Ping Pong Piece no 5

Welcome to the latest edition of Ping Pong Piece, the new and improved version of Ping Pong Post which entailed three bloggers posting our clothes around the world in the name of creativity (see how it started here). Now, instead of pinging clothes back and forth, we ping ideas around to each other. This month Samantha, Ann and myself along with my guest of the month, Mary Murnane are styling a beach cover-up. 

Mary is an Emmy Award winning TV news reporter and anchor whose love of photography and fashion has led her to publish her own blog. I've followed Mary for some time now and am in awe of her sleek, polished style which still incorporates a playful element and a penchant for beautiful handbags and shoes. Her cover up is by Neiman Marcus and slides are by Zara.

Samantha has recently been playing happy families on the beach in Scotland where the temperatures aren't quite making the 20's yet. Sam's answer is to keep her top half cosied up against the wind which enables her to don her shorts to catch a few rays. See more of this on her blog Fake Fabulous.

Outfit details -

Jumper: Charity Shop
Gilet: Joules
Sandals: Vionics
Shorts: Fat Face

It seems that Ann has a similar approach to the beach cover-up idea. An old favourite of hers, this fisherman's jumper is her go-to casual wear for summer by the lake. Sunnies, flip flops and cut-offs complete her summer essentials for a day in the sun. Join Ann on Kremb de la Kremb. 

Outfit details are -

Sunnies--Forever 21

Sweater--HM

Suit and Flip Flops--Target

Cut-offs--DIY thrifted Wranglers

Beach Tote--Louella Odié

My beach cover up was a charity shop find earlier on this summer, from ASOS, and cost all of £3.99. I love the crazy hooped hemline which reminds me of a Lady Gaga costume. The shoot took two days and two visits to my favourite desert-island-of-the-moment, Samson. The black hat on day one, left me a bit non plussed, but the pistachio hat and coral sandals were more the mood I wanted. And the joy of these islands is that you don't have to wait too long before a yacht or two will sail on by adding that Caribbean vibe to the shot.

Body confidence is in the news currently thanks mainly to the Loose Women photo shoot where the presenters all stripped down to their cossies shunning the aid of airbrushing. When you consider that the oldest, Janet Street-Porter, is 70 it's a brilliant message for women of every age that we ought to love our bodies - wobbly bits, scars, lumps and bumps - it's all part of our unique story and a celebration of normal life. 

goodtoknow.media.ipcdigital.co.uk

Every summer I promise myself that this will be my last one for wearing a bikini and this year is no different. Will I dare to bare next year when I'm 60? So here's my (maybe) last bikini shot. I share it to celebrate a body that's given birth to two babies and over the decades has gained then lost many pounds all in the name of body confidence.

I'm heading over to the mainland today and may not manage to respond to your comments during the next few days, but please do drop me a line and I'll catch up with you when I get back. Are you still wearing a bikini in your 50's? And why not? I'd love to hear from you if you are!

Anna x

Black trouser challenge 8

Yes, I know it's just a couple of days ago that I covered no 7 in this challenge, but my week is all a bit upside down. On the 20th it's time for Ping Pong Piece again and is also the day I take myself off to the mainland for a few days. I'll schedule a post in for my regular slot on Sunday so by the end of the week I'll have posted three times which will be grand.

Week 8 brings the cost-per-wear down to £5 for these frilled fancy pants by River Island and that's surely a bargain in anyone's book! My blogging friend Sheila asked if I'm not getting sick of these week-in, week-out trousers and I can honestly say, No not yet. As a latecomer to this black trouser party I'm still pretty evangelical with regards to the flexibility that black offers. All the years of shunning this most sober of colours is suddenly like I've opened the floodgates and all of the options are revealing themselves to me. 

Today's offering of frills with frills along with beading and multicolour mules has me strutting my stuff with confidence. Orange is one of my favourite summer colours and I've been holding back this Coast top (a charity shop find, of course) until it was the perfect summer's day. Only it clouded over by the time I got to work! My early morning swim was in golden sunlight, the warmth playing on my back as I wandered across the sand to the sea. The temperature of the water has risen to about 14 degrees now which is a big improvement on the 8 degrees that I encountered way back in February. The forecast is for rain and lightening across the West Country today, ho hum!

Apart from my fancy pants, I'm wearing this Coast top, belt by Sainsbury's, mules by Carmen Poveda, pendant from New Zealand and other jewellery is charity shopped.

Thursday brings another edition of Ping Pong Piece with the piece to be styled being a beach cover-up. Do pop back to see how we fared and to meet my guest of the month...

Anna x

Black trouser challenge 7 and my #instarant

Another week and another variation based on these fabulous frilly fancy pants by River Island. No, this isn't a sponsored post, just my personal style challenge to see how many outfits I can create by building on these wonderful ruffled trousers. This week's offering is here -

I was toying with the idea of nude shoes to tie in with the nude and eau de nil shell top, but decided on these wedge sandals as they feature both colours and also are comfortable enough to wear all day long. I bought the silk top in a second hand store in Ireland quite a few years ago and still deem it as a special find. Costing only 20 euros it's down to less than 4 euros per wear now. The sandals were from TK Maxx: the brand is Refresh. The sunglasses were in the sale at Sainsbury's last year, rings are charity shopped and the pendant I bought when I was in New Zealand.

