#Ping Pong Post no 8

Welcome to another edition of Ping Pong Post, the feature where one well travelled item of clothing brings me and my blogging friends together for our monthly style challenge. This month I'm delighted to announce two additional guests to the feature by way of fellow bloggers, Sheela of Sheela Writes and Greetje of No Fear of Fashion. Both Sheela and Greetje have followed the feature with great interest since it started (see here) and were very keen to join in for this special edition.

The dress/tunic this month is from my wardrobe and started its journey from the Isles of Scilly to Holland in April, then travelled to Texas, Hong Kong and finally on to bonnie Scotland a couple of weeks ago before heading back home to me. So let's see what this diverse collection of bloggers made of the green shaggy beast shall we?

Here's Samantha from Fake Fabulous, one of our regulars. This shaggy dress caused quite a dilemma for her, but in the best possible way (I think) as it presented so many possibilities. She opted for a simple, neutral palette to offset what is quite a flamboyant, fuzzy top. Samantha has given this green monster a classy, chic look that I wouldn't have thought possible. Bravo, my dear! Follow Samantha on Instagram here.

Details -

DRESS: H&M (Anna’s)

TIGHTS: Levante

BOOTS: Duo (now Ted and Muffy)

CARDIGAN: Urban Outfitters

POLONECK: Redoute

NECKLACE: Oliver Bonas

SOCKS: M&S 

Our other regular, the very creative Ann, of Kremb de la Kremb has done her typical Ann thing and turned the piece right on its head, and oh how gorgeous does she make the shaggy shawl look? (Such glowing skin - it shouldn't be allowed!) I love all of the ornate jewellery she has accessorised it with. Go to the top of the class girl! Follow Ann on Instagram here.

Details -

Sunnies--Forever 21

Earrings--Ben from Jardines Bazaar, Hong Kong

Shrug--Anna's dress

Brooch--Banana Republic

Ring--India

Shirt--Gap

Leather Shorts--Forever 21

Jungle Bag--Louella Odie

Anklets--La Jolla Beach, California 

Booties--DIY on an old Forever 21 pair (http://www.krembdelakremb.com/diy-painting-scuffed-shoes/) 

And here we have the ever so cool Sheela of Sheela Writes. Sheela lives in Houston, Texas where she exploits her stark,urban backdrop to contrast her downright outrageous outfits. My readers may well think I have an extensive shoe collection, but they really need to check out some of the amazing footwear lurking in this lady's closet! Follow Sheela on Instagram here.

Details -

Leather Top - StitchFix

Belt worn as necklace - JCrew

Clutch, Booties, Sunnies & Leggings - thrifted

Ring - a gift from Eve

Yellow Cuff - courtesy of Unearthed

This vision of elegance is Greetje of No Fear of Fashion. Greetje too, has a rather amazing collection of shoes and boots, and these are a particular favourite of mine - those heels are something else aren't they? Greetje features not only her fabulous clothes on the blog, but also the local sights both in Holland as well as on her various trips away with girlfriends that seem to be a regular occurrence (lucky lady). Follow Greetje on Instagram here.

Details

skinnies: Closed, 

booties: Eijk Amsterdam, 

shirt: Marco Polo (old), 

pendant: through Heleen Tuinman.

So here we go with my take on this shaggy beast of a top. These shots were taken at the end of March and seemed to be my typical mix of elements that made the outfit very me. However, the fly in the ointment was when Samantha diligently returned the top last week which was a terrible trial for me. You may well have noticed a couple of pairs of jacquard boots making their debut on the blog recently... Well, I really wanted to re-shoot wearing a pair of those, but time and weather put a stop to that. Maybe another day. In the meantime here's how I styled it -

This extended edition has been such great fun. Thanks to all of my blogging friends for taking the time and effort to present their own version of this crazy green top/dress/shawl. It's been really interesting as usual, and I do hope it was worth a visit for you, the reader. Next month we have an offering from Samantha which is currently under the care of Ann as she considers her options. I fancy her creative juices are already flowing with some marvel or other. If you'd like to, then please follow me on Instagram here.

My outfit details are -

Dress: H&M

Disco pants:H&M

Polo neck: eBay

Shoes: Office

Pendant: Vivienne Westwood

Sunglasses: Quay Australia

Watch: Michael Kors

Rings: old.

I'm asking if I may be excused games tomorrow Miss! Well, what I mean is, I'm having a day off from my regular Friday post, but will be back again on Sunday. Amuse yourself with a dip into some old posts I say, as I'll be setting questions for your assessment soon!

