Prints Charming, our Style Not Age challenge for December

Hello again and welcome to the last Style Not Age challenge of 2025! Emma's idea for this month's theme is Prints Charming, one that was easy for me to pluck from my wardrobe thank goodness, especially with all that's going on at this time of year. 

This fabulous two piece is from the Iris Apfel and H&M collection from a few years ago. Emma sat tight and waited for it to appear at a reduced price on Vinted - clever girl! Catch up with Emma on her blog Style Splash. 

Leopard is Jacqui's signature print of the moment. The coat is from George at Asda worn with cream jeans and black sweater topped with yet more leopard print in her scarf. See more from Jacqui over on her blog. 

Hilda's chosen tiger print in the form of these wide legged jeans from M&S for this month's challenge paired with a tiger motif tee shirt. Read her back story on Over the Hilda. 

My outfit is all old, shopped from my closet and yet still fulfills the brief. The red duster coat was an amazing charity shop bargain yonks ago costing a mere £3. I featured it in December 2020 when life was oh-so-different as we were emerging from lockdown. See the feature here if you missed it. (Golly didn't I look young then, slim too?!!!!)

The trousers are from Vinted and blouse is a vintage piece. 

The tartan boots are decidedly old, bought from M&S, but goodness knows when.

I hope you're enjoying the windswept look from this set of photos. I bribed my dear friend Fiona to help me with a mega dose of blog photos (as yet to be aired) - a large schooner of sherry and some of my homemade fudge kept her onside as we traipsed outside repeatedly with more wind and less sunshine for each outfit. 

I'm such a big fan of all things ornate: this Chinese jacket with hand-sewn embroidery is a real joy, a valued item in my clothes collection. Increasingly I'm moving lots of pieces on now, realising that the large volume of clothes aren't serving me well. Moreover, many are too small now - a truth I find hard to admit, but know that I must in order to cull the excess I've gathered over the years - these are only jamming up the works, stopping me from seeing what I can actually wear rather than hope to wear. My daughter came up with a wonderful solution to the decluttering problem. Sasha now lives on the mainland and is time-rich as opposed to me being time-poor. Ironic really when you consider that I live in paradise and she in Manchester. Anyway, I now send her a box of clothes about once a month and she uploads them onto Vinted to sell and after a certain length of time, if not sold, she redirects them to her local charity shop so that she's not bogged down by them forever. The money she makes is going towards her deposit for a flat. Win/win!

None of the accessories are new either. Rings are pre-loved and sunglasses are by Quay Australia. 

Apologies if you're a regular reader and have been noticing my lack of posts of late. If I show you why, you might understand...

For the past month it's been like a veritable fudge factory in my house. Juggling work and fudge production has been a real challenge and yes, probably some form of madness, but I do sincerely love the joy of giving and in particular giving my homemade fudge to family and friends. If yours hasn't arrived then sorry, you didn't make it onto the list...

My next post will be a mega feature of all of my festive outfits, some worn, some still waiting for their Cinderella moment, but all are blog-ready for your delectation. I have a few days off coming up around the New Year when I'll be dedicating some time to pulling a blog together for you. Apologies for the neglect, but I do appreciate you dropping by and also for your lovely comments. I hope you've found some time to rest and relax over the Christmas period and wish you every happiness for 2026!

Wishing you a very Happy New Year! 

Anna x

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

December - the month of sparkles!

And so begins the season of sparkles! Needless to say I'm in my element this month for at last I have a legitimate reason to dial up my dressing up. I'm wearing a cosy roll neck fairisle sweater that I recently bought from the F&F range at Tesco's. It was the only one on display which, for some reason, made it seem like a real find. 

I'm not normally keen on black and white but the sweater is so perfect for this time of year I couldn't resist it. It has silver beading on the front that lifts it out of the ordinary too. 

I've paired the sweater with these rather fabulous silver jeans, a charity shop find in Truro recently - the brand is Pull&Bear - and they're brand new, without a scuff or mark on them. 

The mock crock effect boots are a recent purchase too from Deichman in Truro. I used to have a pair very similar to these and do wonder sometimes what on earth happened to them. Anyway, when I saw these I thought they might work well with some of the winter looks that I have planned...

My photography is a bit blurry this week. I had to take my own photos which wasn't helped by the blustery and cloudy weather. I've tweaked the photos but they could be better I'm afraid.

My textured cow print bag was the perfect accessory for the silver and black outfit. It's big enough for all of my photography essentails - mini tripod stand, phone, hairbrush and lipstick (although the look was definitely more windswept than anything else!).

The jacket is quite old now, but the brand is Zara and has a rating just like a duvet - it's ultra cosy and has this massive hood for rainy days too.

I do love this casual look for these silver jeans - what do you think? I'm sure I'll find another bit of styling for these over the next month, if I can only hit on a better day for the photoshoot!

                                                                    Anna x

Festival Fashion

Hello again and welcome to Festival Fashion, our Style Not Age challenge for July! It's a topical style choice at this time of year and we have Jacqui to thank for that. Before you scroll any further however, I just have to say that I was surprised at how differently we all approached this theme, but that surely goes to show our different personalities. So do please carry on - scroll away to see how my fashionable friends fared!

Emma brought out the big guns for her look with silver and sequins and all that sparkles! She's left us in no doubt as to where she's heading. See all the details on her blog Style Splash. 

