Sizzling sock boots



Hello and how is your Sunday going my dear readers?


Well, it's taken me a couple of weeks, but I'm happy to say that I've finally gotten my head around this new season. All thoughts of white linen trousers making a last minute appearance have evaporated along with the scorching summer sun, but these sizzling sock boots are spreading a little bit of joy instead.


You may remember these from last winter when I chased them from H&M where they were all sold out by the time their brochure was published, until I managed to locate them on eBay. I paid double the price, but haven't regretted it as they've not been packed away since I bought them. Dresses, trousers and culottes all have been pepped up by these red hot lovelies over the past 12 months. As the temperature drops I'll be adding tights in all sorts of colours with eye catching effect - I think I have a pink psychedelic pair just waiting for their moment!


For those of you who haven't succumbed to the pleasure of the sock boot yet, I'd urge you to try a pair. They tick the style and comfort box in one fell swoop, never give you that worry that they might slip off, but sit snuggly around the ankle without gripping or rubbing. At the last count I have four pairs, but recently saw a black neoprene pair that I'm about to trawl the Internet for later. Fashion trends may come and go, but personal style is what I aim for and that probably comes with age and the ability to know what suits me.


Enough about the boots! Let's move on to the delightful shirt dress which I think may be my go-to autumn frock. I love the romance of a long dress, but have struggled to find one that doesn't swamp me. This type of dress has been around for a while now and many of them have a wider, looser fit that makes me look like a shapeless short-ass. Like many women, I long for that tall willowy frame we see in magazines and on shopping sites. By choosing a fitted button up dress it creates an illusion of height (I'm a tad under 5ft 5in). I came across this ditsy floral delight in the H&M summer sale way back in July. It was reduced to £15 and was the only one on the rack, just the right size too.


A red belt helps to highlight the sprigs of red flowers on the dress to which I added some Perspex rings for a retro vibe. All accessories are either preloved or gifts (thanks Wendy).


I fancy that our daily seaside backdrop will become increasingly blustery from here on. Anna's Windswept Style may be a more accurate title for the blog over the winter months. As the weeks progress another change to my regular spot will be the lack of boats as they are all brought in before the seasonal storms hit us. The harbour boat and a couple of jet boats are all that populate our Westerly exposed bay during the winter months. I have some friends coming to visit at the end of this month and can only hope that we haven't descended into full on gales by that time. Very soon I suppose I'll have to be thinking about the big wardrobe changeover. 


And finally... I spent a evening of pure escapism at the cinema in Truro the other night (en route from another filming session, but that's for another time) watching the long awaited sequel to Mama Mia. It certainly lived up to the hype and fulfilled my expectations, delivering all of the familiar faces and soundtracks that made the first movie the resounding success it was. I sat alone, far enough removed from the rest of the audience to be able to join in with the songs I so love. Seemingly, there's a sing-along version about to be released into the cinemas this week, so why not take some girlfriends along for a life affirming night out.

Wishing you a super week ahead!

Anna x




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#Ping Pong Post 2

Hello again! Here we are a month later, with our next instalment of Ping Pong Post. My two fellow fashion bloggers Samantha of Fake Fabulous and Ann of Kremb de la Kremb have joined me again, this time in styling up this overshirt/shirtdress in our own particular way for your entertainment. Having been on its travels to Scotland and Hong Kong, here's how I wore it to work last week -



This is only the second time I've worn this since I bought it last year. I love to see these tall, willowy women waft about it long overshirts like this, but being just under 5ft 5in I wonder if I can carry off that look. The first time I wore it, I had the buttons done up, effectively turning it into a shirtdress, but that only made me feel short and dowdy. Not a look I'm aspiring too. However, the material is lovely, and I really like the graphic pattern, so when we girls joined up to create #PPP this seemed to be a great candidate for our project. I was keen to discover what the others made of the challenge, so let's see shall we?





Samantha looks fresh as a daisy in black and white. She's chosen a casual, playful styling for the shirtdress which suits her down to the ground.  Worn with simple pumps and her black across the body bag, the eye catching feature piece from Samantha has to be this quirky fishbone necklace. Stop Press: Samantha was recently featured by Grechen Relter of the Independent Fashion Bloggers as one of the "13 Fashion bloggers over 40 you should follow now". A well-deserved accolade for Samantha. Congratulations you lovely lady!
Outfit details -
Dress: Anna’s
Necklace: Tatty Devine
Shades: Primark
Bag: Yosa
Cuff: A gift
Shoes: Guess






Ann's take on the shirtdress is quite different too. Paired up with this fab red trench, and cute white socks with her ankle boots, she has cleverly tied in this vintage inspired handbag with its red decoupage flowers. Ann is big on DIY projects; the makeover of this bag was featured on her blog last year see here. The addition of a black beret gives a very Parisian feel to the ensemble. Ooo la la! Ann could have stepped straight out of a French movie wearing this.
Outfit details -
Sequin beret--H&M
Double Back Red Earrings--Chinese Market
Red Trench--Shanghai Tailor
Dress--Anna's
Clutch--DIY with Découpage
Socks--Forever 21
Booties--Zara








My take on the overshirt relies on mixing lots of pattern with black and silver accessories. Once I got over the idea of it having to be a dress, I had more freedom to be creative and this unfolded quite quickly. The stars of my particular outfit are these shoes which I recently bought whilst in Harrogate. See the whole feature of my mega shopping scoop here. 

Thanks for dropping by to join us for this month's #PPP. I do hope you can come back again to see the next style challenge on the 20th May. We've had fun - I hope you enjoyed it too!

Outfit details -
Dress: Ichi at TK Maxx
Trousers: H&M
Top: Primark
Belt: H&M
Shoes: SixtySeven at TK Maxx
Bangle and rings: charity shop
Sunglasses: Quay Australia

Linking with 
Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb
Patti of Not Dead Yet Style
Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Cherie of Style Nudge


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