My new Marks and Spencer blouse

Good morning my dear readers and how are you on this fine sunny day? If you live in the UK you'll be getting used to this weather being more of a constant than the fleeting promise that summer used to be, and oh how grand it is to be able to rely on the sun showing its face day after beautiful day! The Isles of Scilly are looking mighty fine at the moment and are teaming with happy holiday makers who can't believe their luck.

I want to share this fabulous floral blouse which is NOT preloved and that I bought a couple of weeks ago from M&S for £19.50. I've just done a search to find that it's on sale now at £12, but sizes are going fast! Get yours here. Anyway folks, it's a lovely shirt, cool and easy to wear and has been an asset over the past week when I seem to have worn it at least three times when travelling and generally out and about. 

The fabric is modal which I had to look up as I wasn't sure what that means - 

Modal is a type of rayon fabric that is made from the fibres of the beech tree. Oftentimes modal fabric is blended with cotton, spandex, and other fibres because it is very soft, resists creases, has a very smooth finish, and drapes well.

The fabric does indeed drape well and the fit was loose and cool for this current spell. I chose a size 10 which fits as expected; one point that I must mention is the magic button - that perfect placement of the button at bust level which stops the blouse gaping and revealing the bra. I've washed and worn it a couple of times and the colour is holding fast too.The compliments came thick and fast when I wore this outfit. The jeans (charity shopped) are by Fat Face and this is the first time I've worn them, also they have a bit of stretch making them perfect for everyday wear. 

These cute little slingbacks were from Topshop a few summers ago and are still going strong. The colour is a great match for these cotton jeans and they are super comfy leather too which has moulded to the shape of my (broad) feet. 

This sunny outfit was completed by the addition of my Candy Bag by Furla. A search for this has taken me to a rather fabulous pink version of this bag which has me in a quandary as it's on sale too! The best thing (for me) about this spacious bag is the fact that the semi opaque finish means that it's flooded with light when you peek inside meaning no more scrabbling about in the dark trying to find wallet and sunglasses in a hurry. I took it with me on my recent trip to the mainland and it was like a miniature filing cabinet just by the very nature of its shape - everything sat static inside allowing me to have a place for everything and everything in its place. I like to feel organised when I'm off the island and this bag really helped me with my control freak tendencies.

And here I am, on my travels last week. I hooked up with this gorgeous group of ladies (now friends) on a wonderfully exciting project, a modelling job in fact. I'm contracted to say nothing more until it goes live in the autumn, but suffice to say it was great fun, a fabulous opportunity and something which was a huge learning curve for me. I'll have lots more to tell you in due course and hopefully my photos won't end up on the cutting room floor!

In the meantime I'll leave you with a couple of shots of the islands as they shimmer in the summer heat. 

My dear friend Kate was here recently giving us a couple of days overlap before I scooted off to the mainland. We had two early morning swims down on Appletree Bay and put the world to rights at the same time - such are the joys of friendship!

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Anna x

Picnic time!

The recent heatwave was all the prompt we needed to scoot off in our boat with some friends for a day on one of the uninhabited islands. We moored up at Tean for the afternoon with Charlie and Anna to enjoy a picnic with a view.

As a picnic spot you couldn't get much better than this. Our friends went off to look at the view from up on the top of the island while Steve and I did a photo shoot of my new swimsuit.

The demure swimsuit came from TK Maxx earlier on this year. I'm afraid I committed the biggest bloggers sin by not keeping the labels attached and therefore can't share the brand name with you. I love the ruched body and this tiny frilled skirt afforded just enough coverage to wear whilst sitting eating together. Our friends love the fact that we picnic in style by bringing our table and chairs to the beach.

We had the island pretty much all to ourselves for the afternoon which is surely the whole point of going off-island. The silence, the view and the company made for a perfect day. As the tide came in across the warm sand the sea offered up lovely warm spots for the swimmers. Well I ought to say swimmer, as it was only Anna who swam (for a whole 30 minutes) as I opted out of getting my sweet new swimsuit wet. A day off included a day off swimming for me, and guess what? The world just kept on spinning!