Anna x

Ping Pong Piece no 3

Yes, here we are again. The monthly collaboration that used to be Ping Pong Post (see the start of the feature here), has progressed from physical items into this ping-ponging of ideas instead. I'm so pleased that you've joined me to see the verdict on this month's piece chosen by Samantha - the white shirt. The new remit is for us to chose something ordinary that, hopefully, can inspire our joint readership. We all own a white shirt, don't we? Well let's see if we can enthuse you. 

I had to give a bit of a wry smile when I first saw this photo of Samantha's. To say she chose to showcase the white shirt, I really wanted to say "Where the heck is it?" as this must be the smallest white shirt I've seen! But wait. On reflection, Sam has done a great job in showing us something quite novel here. These little Peter Pan collars completely change the neckline of her dress which is obviously the whole point. Sam is all about layering, partly down to the cooler weather she has to cope with up in Scotland and this shows how she layers up for summer in the North.Today she looks all set for an afternoon about town with the girls, stepping out in style with these fab leopard print shoes. Top marks Samantha! Follow her blog Fakefabulous here and join her on instagram here.

Details -

Dress: Bonmarché
Belt: French Connection
Shoes: Office
Bag: Hidesign
Earrings: A gift
Glasses: Tkmax

Samantha has invited Monica to join in this month's challenge.

Monica, like me, is a huge fan of bright colours and pattern play, so the notion of a classic white shirt is almost an anathema to her. But like all good fashionistas she welcomed a new opportunity to stretch her comfort zone. Monica used the textured white shirt worn open to top off her bold outfit that is so much her signature style, while adding white sandals to tie the look together. Lashing of colourful jewellery by way of double necklaces and armfuls of bangles are typical of Senora Allnut style. The white shirt as an overshirt - tick. Another nifty move, this time from our guest blogger. Follow Monica on her blog Senora Allnut here or on instagram here.

Details -

- pants, Festa (old) / pantalón

- white shirt, La Redoute (ages ago) / camisa blanca, de hace siglos

- shoes, El Naturalista (last summer sales) / zapatos, rebajas del año pasado

- striped t-shirt, C&A (old) / camiseta rayas

- orange trench, La Redoute (old) / gabardina naranja

- necklace, Sfera (old) / collar

- bag, Surkana (old) / bolso

Annie won't mind me saying that she's the sex kitten of the group always raising the temperature with her take on the challenge. That coquettish pose along with the glimpse of her golden midriff is enough to assert her position in the luscious league. She has strategically tied her giant overshirt to draw the eyes downwards to cute white jeans, beaded anklets and pristine wedge sandals. Ann has given us all food for thought with her take on the white shirt. See more of Ann on her blog Kremb de la Kremb here or follow her on instagram here.

Details -

Earrings--Forever 21

Too many other baubles to mention!

Shirt--Shein

Jeans--Gloria Vanderbelt from charity shop, double DIYed hem by me

Sandals--Teva

My take on the classic white shirt is pretty conventional by my standards. The pleated front with pearl and gilt buttons mean my shirt offers enough detail to stop it from being a jaw breaking, big fat yawn. In fact, I shied away from what you may have expected from me - white ruffles and lavish chiffon - in favour of the most basic white shirt I own. 

I did joke with Polly about the fact that I look like a barista in this white shirt and waistcoat combo. But that aside, I enjoyed giving the more is more touch to my much neglected white shirt. Pattern play, metallics and a bit of bling all came together in a cohesive look which I will definitely wear again. I've been inspired by this challenge and I hope that you've been too.

Details -

Blouse: charity shopped

Waistcoat: River Island

Trousers: Primark

Boots: Primark

Ring and pendant: charity shopped

Sunglasses: Quay Australia

Linking with -
Catherine of Not Dressed As Lamb
Patti of Not Dead Yet Style
Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Laurie of Vanity And Me

Please join me on Thursday for a rather special post - see you then!

Anna x

5 years of blogging - a mega post!

Thanks for joining me today!

I'm amazed to think that I've been larking around like this for five years now and still you guys are here with me! Thank you so much for keeping on coming back to follow my antics, my ups and downs, my work, home and island life all wrapped up in this twice weekly update. 

Although I'm mostly known for my colourful outfits I thought it might be good to feature a more sophisticated, elegant version of Anna's Island Style today. And nothing says elegance more than the chic combination of black and white, does it? 

The bubble sleeve jersey top was purchased in February when I was last on the mainland. Apart from charity shops, my go-to high street shop is always TK Maxx and didn't fail me in its offerings. I bought this and a white version, both slight variations on this theme and equally lovely coming in at £15.99 for the white and £17.99 for the black. This one is from By Clara Paris.

