Anna's Island Style: pre-loved jewellery

September colour

Did you watch it? I was one of the 20 million viewers who watched the TV coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II yesterday, Monday 19th September 2022. The majestic farewell was more spectacular than anyone could have imagined and one that we shall never forget; what a memorable end to the most wonderful life. The day encapsulated love and loss in equal measure, leaving me feel as if I'd been there myself. My heart goes out to the Royal Family as they begin to make their way forward without their matriarch.

And so, on to the outfit of the day. This colourful ensemble was a work outfit, but I failed to capture it at the time and so did a re-run on Sunday. The eagle-eyed amongst you will see that some photos show me with necklace and matching bracelet and others not. I had great fun (not really) chasing the sun and had given up cloud dodging at one point and gone home, removing some of my jewellery only to have another burst of sunshine appear.

And yes, this look is indeed all about the joy of colour being orange and pink mainly. Nothing new here though. The flares are from Asos, cardigan from Primark, vest top from H&M and jewellery is all pre-loved. As ever, I'm holding on to summer for as long as I can and what better way to convey this than will these candy colours?

The cream boots were from Asos last year and have never been packed away. I love the platform for adding height - just perfect for these long loon pants.

At least I'm giving you lots of different views as I chased the sun. My tripod and timer served me well as I hopped from place to place trying to get a few decent shots.

Another glorious backdrop as we look across Saffron Bay and through New Grimsby sound and on to Cromwell's Castle in the distance. It wasn't too much of a hardship to be out and about early on Sunday morning. Once I'd gathered my photos together I went off for a swim on the high tide and it was probably one of the warmest and most enjoyable swims of the year so far. The sea was calm, not a jellyfish in sight and no-one on the beach at all. Idyllic!

My 70's look is completed by these round sunglasses (ancient, from River Island) and the perspex rings. It's fun to relive the fashion of my teens even though that was 50 years ago - yikes! I'll finish off with a few more local shots of Tresco looking rather stunning in the early autumn sunshine.

And this was tonight's sunset as seen from my garden.

Anna x

Hello lovelies! How are things with you? September is upon us but, as ever, I'm not done with summer yet and will be holding onto my summer finery for as long as possible. This was my work outfit from Friday when the sun was shining as opposed to today's showery, blustery weather.

I picked up this skirt and top in Primark in April and this is only the second time I've worn it. My blogging friend Sheila from Ephemera always advocates wearing a new item as soon as possible, to take ownership of it and make it part of your wardrobe. Such good advice! I've held off wearing some pieces that I bought in the spring simply to keep them as new. However that can also work against them as they/I can go off the boil.

The two-piece is pretty and I do love the colour which is probably why I bought it, but the jury's out as to whether I'll be wearing it again next year. The elastic around the bottom of the top plus the batwing sleeves means that it doesn't sit in one place but keeps popping up over the waistband of the skirt. On reflection, I can imagine that this is meant to be a crop top. (Primark's demographic won't have over 60's like me in mind!)

The other downside is the very long skirt (neither maxi nor midi) which needs high heels or wedge sandals (these are old, from TK Maxx) as I've worn here. Much as I tried this on in the changing room at the time of purchase, I was simply looking to add some new colour and style to my wardrobe and this seemed to fit the bill. I recall I was in Truro for a medical appointment and therefore this would have been a bit of a rushed shopping spree at the time. Hey ho!

The gold coloured chain belt was another Primark purchase, bought at the same time to add a bit of bling to what I already knew was a marginally staid outfit. I do think it works in lifting the overall look especially along with the gold chain necklace - a very old Primark piece too.

I feel I may be a bit unkind and disloyal to this co-ord and have to say that I don't hate it, but need to find better accessories to lift it into Anna's Island Style. Maybe my orange wedge sandals would have given a more fun slant to things? No worries - I'll be packing it away until next year to give it another chance to shine.

