Kimono My House, our SNA challenge for July

Hello and welcome once again to our Monthly Style Challenge where my friends and I all take turns at choosing a theme. Gail has opted for Kimonos this time, resulting in a lovely variety of styles and colours. Mine is more of an overshirt, but that's mainly because kimonos are few and far between in my wardrobe. Let's see how the four fabulous fashionistas fared, shall we?

Summer is here, according to Jacqui! While the rest of the country is besieged with showers, Jacqui is ready to hit the beach in this beautiful all-white outfit complete with lace kimono. See her backstory on her blog Mummabstylish.

Hilda is showing the local shoppers how to do it in style in her fabulous paisley patterned kimono over her white trousers and mules. Catch up with her news on Over The Hilda blog.

Canary yellow trousers and blue patterned kimono make for a colourful offering from Emma this month. Her eclectic mix comes from the high street, eBay and charity shops to maximum effect. Read more from Emma on the Style Splash blog.

Gail's palette in more understated in soft turquoise, lilac and white. This elegant look comes from the high street aka John Lewis, M&S and ASOS to create a soft summery feel. Find out more on Is This Mutton.

My outfit comes from Number 36 in Penzance, a small boutique that I frequent when I'm on the mainland. The shop is small and beautifully curated to offer unique pieces in fine fabrics, usually holding only one of each style and colour to ensure clients find something special. The prices are good too, given that you end up with an individual garment or outfit that you know won't be seen elsewhere. My white linen trousers have a Made in Italy label as does the cotton kimono/overshirt. 

I'm wearing a white vest top and stretch belt to finish the look off, along with a pair of silver and white sandals. White sunglasses are obvious touch for this summer inspired outfit, although summer is playing hide and seek currently.

My silver and glass bauble necklace as well as both my rings are pre-loved from charity shops over the years, and the stretch belt is ancient, from good old Dorothy Perkins.

Apologies for my absence last week. 5am starts and bouts of insomnia are both taking their toll on me at this time of year, resulting in a mini-burnout situation. I'm trying to take things easy on the home front as that's the only area I can step back from currently, which means minimal amounts of after work chores, including admin. Thank you once again for being there, for coming back to read the blog and for your lovely comments which mean so much to me. I'll finish off with a shot of my back garden and the glorious agapanthus that are in bloom. 

Have a great week!

Anna x

Jumpsuit June our SNA challenge

Hello again and can you believe that it's the end of June already? Another month seems to have just whizzed past us don't you think? This month's Style Not Age Challenge comes from Hilda and was a great choice for me as I have this new jumpsuit to share with you. But more of that later. Let's take a look at the rest of the collective first...

Emma's hot pink frilly number comes from Zara and oh, how I have jumpsuit envy! Silver sandals and handbag are from Yaa Yaa London - brilliant accessorising Emma! See more on her blog Style Splash.

Jacqui's jumpsuit is from Roman and is totally fab too! I'd wear this in a heartbeat, but she's unsure if this is right for her. What do you think? Hop across to her blog Mummabstylish to let her have your thoughts.

This elegant jumpsuit of Hilda's is by Coast, but not new. Cool and stylish as ever Hilda carries this off with her usual aplomb. See her back story on Over The Hilda blog.

Here's another fab jumpsuit, from Gail this time. I love the double polka dots! This isn't new, but was from Phase 8 and Gail has accessorised it with red espadrilles and necklace. See more from her on Is This Mutton blog.

So here I am in my brand new (not even bought from Vinted) jumpsuit from Onjenu - see it here. I stumbled across this on social media, as you do, and immediately fell in love with it. I've worn it twice already and it's beautiful; so soft and easy to wear and very flattering indeed. No zips or buttons, you simply pull it on and smooth the pleats over the waist and bust to fit. It's soft fabric is lovely and drapey earning me lots of compliments.

And I mustn't forget to mention that IT HAS POCKETS! OMG, there's nothing nicer than a slouchy pocket to make a gal feel cool. That clever feeling of being dressed up but having hands deep in pockets makes it all look so uber casual. I wore this recently to a party evening at work and I felt a wonderful combination of chic and yet comfortable.

My necklace was a Gallery Tresco purchase from jeweller Charlie Dodge, rings are both pre-loved and sunglasses are by Radley London. 

The jumpsuit is quite long so I wore high platform sandals in natural suede from TK Maxx.

My photographer this week was Jodie who works locally in Tresco Stores. She appeared as I was lining up my tripod and camera and offered to do the honours - and didn't she do a great job! Thanks Jodie for stepping in and for making me feel so at ease.

So, here's a rather strange postscript to today's feature...

On Thursday my puffin swimsuit was stolen from my washing line. It was a bit of a shock for this to happen here on our idyllic island paradise as it kinda shattered the dream world I seem to live in. As you'll see from below, my washing line sits next to the main road on Tresco island in full view of everyone. Anyway, I posted about it on Instagram and my son Jamie did a similar post on Facebook.