I paired the rib knit top with these off white trousers that were another bargain, this time from F&F at Tesco a couple of years ago. They were in the summer sale for £5. The material is man made, but a lovely heavy weight that drapes well and is virtually crease resistant. 

Oh how my heart soars when I see these shoes! I had them packed away for the winter until recently and goodness, how exciting it was to rediscover them. I bought them in TK Maxx and the brand is Nine West. The elasticated band of black contrasting beautifully with the white leather pointed toe, plus the fact that they are all day comfortable put these in my all time top ten pairs of shoes.

The tartan clutch and rings are all charity shop buys. My black and white sunglasses are long time faves from Quay Australia.

So that's the outfit of the day, but what about the past five years? I've spent some time looking back through both my photos and blogs from this time and my first observation has to be about my personal appearance. I don't mind the ageing aspect, but it's probably no surprise ('cos I'm a woman and afflicted by the vanity gene) that I hanker after my slimmer self of five years ago. Oh golly, how I hope I knew how slim I was at that time! I certainly had an air of happiness - hopefully that was because I knew how nicely my clothes hung due to the lack of back fat, soft waistline etc. 

From July 2015, see that post here.

Another July 2015 post here.

This outfit was from September 2015 and you can see the post here. I was only five months into my blogging dairy and Polly was my photographer of that time. Oh happy days! Oh skinny days! My most popular post of 2015 can be viewed here - it's called These arms. Do you remember it? I might have been dismayed at the less than perfect arms on display below had I not written the ode to those limbs the previous year.

The votes are in and a travel post is the most read feature on my blog for 2016 - you can see that feature here. I must admit this vintage designer ballgown is one that I have such fond memories of wearing. I can't recall if Steve and I danced that evening, but I certainly floated on air all night long. 

The most popular blog post of 2017 was in response to my radio debut with Johnnie Walker on Sounds of the 70's. I've only listened to this once and can't bear to again as I sounded high as a kite! The beach shot above is from another popular feature, Ping Pong Piece from July 2017 - see it here.

In 2018 I turned 60 and tried my hand at modelling, namely with JD Williams. The Christmas campaign was one of three I did with them and was my most read feature that year - catch it here. 

2019 brought a challenge of very different kind when I decided to swim around my island home of Tresco. The resulting post was my most popular one of the year - read about my crazy escapade here.

And so, here we are half way through 2020 and thus far, my most popular post of the year is Escape from storm Ciara as featured in my February post here. 

I do hope you've enjoyed this whistle stop tour of the past five years of Anna's Island Style. If you're new to the blog, then this may provide a wider viewpoint of what may initially appear to be a fashion blog, but the brushstroke is broader; effectively it's my online diary. 

And finally, a thank-you to my readers, old and new, for without your feedback, emails and stats I wouldn't be able to gauge how I was doing. It's as much a pleasure to share my island life with you now as it was when I started five years ago. Will I still be blogging in another five years? Who knows. But in the meantime, thanks for joining me on my colourful journey!

                                                                            Anna x

Fluffy, feathery dress

Yes, here I am doing my own thing again, all the while thinking how much I miss Polly and her photographic skills. But I know she's not missing me. And why can I be so sure of that? Because today Polly is flying to New York for eight days holiday with her boyfriend. She promises to send me some snaps, but won't that just make me even more envious? New York is most definitely on my bucket list - what about you?

This was the backdrop that I wanted to have for this photo shoot, but as you can see the light wasn't working for this direction. Such are the compromises that must be made when you're working alone, ho hum! Anyway, it was a gorgeous sunny day when I took this and you have to agree that the view is pretty lovely isn't it? This is taken from my front garden which faces the island of Bryher - not too shabby eh?

I've worn this shaggy mini dress before, well quite a long time ago - it was the star of a Ping Pong Post many moons ago (see here). The excitement of these wonderful boots has me rooting around in my wardrobe trying to find a new outfit created from something old. I'm chasing a look, a feel, and as yet it's eluded me. But in the meantime, I'm having fun trying things on, testing how it all feels.

I even put a lovely little montage of accessories together from which I was hoping to build my perfect tartan showcase outfit, but the main features eluded me. All of the jewellery is charity shopped and of course, you'll remember my fabulous Candy Bag by Furla. If you know of something I've forgotten, something that would make these boots sing, then do feel free to prompt me!

The mustard Zara cords (see here) were bought with the idea that they would be the right thing, but somehow they miss the sweet spot.