Jacqui's look is more boho than disco with a slight country vibe to it too. I love the muted palette along with the leather accessories. Find all the details on Jacqui's blog Mummabstylish.

Hilda decided on a more relaxed slant for her outfit, choosing a comfortable, loose-fitting shirt and jeans for her festival fun. Catch up on all of her latest on her blog Over The Hilda.

I've shopped my closet for my festival finery and am really happy with the result. It's not an outfit I've worn before but now that I've assembled the look I think I'll wear it again. Everything is from Vinted, purchased last year. The frilled top has only been worn once before and I'm asking myself now, Why? 

Both the top and trousers are by River Island and the boots are by All Saints. I've been quite restrained of late and haven't made a forray into the realms of Vinted for months now, but when I see these pieces it does make me happy that I found them.

Behind me you'll see the last of the agapanthus still in bloom, but definitely past their best. I do love this beach path leading down to Pentle Bay, one of my swimming beaches. My only accessories are a couple of pre-loved rings and these blue Radley London sunglasses.

As a backdrop you really couldn't find anything nicer. Of course, I may be biased, but hey! I do hope our challenge has entertained and maybe even inspired you too. Enjoy the rest of your week!

                                                                        Anna x

Winter Woolies, our SNA challenge for January

Hi there and welcome to our Monthly Style Challenge! One of our members, Gail, has retired from the group this month and we're all wishing her the best. And so we'll carry on, forever in the hope that we're inspiring you to follow our lead month by month. It was my turn to chose a theme and the idea of Winter Woolies seemed like an obvious one.

Jacqui is a vision in cream for the challenge, sporting cosy cords along with her pretty fairisle sweater. Cream fedora and trench coat finish this most stylish of looks. See more from Jacqui on Mummabstylish. 

Looking equally pretty in pink, Emma found this fab cardi on Vinted - what a find indeed! Jeans and converse trainers complete this casual take on this month's challenge. Catch up with Emma on her blog Style Splash. 

Hilda shopped her wardrobe for this one - her cardigan is genuine vintage piece from the 80's. She paired it with these wide legged jeans from Cos and a simple tee. Read all of Hilda's latest news on Over The Hilda.

A mighty dose of pink has been my antidote to the wild weather we've been having recently, but I did manage to alight on a quiet spell one day to capture these shots.

The pink fairisle jumper was a winter find from Vinted and is much worn and loved too. It's very cosy and the colour is a great injection of zesty fun on a cold winter's day. The pink cords are from Vinted but benfitted from a bit of adjustment before I could wear them. I was pretty sure I'd featured them on the blog with the alterations but can't seem to find it at all - see the details on my Instagram feed here though.

None of my perspex rings are new, but they seemed perfect partners for this pink explosion of colour. My sunglasses are from Radley London but they're old too.

My recent trip to the mainland went well and I even managed to get home in time for my birthday. I'll show you what Steve bought me when I feature my birthday outfit of the day next time. But before I go, here's the view outside my house this afternoon. The gusts have been so strong that they shook the Gallery and have even ripped the nameplate off the front of the building!

Take care and see you next time!

Anna x

Jazzing up January

If you're a regular reader of mine then you'll know that January is one of my least favourite months of the year. It's not so much the post-Christmas/New Year slump, more that the grey and cold weather tends to get me down. But hey, cold weather is a green light for bringing out a fur coat again, so here we go -

The orange fake fur is quite old now, was from TK Maxx and yet is still a firm favourite of mine. The scarf was a Christmas present and is beautifully soft, also big enough to act as a shawl when required. I have, in fact, reached the stage in my life when I'll happily go to bed early simply to have more time with my book of the moment which also means I enjoy draping a cosy shawl around my shoulders as I sit up to read. Plonk a frilly bonnet on my head and I'd probably look like an ancient grandma, but hey, since when did I care!

Orange and yellow certainly pepped up my working outfit the other day, although not many people saw it as I was working alone. This does support my ethos of dressing up for myself, not to please others. 

Preloved orange perspex rings are my only concession to jewellery that day and my sunglasses from Radley London are quite old now too.

My sweater is by Heyton, a brand-new-with-the-labels-on purchase from Vinted in the run up to Christmas. I'm having a rather intense love affair with fairisle patterns on sweaters and waistcoats currently. I bought a rather fab one from M&S last month but it's probably not going to appear on the blog for two reasons - the first being that it's brown and second because it fits so well and is so blooming cosy that I've worn it to the bobbling stage already. 

The corduroy skirt was a charity shop find in December, but has no label. My rather fabulous Argyll tights are very, very old but seemed to be the perfect ploy for this outfit. My orange leather boots aren't new, the brand is River Island and yet they too work very well with the look.

A final word or two before I sign off. I spent this morning thinking it was Tuesday, but it is in fact Wednesday - but not just any Wednesday, it's Wednesday the 15th of January which just so happens to be my daughter's birthday. Shame on me - one of the locals whizzed past me on his bike at lunchtime and called out to ask it it was Sash's birthday today. No, said I with confidence, it's her birthday tomorrow, Wednesday. It is Wednesday he replied, stiffling a laugh as he continued home for lunch. I could blame it on my working alone, or that I've already sent her money or that she's off-island at the moment, but honestly I'm simply a failure of a mother!

                                                                Anna x