A new linen co-ord from Lintico

Hi there, and how are you? I can't believe that we're in September already when I don't quite feel ready to let go of my summer wardrobe. Luckily the weather is still warm here on the Isles of Scilly and today I'm sharing a rather elegant two-piece gifted to me by Lintico which is perfect for the late summer temperatures. I'm linking across to the brand straight away so that you may see both the outfit and details about the company. See here. 

Lintico is a new-to-me brand so I took my time to research them and their ethos as well as the products; I love their endorsement of slow fashion and that they opt for long term associations with respected suppliers with skilled makers. It's refreshing to know that this isn't about pushing the latest trend, instead the intention is to create pieces that you want to come back to time after time. 

When the linen set arrived I was really happy to see that the fabric was a good medium weight and not that flimsy, semi-sheer linen you often come across. This linen has a lovely drape to it, a floppiness that speaks weight which has a smooth, solid finish to the fabric. The stitching is top quality (as a home sewer I like to think I can spot good quality stitching) and the design is classic with a contemporary twist as seen in the Viola top - I've linked to it here. 

The clothes are for everyday wear, in breathable fabric in shapes that echo a woman's figure - I've spent my first whole day at work wearing my two-piece and it still looks smooth, sleek and stylish, not sad and crumpled as cheaper linen often does. Not surprisingly, the outfit earned me compliments for its understated elegance.

I styled the look with my summer hat which was a recent purchase from a charity shop in Truro. You might have seen it in my earlier blog about our summer holiday. The pretty necklace is by Charlie Dodge, a jeweller who we represent at Gallery Tresco, my earrings are preloved and my go-to sunglasses are old but still rather lovely, from Oliver Bonas. My beaded belt was from Amazon quite a few years ago. My cream platform sandals are by Zara. And of course I'm wearing my gold and sapphire rings by Emily Nixon as usual.

The pleated pockets of the Veridiana trousers are a clever design feature which creates fullness in just the right place, and of course, when can pockets not be a winning feature? The partially elasticated waist works perfectly to allow a smooth line across the stomach in just the right place and yet offers comfort too. I added a pearl belt to style these my way as there's no need to let everyone know I'm keen on a stretchy waistband! Linking to the trousers here. 

I particularly like the length of the top when paired with the trousers - it showcases the fullness of the trousers and is flattering too. With its layered hem and asymmetric hemline, the top is cool and fashionable. The top would work well over jeans for a more casual look or even with shorts - it really does feel very versatile. And as for the trousers, they would look great with a tee shirt and a fitted sweater - I'm keen to showcase each styling again before I pack my summer clothes away, so let's keep our fingers crossed that we'll be blessed with an Indian summer.

If you're in the market for some top quality linen then do use my code which will give you 15% off with your first order. Use my personal code LINTICOAPS to access this.

                                                                        Anna x

Shopping my closet for a summer's day

Hello again, and how are you? The featured outfit was my Friday work wear, nothing new, but still bright and breezy for the end of the week. I've shopped my closet and come up with a combination that's new which is always a joy to me.

I bought this jacket in TK Maxx in Manchester way back when I was there doing my modelling stint with JD Williams. The size of that store was the biggest TK Maxx I've ever visited and what a great session I had there. The brand is Anja Rock; I do love the retro style, but it's not always easy to incorporate into every outfit. That said, it works perfectly with the orange dungarees.

These fab linen dungarees are by Joss and I fancy I bought them in a boutique in Cornwall, Number 36, a regular haunt of mine when I'm in Penzance.

 

I've paired them with my well worn cream lace bodysuit; I really like the contrast of the slim fitting top and the oversized dungarees. The orange really pops against the cream too.

Nothing new with my accessories either, but that doesn't mean boring does it? The orange perspex necklace was another boutique buy from Penzance a long, long time ago. The colour is a great match though, ideal for this outfit. My sunglasses are by Radley London from a few years ago.

You'll have no doubt seen these rings many time before too, but I won't bother to apologise as that's fine isn't it?

And hurrah for a pair of comfortable but cute summer sandals! These are by Rocket Dog, purchased in TK Maxx a couple of years ago - I bought them in another colourway too as they're so pretty.

Anyway, I've not much more to report this time. Work is ramping up as the holiday season builds which means more customers, more sales and therefore more packing and despatching of artworks. I'm not complaining as this is what we plan all winter for and yet suddenly we're in the thick of it. Rachel, my part-time assistant, is about to return to full-time status tomorrow and it doesn't come a moment too soon. I have lots of admin waiting to be done and it'll be great to do some catching up.

Weatherwise it's a real mixed bag, with very little sunshine and far too much fog this week which has caused a lot of travel disruptions. Thank goodness that I'm staying put for the next couple of months!

                                                                                       Anna x

From spring to summer SNA challenge

Welcome to another Style Not Age challenge! This month I chose the theme and came up with From Spring to Summer, a timely notion, don't you agree? My Lucy and Yak dungarees fit the brief perfectly as I wear them most weekends - they're perfect for wearing to do the housework, go for a walk or just bumble about. 