I'm gonna change gear a bit now as I'm brewing a bit of a rant. It's a #instarant in fact. For those of you on instagram I want to ask this question - "Since when did instagram become a dating site?" Blogging and instagram have proved to be a great way for me to build new friendships over the past couple of years. I follow all sorts of interests from yoga and fitness, healthy eating, fashion, sewing, swimming, holidays, all things Cornish, all things Scottish and generally anything interesting that takes my fancy. But recently I've been getting message requests from men of all ages and frankly I find it a bit of an intrusion. "Hello beautiful, how's your day?" may be an acceptable introduction if I were touting my wares on Match.com, but here I am posting fashion shots for the over 50's or pictures of the sunset from my garden. I deliberately include my marital status in my instagram profile in the hope of deterring this kind of encounter. What kind of guy would hassle a married woman? 

Just the other day I noticed that an instafriend changed her setting to private explaining that she's fed up getting inappropriate messages from men. She's baffled as to how her posts on sewing and food can be construed as encouragement for these stalkers. I decline and block these message requests as she too has in the past, but I'm annoyed to think that we are the ones who have to change our instagram lives to avoid this kind of attention. 

I can only imagine that these men are weirdos, a conclusion that I draw from the fact that they don't avail themselves of the convention dating routes. Why chase a married woman who lives on the other side of the world when you could pop into your local bar and chat to a single woman who has joined up for a bit of speed dating? Why indeed. Maybe because the man in question doesn't really want a relationship. Maybe he gets his kicks from chasing the unobtainable. Maybe he's not got the social skills to interact under normal circumstances? Maybe he's got two heads and six fingers and toes? Goodness knows! It's a blooming mystery to me.

Anna x

Black trouser challenge 6

Here we have week 6 of my black trouser challenge featuring these fabulous frilled lovelies from River Island. You don't often see me wearing red - last time was at Christmas with this red skirt- but today I've rediscovered this M&S linen top that I bought in a charity shop last summer and this is its first showing.

Red and black may well be everyday wear for most of you, but this is a giant step out of my comfort zone. Having said that, I realise that finding the right shade of red makes my skin come alive. I've previously shied away from reds thinking that they didn't suit me, but that's because I've been trying reds with a blue tone in them as opposed to this which is a tomato red that veers towards orange. The vintage handbag doesn't come out much for all the previous reasons so this is a great excuse to showcase it once again.

Outfit details - trousers: River Island, top: M&S, belt, bag,bangle and rings: all charity shopped, necklace: gift, shoes: BCBGeneration.

On Sunday I'll be featuring my outfit for our first summer show so please join me to see how I kicked things off this year.

Anna x

Art deco culottes

I bought these fabulous art deco print culottes last year and this is the first time I've worn them. Why has it taken me so long I wonder? 

I'm not sure if these really constitute culottes? Maybe they're just long shorts? Or short longs? Hahaha, I can't help myself sometimes.

Anyway, I love them and also like the knobbly texture of my clutch which I cleverly matched up with the knobbly textured top today - also new and never worn. Items like these tend to take a back seat in my wardrobe, often getting overlooked for more eye catching pieces. And yet once this is on I think it's pretty eye catching too!

Must dash now as I've an exhibition to open today with our reception party this evening. Over the next few days I'll be featuring the party outfit and also showcasing my black trouser challenge at some stage too so do swing by to check out the blog for the latest from these golden isles.

Today's outfit details - culottes: Topshop, top: Tu, sandals: Sixtyseven: clutch: no brand (charity shopped), sunglasses: Quay Australia, bangle: charity shopped, rings: c/o Gemporia.

Anna x

5Over50 round 3

Hello again, and thanks for joining we five over 50's fashion bloggers with this monthly style challenge as created by Gail (see how we started here). This month it was the turn of Laurie to choose our subject and she came up with "50 shades of monochrome". It's probably no surprise to hear that just one colour didn't really rock my boat, (sorry Laurie) so I turned to the more common understanding of the word monochrome like this -

A drizzly damp morning meant the need for a brolly on my photo shoot which pretty much led me to this particular outfit. Now let's see how my blogging friends interpreted the monochrome theme.

First let's see Gail who was lucky enough to have the beautiful Greek island of Skiathos as her backdrop. 

Gail opted for various shades and textures of white to offset her golden tan beautifully, from her oversized pearls right down to her sparkling silver nailpolish. See more on her blog Is this mutton here.

Jacqui chose zingy shades of yellow to wake up this challenge, with the palest lemon clutch, paintbox yellow trousers, finishing with her burnished gold sandals. I wonder how long it took her to find this perfect setting? See the full post on her blog Mummabstylish here.

Ashley is currently in the USA but that hasn't stopped her from channeling the same cool summer vibe as Gail with this gorgeous white ensemble right down to the use of a pretty lace top to add that extra bit of interest - great minds eh? Catch up with her blog Lazy Daisy Jones here.

Last of all Laurie chose the palest of nude pinks to play her monchrome hand. In the hands of an expert this simple top and pleated skirt are pure sophistocation. Visit Laurie's blog Vanity and Me Style here.

I'd like to think that we 5 over 50 represent a broad spectrum of women our age. Would you have chosen the same palette as us? Have we inspired you? What does monchrome mean to you? Please leave a comment if this feature has you searching through your closet to mimic one of our looks.

Linking with 

Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Anna x