Understatement isn't one of my strong points and maybe I've not been very fair on the first viewing of this ensemble. My choice of vintage handbag is a great match but, you know me, I do love the wow factor. The rings are old and my Quay Australia sunglasses work well in that matchy-matchy way.

Fiona did the honours with our end of the week photo shoot. As friends we pride ourselves in absolute honesty with her telling me often "Oh, you won't like that one!" as I babble on when I need to be concentrating on my photo face. We do have lots of laughs and surely that's what we all need!

Anna x

Hello and welcome to Maxi Madness, our Style Not Age challenge for August! Month by month we 5 friends take it in turn to choose a theme for our challenge and this time it's Hilda's choice which has brought about a lovely collection of summer maxi's so let's take a closer look shall we?

Jacqui's look captures the golden glow of summer in what is actually her daughter's maxi dress. Floppy hat and espadrilles complete this balmy day outfit. Read more from jet-setting Jacqui on her blog Mummabstylish.

Gail from Is This Mutton has chosen her Asos green maxi dress for our challenge paired with sandals from Accessorize. By her own admission it's madness to own such a lovely dress and never worn it until today!

Hilda's maxi is what she wore on her recent wedding anniversary - a skirt from her local boutique worn and a much loved top. Her maxi madness looks utterly elegant I'd say. You can find her backstory on Over The Hilda blog.

Emma's glorious maxi dress is by Stella Nova, and is a fabulous combination of summer colours. The figure hugging wrap dress can be seen on her blog Style Splash here.

My maxi dress was from Hush last summer and golly, what a lot of wear I've had out of it this summer too! It's been great for those super heatwave days when you only want to wear something loose and airy. The shade of pink is neither too wishy-washy nor too fluorescent to leave the skin looking washed out.

Last week's blog Summer Brights outfit (see here) was such a success that I decided to repeat the happy combination of pink and orange again, this time using the orange for my accessories. Nothing new jewellery-wise nor with the sunglasses or old sandals, but all adding a welcome splash of contrasting colour to liven up what is already a pretty lively frock!

The backdrop is of New Grimsby quay for those of you who haven't visited the island. We mooched along at the end of the day to capture these shots with only a few fishermen for company.

My daughter kindly did the honours with this week's photography. This atmospheric shot is one of my favourites.

I do hope you've enjoyed this month's offering - maybe we've given you some inspiration for these last few weeks of summer weather and what you could wear. Thanks for dropping by!

Anna x

Hello lovelies! I maybe ought to have called today's post "Better late than never!". August has taken its toll on me, meaning I'm way behind with everything apart from work. Well, maybe even at some areas of my work too if the truth be known... Anyway, here I am in the middle of the night, with a bout of insomnia and an internet connection that keeps dropping in and out trying to put this post together.

My summer brights outfit is a mixture of old and new items - the new being this ruffled skirt, yet another purchase from Number 36 in Penzance dating back to my spring visit to the mainland. The white vest top was from H&M earlier this year too and the pink linen shirt (M&S) was a charity shop find from last year.

The tiered orange skirt feels flirty and fun and it seemed only right to flounce about on the sand for these photos. Fiona, my photographer extraordinaire, was awol as were family and so I had to make do with the timer on my camera and a bit of hamming up on my own. At least I managed to find a quiet spot on where no-one could see my antics.

I was prepared for the odd flash too by wearing my new bikini. I've yet to do a beach post proper this summer as my every spare moment has been spent helping Steve with our boat renovations. Goodness knows if we'll managed to get it into the water at all this year! Just as we've been trying to finish the last patch of paintwork the weather has turned wet and unpredictable here which is very frustrating.

Said bikini is floral and multi-coloured and is the first new one I've bought for years. Am I bikini body ready I ask myself? Probably not, but it's the only body I've got and may well be on display in September when I've booked a week off work. If the boat isn't launched by then, I plan to take myself off to the beach every day (weather permitting) for a high tide swim and then have a picnic and laze around reading a book and sunbathing. I've already put in for a dose of good weather so fingers crossed that will all go to plan!