Jacqui has chosen this lightweight cream lace jacket as her transisitional piece and very pretty it is too! Catch up with all of her week's events on her blog Mummbstylish here. 

A sporty cardi comes from Hilda, again the perfect layer to carry you from one season to another. See more from Hilda on Over The Hilda blog post here. 

Another cardi, this time a short sleeved one, comes from Emma. The cute crochet cardi comes from TK Maxx and I wish I could just pop there now to find it! See the full post from Emma on Style Splash blog. 

This weekend was my big summer clothes changeover and lucky for me it was a perfectly sunny day on Sunday to get them all washed and hung out on the line. My garden is right beside the road and the rainbow collection was the talking point for many passers by. I spent the afternoon weeding our garden wall, cutting back all the wild brambles and unwanted plants. I enjoyed lots of conversations about my colourful clothes, my blog and the day job which allows me to express myself in these bright colours and many a flamboyant outfit.

I did have one woman stop and ask me if I was having a clothes sale and what a unique idea it was for a shop front. I shall keep that in mind for when I finally retire and need to move all of my working clothes along. 

The outfit of the day shows nothing new. The dungarees I've had for few years now, the long sleeved tee likewise and my sandals are by Heavenly Feet - these I can agree are indeed heavenly as they are so comfortable. 

Nothing new with my accessories either - the sunglasses are by Oliver Bonas, gold chain from Accessorize and rings are both pre-loved. This is my ideal outfit for the weekends, easy to wear yet colourful enough to show my personality. Many thanks for joining us once again and I look forward to catching up with you again soon!

                                                                    Anna x

11 years ago it all started... (part 1)

Hello and welcome to this mega post where I'm celebrating 11 years of blogging. Thank you for being here, no matter if that was right from the start or for joining me along the way, it's been a joy to share my life in photos with you. This first image is from June 2015, a month after the blog started - see the full post here. As I've been gathering images together over the past few days, I've been surprised at all sorts of aspects of myself - it's like seeing myself through the eyes of someone else - and golly there are some fab photos I'd forgotten about as well as proof of my body dysmorphia. Heck, I was positively skinny in some of these shots! And others show me beach-body ready - blimey if only I'd known at the time instead of being so self-critical and believing that I was fat. In the words of Baz Luhrman - In 20 years time you'll look back at yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how fabulous you really looked. You are NOT as fat as you imagine.

The perfectionist in me is disappointed that I've lost my hard drive containing a huge volume of photos from those early days, therefore I've had to return to the posts to snatch photos for many of these. Apologies. I'm featuring this image (see the full post here), again from 2015, as it received one of the highest of views throughout the history of the blog (19,373). I expect those were from bots, but feel free to take a look if you're interested.

July 2015 sees me writing about These Arms, and when I return to read it, I have to applaud this 57 year old version of myself for her honesty and as always, the need to draw attention to her flaws before anyone else could. If you have a moment, then please do read this one as it's a lovely post, even though I do say so myself - here it is. 

Moving on to 2016, in February Steve and I went for a cruise which did receive a lot of views so I'm featuring it here in case you'd like to see it. The posts before and after this one show the entire holiday which was pretty wonderful, despite my husband's initial reservations about being stuck with a whole load of people and no chance of escape! For a man who has spent all his working life in the big outdoors, working mainly on his own, he really is perfectly happy with the silence of his own company so you can imagine how challenging he thought it would be to spend a week held captive with over 2000 guests out at sea. Looking back he really did incredibly well.

Please note that I had taken my own advice and was allowing the world to see my imperfect arms without it spoiling my enjoyment of this rather fabulous evening gown. 

In March of 2016 I shared my first Ping Pong Post, an idea I had birthed along with a couple of my blogging friends Ann and Samantha. We ran with this for several months and it did increase my viewing figures accordingly. Do take a peek at this one if you're interested.

In August of 2016 my lovely friend Mel sent me The Travelling Yellow Skirt and that post received over 8000 views! The story of the skirt is worth a read or maybe just look at the blue sky and the desert island on the beautiful summer's day on Scilly. 

In October 2016 I showcased an artist who in turn wanted to showcase me. The post added variety to my blog and I must admit I found the experience to be most exciting, especially as it entailed me dressing up in various outfits to have my photo taken! Read the full post here if you wish. 

March 2017 saw me on staycation so that I could invest some time in myself, namely to improve my swimming. Despite this being a very niche blog post it still had over 3000 views and a healthy number of comments. Stretch, Roll, Popeye can be read here. 

Our summer exhibitions played a large part in my working life prior to Covid and therefore it's only right that I should feature one or two in this mega round-up. The outfit above is from the 5th of August 2017, a typical summer's eve when we laid on the best opening night we could for the artist in attendance - in this case it was for Jenny Ulyatt. Catch the whole feature here. 

This bubbly snap captures the best of my life and my joy in dressing up. It comes from my 2017 round-up which really has to be featured to give a flavour of my life at that time. See My 2017 Highlights here. 