As I enter my busiest time of the year with our summer exhibitions coming thick and fast I'm aware that I can't be all things to all people and so must make my apologies if the blog gets a bit image heavy and text light over the next couple of months. I love to keep you abreast of my life on the island and therefore can give you this link to the 2018 version of the Tresco Times which just so happens to feature me and my island story on page 80. Click through to the online copy here. And apologies too, to all my dear blogging friends for not visiting your blogs of late. In due course I'll have news of what I've been up to behind the scenes, but for the moment all I can say is that I have an exciting new project in the offing!

Anna x

Summer is here!

Yes, I know I may be tempting fate, but for the moment, summer is here and I'm embracing the heatwave that has us under its spell. Time for a summer dress then and this linen one (preloved) is from M&S. The candy colour stripes caused Steve to remark that I looked like an ice lolly! He said more than that but as we're U rated on the blog, I'll gloss over that.

I fancy that the dress hasn't been worn much as the linen is very crisp and the colours are strong too, hinting that it's not gone through the wash many times. It's a size too big for me, but the side zip gives it a good slim fit which helps and even though the top is a bit roomy, it's not gaping around the armholes or showing too much cleavage. My standard trick of adding a belt works a treat to pull the slight bit of excess material together which I then distributed evenly around the back.

My statement piece of jewellery today has to be this fabulous pendant which is made from sea glass that I found only 50 metres from where I'm standing. About once a year I spend an afternoon gathering sea glass from the beaches and send it off to one of my jewellers, Fiona Petheram, who then tumbles it and turns it into jewellery for me to sell in the gallery. This particular piece of glass is an unusual lilac colour and when I found it, it was a big disc that may have been the bottom of a bottle before it got smashed. I requested that Fiona turn it into a necklace for me and the resulting piece is beautifully smooth to the touch and is still quite weighty. Check out Fiona's website Drift here.

I've picked out the red, black and pink hues of the dress to match my rings to (preloved) and the bangle was a birthday gift a few years ago. My old favourite Quay Australia sunglasses are gradually becoming apparent again after a period when they were replaced with my all new and improved ones. Favourites are favourites - what can you say?

I bought these sandals from Deichmann last summer (all sold out now, I'm afraid). Anyway, I thought the colours worked well with the dress. What I had forgotten however, is that by lunchtime my poor feet would be swollen in this extreme heat and I'd have to change them for something more comfortable. Enter stage left these pretty and comfy sandals -

These sparkly leather beaded sandals were from New Look maybe last summer, perhaps the summer before. What I'm really saying is for you not to go looking for them as they're old stock. I suppose they might be found on eBay though ... Whatever, they are super comfortable, nice and broad fitting too, so I had a really lovely afternoon of beetling about with no pinching toes or even having to think about my feet at all.

Have a great weekend!

Anna x

The corset belt with jumpsuit

A little bit of sunshine, a favourite jumpsuit, some sparkly mules and that corset belt again - and I'm giddy with excitement! It's positively ages since I featured this lovely jumpsuit on the blog and golly I'd forgotten how fab all this floaty fabric feels. 

Ooooo look - I'm even able to tap dance all of a sudden - how magical is this outfit!

I swoop, I shimmy, I glide with grace!

Oh goodness, I'm a bit dizzy now!

Anyhoo, here's that old corset belt again in another styling. What do you think? It's all about contrasting once more, silky fabric cinched with bold, statement corset in a sweet meets tough kinda way. Not to everyone's taste probably, but my appeal is not necessarily to the masses but more for the slightly off-centre, quirky type perhaps.

My style guru, Mary Portas, advises only one statement piece per ensemble, but hey you know me - more is more is another of my motto's! A huge corset belt is going to look even more awesome if you pair it with a jumpsuit with sail-like trousers and then throw in a pair of eye-popping turquoise glitter mules. Not a look for the shy and retiring that's for sure!

The details go like this: jumpsuit from H&M (ancient), belt from Primark, jewellery, all preloved, sunglasses by Quay Australia, and mules by Shellys of London.

As the UK heatwave continues I've enjoyed wafting about in this most flamboyant get up. Just another day in the life of this gallery manager cum fashion blogger. I do hope you've enjoyed today's offering and would love to hear from you if you did. Drop me a line, add a comment (you can remain anonymous if you prefer), but do let me know you're still around.

Wishing you a fab week!

