Zebra print tights

I have to say that going into autumn is never an easy time for me. I suffer a touch of S.A.D. and the winter months loom large. We, in the Northern hemisphere,watch the sun heading South and for many it's a journey we wish we could take too. In February of this year Steve and I travelled to New Zealand to visit friends and it was such a wonderful bonus to find ourselves slap, bang in the middle of summer. To feel the sun on your back relaxes all of those muscles that have been hunched up against the cold all winter, and the warmth of the rays on the face has the same soothing effect. Small wonder we all look so damned good in our holiday snaps!

I've found a new backdrop today as the sea is starting to look a bit grey rather than the twinkly temptation it was during the summer months. Also, this pampas grass is great to offset my zebra print tights. I bought these in a bundle from eBay a couple of years ago, but today is the first time I've worn them. I love this textured pencil skirt, but thought it might look a bit boring, so enter stage left these amazing tights, swiftly followed by my rose gold brogues (I still get a little thrill just mentioning rose gold and brogues all in the same sentence). I think this fluffy jumper is a great zingy colour and I must admit I'm a sucker for fluffy numbers as you'll no doubt see over the forthcoming months. The jacket was a recent charity shop find, and just needed some new buttons to bring it back into life. Suede jackets like this used to be called "car coats", but I have no idea why. Do you? Please let me know if you do.

Jacket: charity shop. Skirt: charity shop. Sweater: Tesco. Blouse: charity shop. Tights: eBay. Shoes: TK Maxx. Cream flower ring: charity shop; Tan flower ring: Dorothy Perkins. Handbag: charity shop.

Linking with
Not dressed as lamb #I will wear what I want
Not dead yet style Visible Mondays
Kremb de la Kremb
Elegantly dressed and stylish

The poncho

As we reach progress further in autumn, I'm having to concede that an extra layer is a necessity rather than an option, sadly. I suppose it does give me the chance to bring out all of my winter woollies including this fluffy poncho which can't really make it's mind up. Is it just a big jumper or a fully fledged poncho? Whichever, it's very snuggly and was a cosy buffer against the onshore wind during our early morning photo shoot.  I've paired it up with these rather lovely tweed trousers which have a sleek satin lining, again a little protection from the chilly weather. They were my bargain of day when I was last shopping at TK Maxx. The label price was £415 with a reduction down to £59.99 - oh, how I love a bargain! With a mid rise and slouchy pockets, they pretty much ticked all the boxes and when I tried them on the leg length was ideal for me too. The deal was done!

I've worn them today with my two tone heeled brogues which have been waiting in the wings for their blog debut. The extra height is just what I needed to stop the trousers looking a bit heavy, even chunky on my less than lithesome thighs. Another debut piece is the extra long necklace which is in perfect proportion with the oversized jumper/poncho. Thanks go to my sister Dianne for this, and its matching bracelet, yet to be shown. And the finishing flourish had to be the vintage leather handbag, a recent charity shop find which is a real classic. Autumn is upon us and I'm good to go.

Poncho: TK Maxx. Trousers: No 21 (TK Maxx). Tee shirt: M&S. Shoes: New Look. Pendant: gift. Handbag: charity shop. Brown stone ring: East. Diamante ring: charity shop.

Linking with
Not dressed as lamb #I will wear what I like
Not dead yet style Visible Monday
Kremb de la Kremb

Paisley print skirt and blue biker

Apologies to those of you who are tiring of this biker jacket and its claim to fame. But if I were a jacket, I would be this jacket. Never have I been quite so besotted. My favourite of the moment is usually my latest purchase, but this has endured being superseded and is still holding strong.  I love testing it out to see what else in my wardrobe I can pair it with. And this surely must be a good thing; to recycle what's here rather than become bored and feel the need to shop again. I know that this sentiment will strike a chord with other kindred shoppers out there. To have a lure in the wardrobe rather than in the shop window can only be good.

I've had this paisley print pencil skirt for a couple of years and it was in danger of becoming one of my invisible items in the cupboard. You know what I mean, when you have loads of clothes, but so many of them don't capture your attention as you're blind to their existence. Sometimes you skim over them for a reason - it no longer fits or is a bit faded, bobbled or the colour isn't easy to marry up. Well this skirt had become a bit loose around the waist meaning that I always dismissed it, but today I decided to add a wide belt to overcome the problem - et voila!

The pussy bow blouse is making another appearance after resting since June when it was featured here. And seemingly this is our latest must-have for this winter season - so wasn't it grand that I had the foresight to buy mine early before the rush! I swear that if you hang on to them long enough every piece of clothing you own will come back into style again. This must be one of the major benefits of getting older and having a slight hoarding tendency. 

Jacket: TK Maxx. Skirt: H&H. Blouse: eBay. Belt: H&M. Shoes: Portugal. Tights: Dorothy Perkins. Rings: charity shop. Sunglasses: Quay Australia.

Linking with
Rachel the hat
Not dead yet style
Not dressed as lamb
Kremb de la Kremb

Philip Treacy hat

Last winter I was idly browsing through the hat offerings on eBay and came across this Philip Treacy number. How exciting! An original from the hat maker to Royalty and the stars was too good to pass. After some strategic bidding it was mine for the grand sum of £21, yippee! A few days later it arrived and was not a disappointment - quality, provenance, colour - all were as described. But the only problem was the size. It kinda swamps me. I set to, and added a bit of elastic to the inside to pull it in (sacrilege, I know). But it still overwhelms me. From time to time it has an outing, and the bright autumn sunshine along with no wind to cause extra problems made me think this might be the ideal opportunity to try it out again. Maybe you wouldn't have known if I didn't tell you? Terminal honesty is my downfall.

