My signature colour - July's Style Not Age challenge


Welcome to another Style Not Age challenge!

Suddenly it's the last Monday in July and time for this month's style challenge. Where has this month gone? Since returning to work three weeks ago I've fallen back into that crazy headless chicken mode again. In fact, it's as if I never had all of those months on furlough, getting on top of chores and making home a place of order, tidiness and calm. Now it's back to the chaos that seems to come with normal working life. But hey, let's focus on the challenge of the month - My Signature Colour. As you can see I have opted for a veritable rainbow of colours as I have no single one that is my signature. We'll have a closer look at the outfit in a minute, but first let's check out the rest of the Style collective to see what colours they chose.




Jacqui from Mummabstylish is bit like me, not able to choose only one colour, instead she's opted for this pretty pink and blue patchwork dress that she picked up in the Next sale.




Style Splash's Emma is a big fan of red and is sporting this fabulous creation by Dark Pink from Asos with co-ordinating shoes from M&S.




Blogger Gail from Is This Mutton has chosen lilac as her favourite colour and how very flattering it is! I do love the pink accessories too Gail. 




Hilda says orange/red is her colour and this looks stunning on her. She's recently had her hair coloured and it, and she, look great. Catch up with Hilda on her blog Over The Hilda.




I'm never happier than when I'm wearing bright colours and this look has it all! The Jaeger skirt is a vintage piece, pre-loved of course and a much loved favourite of mine. 




The net underskirt gives body to the skirt and add that bit of pizzazz that I so love. There's nothing understated about this outfit today, but sometimes I'm just larger than life!




The white ruffle blouse is by Jovonna, a find from TK Maxx last year and perfect for this over the top bit of dressing up. 




Much as I think the skirt and pop art shoes are perfect together...




... by adding this handbag it takes the outfit to a whole other level. It's pure riotous assembly in colour and yes, represents my signature style colourwise. 




The handbag has no label and is a charity shop find from my November shopping trip in London with my friend Ben. My rings are both charity shopped too.




A show-off outfit deserves show-off sunglasses and these old favourites are just the job! In case you've missed them before, the brand is Quay Australia.




Steve and I had an interesting time when we did this photo shoot last weekend. Within a minute of leaving the house (which is actually exactly here in this photo) the heel of my shoe came apart from the sole. In true the show must go on style, Steve bashed said heel and squeezed it back into place so that I could walk about (albeit gingerly) for the shots.




The heel came off the other shoe almost a year ago so I posted it to the cobblers in Truro to have it mended. And then when it came back, a funny thing happened. I had lost its partner. As it sat on a book shelf during the winter I kept looking at this beautiful solitary shoe mocking me for having paid £30 to have it repaired and now it seemed that it would forever be a showcase piece with its wearing days a thing of the past. I even put it out of the way at one point, annoyed at my stupidity. I questioned the chain of events. Had I just thrown the partner away when the shoe broke as I was appalled at the quote to have it repaired? The shoes had cost me £8.50 in a charity shop in Harrogate, worn only once before and now it'd cost me £30 to have it fixed? Yes, clearly I'd been so cross that I'd chucked the other one away in disgust. From time to time throughout the winter I'd come across the single shoe and get all excited that I'd found the other one. Only it wasn't! And then when I was unfurloughed I was digging through a pile of boxes at work and hey presto! The partner was in a shoebox under some files. So here's another £30 gone as I have this one repaired too. Man these shoes aren't quite the bargain I thought they were!

                                                                                   Anna x

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Not Square With Gingham - our Style Not Age challenge


Hello and welcome! Thanks for joining me today as I gather together my Style Not Age friends who between us are presenting "Not Square With Gingham". It was Hilda's choice this month, and one that had me scratching my head a bit as I wondered what to wear. I really only have three gingham pieces, one of which I've already featured on our monthly style challenge (here). With no shopping trip in sight and a clampdown on spending this month due to far too many expenses with out little motor boat, I had to give up on my idea of eBay solving my problem. Anyway, as you can see I've gone all bright and colourful (oh what a surprise!) wearing this floral gingham top that came from a charity shop last year, but more on this later.


Hilda wears gingham check fitted trousers by Puno Roma and a classic Zara shirt. Why oh why, does that half tuck look stylish on her and yet half undone on me? Hilda's feature can be seen in full on her blog Over The HIlda.


Emma from Style Splash wears a summery pink and white gingham skirt and tee shirt both from Zara. (Have these ladies both been cashing in on the Zara sale site I wonder?) Her sleek and stylish summer shoes are from River Island. Do pop over to see more from Emma on her blog too.


Jacqui has given us a double dose of gingham with these crops and matching brolly, but she's also added some pattern play by way of this sleeveless duster in summer florals - fab! Last minute photos brought about this weather-led shoot which turned out both cute and playful for her. See Jacqui's post on Mummabstylish.


My photos were weather-led too as I panicked at my last minute attempt to find somewhere out of the high winds and between showers to capture my gingham offering. Steve kindly did the honours in his lunchtime. If he had zoomed into the sea in the distance you'd have seen the white horses driving over the tops of the waves. Heavy showers for the past few days has brought inches of welcome rain to the UK which is long overdue as you can see by the parched grassland of Jimmy Cox's field. (Jimmy Cox is long dead, so we weren't in danger of being chased off!)


I pushed the boat out by adding these pop art courts by Chockers to my jolly vintage skirt by Jaeger. They cost £8.50 in St Michael's Hospice charity shop in Harrogate in the spring.


My gingham top is by F&F at Tesco's but was sourced in a charity shop last year. I like the feature of the split sleeve which was a great compromise for me when off-the-shoulder tops ruled the roost, but weren't my thing. The addition of flowers and greenery to the gingham appealed to my need to break with convention. 


Today's jewellery is all preloved apart from my favourite gold chain necklace which was a gift from Sasha. This pretty pink cuff is a recent and welcome addition to my stash.


My other go-to accessory has to be this pink stretch belt which I found on eBay a couple of years ago. At £5 the cost per wear must have dropped down into the pennies by now as I seem to wear this belt at least once a week - it's turned into a signature piece of mine - not the most stylish, classy or expensive, but certainly useful!


The final flourish to my outfit was my black net petticoat, adding fun and fullness to the skirt. The simple act of adding a net underskirt instantly adds a sense of occasion to any ensemble - a favourite trick of mine.


Thank goodness that there was no-one about to see this windswept scenario as they were out for a woodlands walk - what would they have thought?

Thanks for joining me today on this last post of July. I can't quite believe that August is upon us! The summer is rushing past me with so many things left behind in the rush and tear of life; no link-ups as I'm too time challenged; far too infrequent exchanges with blogging friends; not enough miles clocked up ready for my big sea swim challenge - oh dear, I must try harder. On the plus side, I'm drawing on my mindfulness training from earlier this year (see here) and remembering to take a moment which has been a life saver. The "musts" and "shoulds" and "have tos" are being dropped in favour of power naps, picnics and revelling in the outdoors life. Counting my blessings is a great way of grounding myself and stopping the runaway train of thoughts that can sometimes drive me to exhaustion. Summer on these beautiful islands is in itself a huge blessing and one not to be overlooked. On that note, I shall leave you, my lovely readers and wish you well. Downtime is just what the doctor ordered methinks!


Until next time, take care!
Anna x

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