And fur coats too!

Hurrah for the joys of dressing up big time! Oh what fun I'm having playing around with lots of fur and sparkly things this month. As ever, I really don't have many going out options, partly because of living on this tiny, but beautiful, island, but mostly because I don't drink alcohol and therefore pub life isn't really my thing. So this was me, on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon, all dressed up and nowhere to go.

I have maybe half a dozen fur coats, but this is my current favourite. It was from River Island quite a few years ago and I still get excited at the prospect of wearing it. The length somehow adds to the sense of luxury plus it has that reassuring weightiness to it - what a fab fur it is!

The coffee and cream palate is decidedly conservative for me so I thought the best way to ramp things up was by adding as many extra bells and whistles as possible. The satin combat trousers are by Zara purchased from a Truro charity shop recently. They're two sizes too big, but never to be put off by such small matters, I simply added the cow print belt (from Vinted) to tie in with the coat and cinched the waist in as tight as possible.

Next up is the cream blouse with these fabulous frilled arms. These obviously need to be flashed about to gain the full effect. The blouse is from TK Maxx. The pony skin boots again in cow print were a Vinted buy some time ago and work perfectly with the overall look.

The rings are preloved and the sunglasses are by Radley London. 

I'm pleased to say that I've nearly wrapped all of my Christmas presents already and am about to start writing my Christmas cards. Coming up this weekend is the first stint of fudge making for my far-flung relatives. Somehow I've not managed to amass the fancy fudge boxes that I like to use for this sweetest of gifts so I'll just have to get creative with what I can find. Wish me luck with that. 

And that pretty much winds things up this week. I do hope to fabricate an excuse to wear some party clothes soon - I missed our island staff party at the weekend as I was a bit under the weather so that's one opportunity dashed! But never mind, as my husband often has remarked, I'll get dressed up for the opening of an envelope so I'll be turning up here next week in another fancy outfit (as opposed to fancy dress!).

Sending you my warmest festive greetings and wishing you successful shopping in the final run-up to Christmas!

Anna x

Wrapped up in fur and animal print

Hello lovelies! How's things with you?

The weather forecast for this weekend is for freezing temperatures and snow, hence this wintery outfit of the day. I'm so pleased that I've got a chance to wear this fabulous fun fur swing coat again. It's been a long term favourite of mine, getting dragged out year after year for the past two decades and yet it still looks on trend. Animal print seems to be forever in fashion (thank goodness) and today I'm mixing snakeskin and leopard print for a rich bit of pattern play.

The glamorous look is enhanced by the big coat collar, turned up against the wind in true Hollywood style! There's no way you can play down a look like this, is there?

I added these jumbo pearls (very old, from Debenhams) along with my white and black dappled Quay Australia sunglasses to ramp up the glam factor, finishing off with two rather ancient rings to tie in with the colour of the dress.

You'll have no doubt seen this dress before on the blog. It's a classic shape that hangs so nicely and is very flattering. I bought it online from the Topshop sale nearly two years ago now. I changed the matching belt for this white stretch one that I found in a charity shop. It's one of those frocks that always earns me compliments.

The shirtwaister is a dress that never seems to go out of fashion either and the sharp pleats makes the dress a surefire winner. 

The moss green sock boots are from Zara, maybe three years ago. I love the funky angle of the silver heels.

This swing coat was born to swing!

And that's about it for another week! I'll add some photos of the sewing project for those of you who might be interested. I've created a mix and match look so that I can keep ringing the changes. Yesterday my sewing machine was playing up and if I were experienced enough I'm sure I would have coped much better. Instead I was like a crazy dervish by the end of the afternoon and all because I wanted to finish it so that I could have today off. 

I maybe ought to have taken these photos before I'd lounged about on the top of these cushions for a couple of days. 

I'm sure I've missed a few permutations but you get my gist!

Anna x

Sending a little happiness your way

Hello! So here we go again with our third lock-down in the past 12 months. January and Feb are my least favourite months of the year, stretching my ability to keep cheerful and fight off the blues, but hey ho, here we go! I've yet to find out if being at home during this time makes it easier to bear. What has added to the challenge however, is the fact that my husband had a minor accident at work in December and is now at home laid up with a poorly foot. Hopefully he's to have an x-ray next week so he might have a diagnosis and idea of when he'll get back to work. In the meantime, I seem to be spending a lot of time providing cups of tea, cakes, snacks and meals as well as plumping up of cushions and generally faffing around him. Does he not realise that my Domestic Goddess outfit had to be returned at the end of the festive period?

Anyway, here's a little corner of Tresco where you can soak up some happiness under this golden mosaic, the creation of Lucy Dorrien-Smith. Smith Square, in the heart of the island, is where you'll find three of these lovely pieces of art, the other two being called Peace and Love. I set up my camera, timer and tripod here the other day and it wasn't without the odd hiccup as well as funny outtakes as I endeavoured to do this outfit justice. 

Colour therapy is my usual answer to anything that ails me, hence this warm combination of orange and bottle green that were the start of this OOTD. The orange gloves by Harssidanzar were a Christmas present from Steve; they are buttery soft Italian nappa leather, lined in cashmere for heat and comfort. Jamie bought me a pink pair by the same brand and both are a really impressive quality of leather as well as being a perfect fit. How snazzy will I be this winter with these two colourful pops to jazz up my outfits! The fun fur isn't new, but is a cosy snuggle-up coat for this time of year. The brand is The Vintage Boutique Collection from TK Maxx from a couple of years ago.

Not only have I gone strong with colours, but patterns too. Fairisle and paisley print for the cardigan and shirt (both by H&M), checked Italian wool trousers by No 21 (see their sale here, wow!) and my rich brocade boots by ASOS. Nothing here is new as I'm still on my shopping ban, month 11 currently.

Jewellery-wise I'm wearing pre-loved rings. The brown leather bag with orange piping is by Gigi and was a charity shop find ages ago.

This cute diamante Scottie dog brooch was a charity shop find also from a long time ago.

Taking photos of boots while you're actually wearing them isn't as easy as I thought...

My Quay Australia mirror sunglasses reflect the tripod as I rush to fix my hair before the capture... 

I'll leave you a shot from my walk around the island yesterday. Tresco was bathed in sunshine with not a breath of wind and honestly it looked just like a spring day. How grateful I am to enjoy the big outdoors on days like this.

Take care and see you soon!

Anna x