Fast forward to Sunday lunchtime when the swimsuit was tossed over my garden wall. It begs the question that the perpetrator felt this was too hot to handle and that they might be rumbled if they tried to wear it here. I had suspected that the thief had scarpered to the mainland being a dodgy day-tripper, but now I'm not so sure. Anyway, I'll be keeping my swimsuits indoors to dry in the future.

                                                                        Anna x

Denim - But Not Jeans is our SNA challenge for March

Welcome once again to our Style Not Age monthly challenge! Jacqui's theme is a good one - Denim, But Not Jeans and we've all found our own way to express ourselves without being too similar. My jacket isn't new, but it's not been shown on the blog for some time and it's still an interesting piece - easy to do if you have some old brooches lying around.

Hilda went for a double denim look (not breaking the rules was it?) after finding this oversized jacket in Primark. I love this light blue denim twosome but she decided to return the jacket after some thought - not really me is a good instinct that has to be followed. See more from Hilda on her blog here.

Gail's maxi dress in denim is new from ASOS and is a real style statement. I don't wear a lot of denim myself but love this bold look. Read Gail's back story on Is This Mutton blog. 

EBay came up trumps for Jacqui as she scoured the internet for this denim maxi skirt which she's paired with a pretty yellow blouse (old from M&S). The combination has a fresh summery look to it, very fitting for the official start to summer, eh? Catch up with Jacqui's news on her blog Mummabstylish. 

Emma's denim dress was also an eBay purchase, but from way back during lockdown. It's a vintage find with lots of beads and embroidery as well as batwing sleeves and a figure hugging shape that suits her perfectly. Find out more about her outfit on her blog here. 

We've been having wild weather down here on the Isles of Scilly but I just had to bite the bullet and get out there to take my photos. This was a work outfit, mostly shopped from my closet apart from the boots which are coming up next...

These white leather cowboy boots are a recent buy from Vinted and the brand is Topshop. I plan to wear them with a long dress, but which one, I'm not quite sure yet. Vinted has become my guilty secret of late, a weakness my daughter is to blame for. She did warn me that the site can be a bit addictive. The good news is that I'm have a few successes with selling on some of my shoes and clothes meaning I snowball funds momentarily before I splurge the lot on another purchase!

Jewellery and sunglasses are all old, as is the rest of the outfit. Trousers were from Topshop, belt from eBay, sweater from Primark and sunglasses from Radley London.

Standing on the road that leads to Old Grimsby quay was just like being in a wind tunnel! I feel a small fanfare is needed as I will be working on my last cottage rehang of artwork tomorrow (Tuesday). It's been a long old slog to bring about the change that was so needed and at times it did feel like we were working in the eye of the storm, battling against time before the photographer arrived and even when she did, we were simply one cottage ahead of her for two whole weeks. That said, I'm extremely proud of all of the work Mel and I have achieved and am looking forward to seeing the overall results on the website in due course.

Many thanks as ever for taking the time to pop by. Please do take a look at the other blogs too if you have a moment. Until next time, take care and have a great week!

                                                                                             Anna x

Maxi Madness, our Style Not Age challenge for August

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

This Old Thing, our Style Not Age challenge for April

Hello lovelies and welcome to this month's Style Not Age challenge! Gail has come up with this month's theme of This Old Thing sparking a variety of offerings. Mine is an old thing that my sister Dianne saw on a mannequin in the window of a charity shop and immediately thought of me. Someone had clearly tired of it and decided to move it on, but their loss is my gain - I love it! Let's see what everyone else has to show us with shall we?

Jacqui has shopped her closet for this month's feature coming up with her old favourite this denim jacket, paired with cream culottes and matching boots - read her back story on Mummabstylish.

Hilda seems to have gathered together a host of oldies but goodies. The trenchcoat is over 40 years old, boots are 20 and jeans are 15. A self confessed hoarder, Hilda was more than prepared for this month's theme. Read more from her on Over The Hilda blog.

Proving that Emma is as trim as ever, here she is wearing a pair of cut-off shorts that she's had since was 13. Wowee, how fab she looks too! Catch up on her story on the Style Splash.

Gail is sharing her grandma's jewellery for the challenge and noted that her cat also falls into the category of an Old Thing as she's 16! See more on Is This Mutton blog.

Another week, another photo-bomber! This time it's my dear friend Jilly who stopped to collect a painting on the way past.

Jilly thought the all-in-one delivered the wow factor and I must admit it did earn me a few compliments at work. There's no brand label, but the care label did say AX Paris SS19 denoting it's three years old.

The jumpsuit has a zip up back and an under the bust tie which cinches in at the waist making for a very flattering silhouette. I popped an old sweater from Primark underneath for warmth and  added a long wooden animal necklace, found in a London charity shop 4 years ago.

My rings are pre-loved and the rose gold watch is by Michael Kors.

My Zara boots are quite old, so much so that I've forgotten how long ago it is since I bought them, but they're still looking sleek as ever.

Probably the most notable feature of the jumpsuit is the additional front layer of fabric that floats about flapping in the breeze in an eye-catching manner. Fiona insisted that I hold these out to let you see these better. I do hope this has proved to be another inspirational post for you, maybe giving you some ideas for this week's outfits.

Keep well everyone!

Anna x