapphires and diamond from Emily Nixon Studio. 

The pearl and heart necklace was a hand-me-down from my sister who's also on a big dejunk currently. The pearl necklace echoes the pearl leash on the poodle shoes, but I know you understood that without my saying. The yellow sunglasses are by Quay Australia - I fancy I've outgrown the Dame Edna Everage look now and will probably move these along too. The brooches will stay however as I do love these old fashioned trinkets.

I wore a big petticoat under the skirt to give that lovely full look - such a simple addition makes all the difference.

The shoes are a joy, adding such fun to this outfit. I'm always amazed at how much pleasure I get from pulling a few interesting pieces together to create a new look. 

And finally... I'm going away on Friday, meeting up with my daughter for a busy weekend. I'll be back with all the details on Tuesday.

                                                                            Anna x

Hello again!

Hello and thank you for coming back to see me! I've been awol for a little while. In my last post I mentioned that I was going off to the mainland but didn't tell you that I was having some minor surgery to remove two skin cancers on my back. The upshot is that I was allergic to the sutures which in turn created an infection. Once home and despite having had the stitches removed the infection raged leaving me feel quite poorly and just to add insult to injury the wound burst open leaving a nasty crater in the site. I'm waiting for some new medication to treat the wound and am on strict instructions to rest. Anyway, here I am and just wanted to say hello.

This was my birthday outfit and it truly was a case of all dressed up and nowhere to go! A day after my op and I was simply happy to be at home. The fur coat isn't new, but is still a big favourite of mine. We've had some very cold weather here on the islands this winter so I've not looked too out of place wearing my various fur coats. The oatmeal coloured cardigan (note how I've swerved the colour beige there) was from F&F at Tesco while I was away. It has matching trousers too which I also bought and is from their loungewear range. Underneath the cardi is a cream lace bodysuit that I found on Vinted and I added these faux leather leggings (from TK Maxx) with my gold leather boots (Topshop) for this rock chick vibe.

For those of you who visit Tresco I just wanted to share my joyful discovery of this little nook that offers such a lovely backdrop. The crab chairs on the lawn (near the Ruin Beach Cafe) have a low wooden table which works perfectly for my camera on its stand.

I added this old pearl necklace and Radley sunglasses to complete the theme of lace, leather, fur and pearls. 

Excuse me for this cat who's got the cream shot, but I'm flashing my new ring, bought by my lovely husband to mark not just this birthday, but the many others that have been missed by him over the years. The man came good this time, sending me off to Emily Nixon's Studio in Cornwall to have a trying on session with some gemstone rings resulting in this beauty being my 'many birthdays ring'. See more of these fabulous rings here. 

So that pretty much winds things up from me here. I'm signed off work currently so am not sure if I'll have any new outfits to show you soon, but in the meantime - look after yourself!

                                                                    Anna x