Anyway, I do think the hat adds to today's ensemble regardless of the fit. It's months since I wore this little jacket (previously seen here) and I do love it. It will be great for injecting some colour into my AW wardrobe and works really well with my yellow and brown Boden brogues too. I seem to have had problems matching these dapper shoes with many outfits so this was a success today. The chocolate brown chiffon blouse was a charity shop purchase as were the skinny jeans (my, oh my, how skinny are they!) and as long as I didn't try to breathe I was fine. Bending, stretching, lifting and carrying at work were all postponed until another day when I had more practical trousers on. Suffering for your art I think it's called...

Jacket: charity shop. Hat: eBay. Blouse: charity shop. Trousers: (H&M) charity shop. Shoes: Boden. Socks: H&M. Yellow ring: Martin James. Brown ring: East.

Linking with
Not dressed as lamb 
Not dead yet style

Vintage handbag

I featured this fab vintage handbag in my very first post in May when I launched my blog as seen here and have neglected to show it again. So here I am putting that to rights. My regular readers will know I'm a big fan of colour and today relies completely on the bag to inject some brightness to the post. I'm always trying to mix things up and not be too predictable, and what could be better than a monochrome palette to ring the changes?

I'm currently catching up on other fashion bloggers in my spare time and Patti of Not Dead Yet Style (see here ) had recently put a post up about a similar monochrome theme. In this particular post all of her clothes were thrifted (or from charity shops depending which side of the pond you live on), so were obviously of great interest to me. I'm aware I do harp on about charity shopping and that's because I'm a bit of a late starter with this lark. My eldest sister Sandra, however, has been an avid charity shopper all her adult life and has come across some beautiful clothes in her time. I'm afraid I have to admit I was a tad snooty about charity shopping when I was younger - shame on me! I equated charity shopping with smelly, stained clothes and thought there was little chance of finding anything of worth. I also thought anyone dressed in second-hand clothes would be instantly recognisable from 50 paces. Well, here I am eating my words now! I'd like to think that I'm not parading around looking like a bag lady every day though...

And so back to today's ensemble. The blouse, skirt, belt and handbag are all pre-loved (aaaahaa). I particularly like the skirt with its black trim as it's a versatile piece thanks to the colour. The check blouse is having its first outing and was nearly paired up with a pair of silky trousers, until I remembered I've been posting quite a few pairs of trousers lately. I could have gone down the line of thick tights and flats of some sort (er, do you mean brogues? I hear you say), but I'm really trying to pull away from my default setting. So instead I decided on these fab heels which are sadly not very practical, but do look lovely. I managed to wear them until lunchtime, and then changed into silver pumps with little bows (I'll need to feature these another time as they're quite cute). And the silver necklace was a Christmas purchase many moons ago but didn't work with the silver dress I had planned. Today it's perfect for adding a bit of glitz to what may have been a slightly dull outfit. 

What do you think? Is the handbag the star of the show? Do you have a monochrome moment you'd like to share? I'd love to hear from you.

Blouse: charity shop. Skirt: charity shop. Belt: charity shop. Handbag: charity shop. Shoes: TK Maxx. Necklace: old. Rings: charity shop. Sunglasses: Quay Australia


Linking with 
Visible Monday 
Not dressed as lamb 

Vintage flying jacket

I seem to have a bit of a theme emerging of late. The leather jacket is coming into it's own (for me) this autumn with this one being the latest addition to my wardrobe. I hold my daughter Sasha partly responsible for this purchase, as she found it when I had declared my recent shopping spree over. I had gotten to the stage where the empty suitcase was now full, and I really couldn't bring anything more home from our shopping trip last month (as seen here). Sasha however, had just gotten her second wind and was looking for a winter coat in a very tidy charity shop in Exmouth when she told me I really needed to take a look at this jacket. My protests didn't last long when she proffered the sleeve as it hung on the rack. The label declared it a large and was real leather, with paisley satin lining and all for the bargain price of £12. It would have been rude not to try it on at least. I could barely hide my excitement as I did the zip up and pulled the belt together - it was a perfect fit. Vintage sizes are usually small, and this certainly was.

And so here we are today, stepping out onto the beach for the first showing of this lovely vintage flying jacket in beautiful textured leather. I love the zips at the back giving the waistline a real shapely fit. The front pockets are huge, comfy caverns and the colour is a good match to go with my new handbag. I've been on the look out for a fringed bag since last winter, thinking that I ought to have a black suede one. However, this beauty caught my eye and was too good a buy to miss. Brand new, suede tassells, leather body and handles, great colour and a good size which could almost be an overnight bag - and what was best of all is that the label said £20! It had been an unwanted gift, dropped in that very day by a lady who sheepishly confessed it wasn't quite her. Her loss, my gain.

I've partnered the jacket with these jeans from Zara in an autumnal floral print, added a simple white tee, and a pale turquoise cashmere sweater for warmth. Today's final flourish had to be the standard tan brogues. It's been a while since I've stepped out in my first loves and don't they look mighty fine!

Jacket: bomber jacket. Jeans: Zara. Sweater: charity shop. Tee shirt: Dorothy Perkins. Shoes: TK Maxx. Handbag: charity shop. Pearls: Rose Cecil. Yellow ring: Martin James. Brown ring: Accessorize.

Linking with 
Visible Monday 
# I will wear what I want