But. Back to the outfit in hand. This is fine, don't you think? I was really pleased to dig out a teal pair of tights from the depths to compliment the feathery, fluffy dress, disguising the mini-ness of it. For those of you who don't know the island you'll see the gallery is just a stone's throw behind me as I do a little shimmy here in my front yard. My commute kills me some mornings!

My old faithful sunglasses from Quay Australia compliment the striped top and I chose some pre-loved rings to go with my silver chain necklace by Melissa James. 

Today's photo shoot did actually have a musical accompaniment as there was a band playing at the New Inn (just some 25 metres away). I jigged and shimmied about in my front yard, stopping and starting whenever someone went past. It was a Sunday afternoon Jazz session which went down a treat with everyone, including me.

Stop the press! I forgot to include this shot of my lovely friend Sheila who wore the sister (aka more groomed) version of my dress on her blog recently (see here), but be warned - Sheila's weekend posts require a cup of tea and a very comfy chair as they are mighty big!

Last weekend we had an island wedding and fingers crossed, I hope to share some photos of it with you as an extra post on Friday. I just need to double check with the bride that she's happy to be featured, so do pop back to see how that unfolds. And on the 19th of this month I have another special post coming up with an offer that you might not want to miss...

In the meantime, have a lovely week!

Anna x

#Ping Ping Post no 7

Hello again and welcome to #Ping Pong Post no 7. The aim of #PPP is to recreate a girls night in where I and my two blogging friends, Ann of Kremb de la Kremb and Samantha of Fake Fabulous, choose an item of clothing and then style it up in our own way. In theory this is a simple enough idea, but the practicality of it is a bit more difficult as we all live so very far apart - Ann lives in Hong Kong, Samantha in Scotland and I live in England, on an island 28 miles to the west of the Cornish mainland. Now in its 7th month, the series started like this - see here. This time Ann has offered up her striped Breton top, so let's see her interpretation first.

Ann has run with the nautical theme here by adding hooped earrings, pirate's scarf, dark eyeliner and lots of gold bullion. Her girl-goes-pirate look is softened by the silky gold skirt that echoes the gold of her socks and tennis shoes. I love her authentic touches of the harbourside backdrop with all the right props. Ann's photos always have a humorous slant, but that never takes away from her skill in finding a story and telling it well. Cute as always, Ann carries off this ultra feminine pirate look with casual ease.

Details are:

Kerchief--second hand shop

Gold Hoops--very long story....but now from Hong Kong
Necklace--Hong Kong
Thumb Ring--Mumbai
Striped Crop Shirt--H&M hand-me-down from my sister
Gold skirt and socks-- Forever 21 
Tennis--Lacoste

Follow Ann on Instagram here.

Both ladies have featured a full skirt. Samantha, however, has given the outline a more pared down look, thanks to some very clever illusionary effects. By tucking the top in and adding a big belt she really changes its shape. Her chunky boots tie in beautifully with the patent belt, and the the pop of blue she introduces by way of accessories is a clever move. Samantha says she really enjoyed this challenge and I think it shows. The cool, funky outfit she created is the work of a true fashionista.

Details are:

Dress: Asos (from a Charity shop)

Boots: Vagabond

Glasses: Tkmax

Necklace: eBay

Belt: Coast (old)

Bag: Linea

Nails: Barry M

Tights: Gypsy

Follow Samantha on Instagram here.

Yes, and here's the top again, but as a skirt. I have to admit that this wasn't my favourite #PPP. I'm not keen on boxy shaped tops and this one swamped me, so I had three options: to wear it as a turban, a skirt or a poncho. Well, as you can see I opted for the skirt version. The length did of course, bring it's own problems which is where the dress came in.

Once I'd pulled the skirt over the dress, the belt was needed to cinch everything together. Cue matching shoes, and once I'd got that far, I thought the whole look was begging for a finishing touch. By topping the outfit off with a hat Polly thought the ensemble was very St. Tropez. What do you think?

Details are -

Striped top - Ann's

Dress - J at Jasper Conran

Hat - Mila Sehon

Belt - TK Maxx

Shoes - BCBGeneration

Handbag - thrifted

Sunglasses - Quay Australia

Watch - Michael Kors

My Instagram link is here. 

Once again, I think we've all had a bit of fun creating our own particular style with the selected item of the month. Next month will bring another challenge, this time from my wardrobe. I do hope you'll come back again on the 20th October to see what's up. And just for a change, our line-up will look a bit different...

Linking with - 

Catherine of Not Dressed as Lamb

Patti of Not Dead Yet Style

Cherie of Style Nudge

Jess of Elegantly Dressed and Stylish
Judith of Style Crone

Anna x