Anna x

The shirt - a wardrobe staple, our Style Not Age challenge

Hello and welcome again to our monthly Style Not Age challenge. It was the turn of Jacqui to choose our topic this time and as you can see, The Shirt - a wardrobe staple, is it. This month's feature has a slightly different slant however as the group were invited to work alongside Jacynth Bassett, founder of The-Bias-Cut.com, the online boutique for women looking for quality and style. We each of us picked a shirt to style in our very own way, all done though mail-order of course. Jacqui's outfit reflects that perfect downtime summer uniform of shirt and jeans, but not just any old shirt is this, no it's the smoothest cotton poplin in a fishnet pattern in fresh white and pink paired up with kick flare cropped jeans to keep it very much of the moment. Jacqui has added a pop of bright red with her clutch as a finishing touch. Read Jacqui's feature here on Mummabstylish.

Hilda has chosen the same shirt, styling it again with jeans but of the blue variety. Summer sliders show off her red toenails giving that same pop of colour as Jacqui too. I always admire those ladies who can carry off that half tuck look with such ease - I just look a bit undone when I try this! Click on the link here to see her full story on Over the Hilda.

Emma of Style Splash has chosen the Blue Jay Feather print shirt, styling it with dark skinny jeans by Butt I Love You and these cute sandals by Isabelle Jaquelin. Bright blue handbag and oversized blue sunnies keep the look very much in the same colour palette.

It'll be of no surprise to my readers to see that I've shied away from the expected by not wearing jeans with the shirt. Yes, for a moment I did consider it, but my creative needs dragged me in a different direction. 

I had the notion that I wanted a summer styling of sorts and was delighted when I came across these Zara trousers (sorry sold out, but these are similar) when I was on my way for a dental appointment in Penryn last time. 

There's a little charity shop aside from my regular vintage shop which I frequent too and these were lurking on the racks waiting for me. Also preloved are my Topshop silver and white chunky sandals as is my River Island handbag. 

I love the embroidered flowers sprinkled across the trousers which echo the dandelion print of my shirt. I've had this preloved belt for over  a year now and just knew it would come into its own at some stage, and don't you think it looks dandy with this?

All of my jewellery is preloved too and how beautifully they all tie in with today's theme of summer whites and florals.

The resin necklace has real yellow flowers preserved inside these beads forever. The maker Daisy Dunlop used to sell her work at the gallery many moons ago which is when I bought this one. Her making has progressed beyond resin, but it still worth a look.

But let's get onto the main event, the shirt. Made for The-Bias-Cut.com by Gibson and Birkbeck of Scotland, it retails at £85 and is frankly worth every penny. I may be renowned for my frugal nature and love of  clothes recycling, but that doesn't mean to say I don't know class when I see it. This shirt screams classy and feels like it to wear too. The cotton is crisp and smooth and the finishing details are testament to the cost. The button loop at the neck shows some extra thought at the design stage, as do the placing of the buttons over the bust area - how often do we have to sneek a little safety pin inside our shirts to stop it gaping and show the bra? It was a lovely surprise to find that this has been surmounted with ease by clever placing of the bust level button at just the right spot meaning no flashing. The link to my dandelion print shirt is here, although not all the sizes are available at the moment.

Buying online isn't one of my favourite things as you know, but dealing with this mail order company was as smooth as the cotton of this shirt. I followed the sizing directions and chose a size 10 which came up exactly as I had hoped, fitting neatly over the bust and back as well as having sleeves that were made to finish at the wrist and no more. The floral print is so pretty and I can see that this will indeed be a regular go-to item in my wardrobe now. The shirt came beautifully wrapped in tissue and had all of the clips and plastic inserts similar to a man's shirt adding to the top of the range experience. All in all, online shopping through The-Bias-Cut.com was easy and efficient and the website is more than just a shopping venue offering a plethora of information as well as a blog too. 

The intro to the website summarises Jacynth's philosophy - 

Welcome to Shopping With Attitude - Where Ageism Is Never In Style

the-Bias-Cut.com is the first online boutique that truly celebrates style at every age. Featuring pieces by some of the best contemporary labels today, our eclectic collections reflect Jacynth's thorough and in-depth understanding of different women's bodies and shapes, as well as cut and fabrics. Throw into the mix her stylist, contemporary eye, and Jacynth is swiftly becoming recognised as one of the UK's leading experts and pioneers of style at every age. 

Anna x