There's nothing new jewellery-wise and the Radley sunglasses aren't new either. The beaded belt is very old indeed but has been brought out to tie in with my sandals which again were bought in the spring (from TK Maxx) and haven't made it onto the blog previously.

Side by side, the belt and sandals do look as if they match perfectly which for me it terribly satisfying. Matchy-matchy or clashy-clashy whichever is the plan always makes me happy if I manage to pull it off. Such little pleasures in life please me immensely.

So that's just about all from me. I'm having an overnight trip to the mainland this weekend to have my eye's tested but don't expect I'll have much time for shopping. I say that to almost prepare myself for any disappointment. I also have to get a new passport photo taken and have done an online search, but do wonder how reliable that is - one of the venues is KFC! Anyway, wish me luck and I'll be back on Monday with our Style Not Age challenge. Hope to see you then. Please leave me a comment if you've enjoyed this post.

Thanks for dropping by!

Anna x

Hello again! So, here's Friday's outfit - a fabulous jumpsuit from The Finery. It was on the mannequin in the window of the British Heart Foundation shop in Penzance when I was there in the spring. The colours are so eye-catching that it stopped me in my tracks. I was heading to catch my flight home and was carrying my holdall, whilst wearing a jacket that unfortunately had a stain on the front. I mention all of this because it's perhaps why I was spoken to the way I was...

I made my way to the back of the shop and found an assistant steaming clothes in the back room. I asked her what size the jumpsuit in the window was and she said it was a 12. Great, I responded, Can I buy it? At which, she looked me up and down, clocked what she thought was a bag lady and snapped, "It's £20!". "Great" I repeated and she stomped off to retrieve it. Never judge a book by it's cover, eh? To my utter delight, the jumpsuit turned out to be brand new with the labels still attached. I don't buy from The Finery myself, but checked out the website and can see another jumpsuit in the sale in baby blue...

My lace top is old, from New Look a couple of summer's ago, but works well under this neckline. The jumpsuit came with a long sash in the same block colour as the hemline, but I changed that up for a stretch belt in purple.

None of my accessories are new. Why does that make me feel so virtuous? Probably because last week's outfit was almost totally new I suppose. Anyway, apart from the £20 jumpsuit the rest comes from my closet and jewellery collection. Even the sunglasses are old, by Radley London.

My silver and white sandals (Topshop) are very old indeed and were even passed on from my daughter a few years ago.

Fiona did me proud again with our after work photo session. Some of you may recognise that I didn't venture far from my workplace to get these in the bag.

Anna x

Hello lovelies! How are you doing? Are you wilting in the summer heat or have things cooled down with you? The weather here is fine, not too hot and pretty much a mixed bag where no two days are the same. My outfit of the day is new - jeans, smock and sandals are all new. The smock has the look of an artist's smock which was probably why it appealed to me. I found it in Number 36, the little boutique on Causeway Head in Penzance which I've been frequenting of late.

The linen smock is by Goose Island and is perfect for cool summer dressing. The wide boat neck, generous one size cut and cute single pocket all go to make a stylish wear. I added a white tee underneath and white stetch fit jeans that I found on Amazon to complete the summer look.

I bought the blue Lazy Dogz sandals online recently - they go really well with the smock. I've got a couple of pairs of these now and love them! They're cool and comfortable footwear, perfect for summer days when you're on your feet all day long.

Both of the blue rings are old, charity shop buys from years ago and yet work well with the colour of today's ensemble.

You'll probably recognise my old favourite Quay Australia sunglasses worn here with my gold chain necklace from Zara. I had my hair cut last week and am really pleased with it.

A final twirl to finish off!

Anna x

Anna's Island Style

September colour

Pistachio two piece from Primark

Maxi Madness, our Style Not Age challenge for August

Summer brights

Friday's Finery

Smock it to me baby!