I'm going to skip 2018 and 2019 for the moment and will come back to these years later. Turning 60 was a big deal, not from a number point of view, but because it brought me a series of opportunities the like of which I could never of imagined possible. 

By 2020 life had taken a strange turn with the arrival of Covid into all of our lives. I continued to dress up despite being furloughed as it helped me retain a self of myself. Life was topsy turvy for all of us, but at least I could play with my outfits and derive a sense of pleasure for what was a semblance of normality. Easter Chick was typical of the sunny and wonderfully deceptive sight I conjured up in April. 

By July we were all able to return to work as we attempted to find the new way forward learning to live with this deadly virus. I was keen to get back into the groove which I think was perfectly reflected in my outfit of the day - read about My Signature Colour here. 

September 2020 was a great month for beach days and this shot shows me with a beach body to be proud of - I can say that now with the perspective that only time can give. Heck, not even my lovely husband thought to say how fab I looked in this bikini! At the time I was, as I have been for most of my adult life, under the impression that my figure was too curvy, too flabby, too pale - as ever I was so out of touch with what I really looked like. Sad, but true. Anyway, the post is jolly enough and does capture our idyllic island life perfectly - see it here. 

I was happy to be seen in Scottish national dress in my blog post of December 2020. The outfit was a quirky twist, quite far removed from the notion one might have when the word kilt is mentioned. I loved this look - see the post More Christmas Style Inspiration here. 

I fancy that you may be wilting after this very long feature and therefore I'm going to sign off now and will pick this up again later next week. On Monday it'll be time for our Monthly Style Not Age challenge so if I've not worn you out then perhaps you'll swing by to see what we're up to. Thereafter I'll continue with my 11 years of blogging round-up and I'd love you to join me for that. 

                                                                            Anna x

Colour me orange

Hello lovelies! This was my favourite outfit from last week - the one that seemed to garner the most attention and compliments. A beautiful spring day with a fabulous blue sky deserved an equally fabulous outfit.

Fabulous, but nothing new here. I'm gradually culling my wardrobe, keeping only these hardworking pieces that I know I love and will continue to wear often. After gathering clothes for goodness knows how long, I'm on the big dejunk that happens later on in life (yes, this applies to me as I knock on the door of my 70's).

Orange is such a happy colour, a true burst of joy for me. The jacket was a Vinted find, the dress was from New Look many moons ago, belt was from Amazon and baseball boots were from Primark. If you happen to visit Tresco this summer then it's highly likely you'll see me wearing this as it's a real feel-good outfit.

The jacket is one of my truly interactive pieces, prompting lots of comments. Mostly it's referred to as my Sargeant Pepper jacket or my Freddy Mercury jacket - I'm perfectly happy with either of these.

The orange perpex rings are indeed old, but are perfect pairing for this look.

The chunky necklace always gets me compliments and suprises people when they hear it was a buy from TopShop when they were trading. (Boo hoo, I do miss TopShop!) My sunglasses are from Quay Australia and really are ancient.

The cream woven baseball boots look deceptively smart and yet come from Primark. A flat shoe is always all-day comfortable and this was a long day, ending with a drinks party at work.

I do rememeber watching a programme over 10 years ago, called the Fabulous Fashionistas which definitely impacted on me and the idea of creating my own fashion blog. One of the ladies spoke about her outfits saying if she had a favourite that she would often wear it for several days consecutively, up to a whole week in fact. This is one of those outfits that I could wear on repeat without tiring of it.

Thanks for joining me and I hope you have a lovely week!

                                                                    Anna x

Polka Dots our SNA challenge for April

Hello again and welcome to our Monthly Style Not Age challenge. Emma plumped for Polka Dots this time which was a tricky one for me as my only polka dots come in the form of these poodle polka dot brogues. So let's check out what the other ladies came up, shall we?

Jacqui is showcasing her new jumpsuit from Peacocks - a great addition to her wardrobe for its versatility. Check out Jacqui's backstory on her blog Mummabstylish.

Emma is a lady after my own heart as most of her outfit has been bought from Vinted, therefore we know it'll be a bargain as well as the greener option. See more on Style Splash.

Hilda styled her polka dot shirt with well cut denim jeans and accessories in leopard print for a very sleek look. Do swing by her blog for more about her outfit on Over The Hilda blog.

My entire look was bought on Vinted, but the joy was in pulling the various elements together to create this casual but fun look. The shoes are by Irregular Choice, a brand well known for the outlandish and over-the-top fashion. What can be more fun that poodles and polka dots!

The yellow cotton sweater is by Zara, a boxy shape with long sleeves and chunky cuffs. The blue and yellow trousers have no label, but the pattern echoes the polka dots nicely.

Preloved rings and Radley sunglasses complete this casual look. Steve did the honours with the photography this week...

 ...but Fiona wasn't going to be left out and appeared stage left with the perfect goofing about photobomb. 

Seconds later our neighbour's cat followed suit. Maybe my fault for choosing to pose on one of the busiest corners on the island! So that pretty much winds up this month's challenge. I do hope you've enjoyed our efforts and if you did, please leave me a comment.

                                                                        Anna x