If all has gone to plan then this ought to be the 4th and final automated post while I'm gadding about on my holidays. I do hope that my readers and loyal followers have still been visiting the blog in my absence and have been rewarded with these posts from my draft box. This was drawn up in September when the golden sun bathed us with it's waning warmth before it started heading towards the Southern hemisphere. Read on - Can there ever be too much of a good thing? If so, then I hope this isn't it. I have a couple of new favourites in my arsenal and this is one of them. I'm hoping to leaf this into my winter wardrobe to lift the dark colours out of the doldrums. But for today, the joy was in the pairing up of the wonderful fizzy pink blouse with my sedate Boden skirt. Well maybe a pink and orange skirt doesn't really constitute sedate in colour, but it's surely a classic shape. Ending just at the knee it's quite unassuming and simply cut, but by adding this vintage, chiffon, frilly bit of fun the whole thing positively sings. I'm clearly head over heels again. The autumn sunshine was bright today and I needed little prompting to give this outfit an airing. The new addition of pink to my wardrobe has my mind in overdrive thinking up ways to feature this and other rosy hued pieces. And when I recall all the times I've dismissed and zoomed past the pink racks and even whole sections of pink and red clothes - well, I just want to rewind to check what I've missed! However, I've got to get over that and move on. Hopefully I'll have the opportunity to get a bit of retail therapy again soon and maybe have some pink successes. The shoes today were going to be my silver brogues as seen here and here. But, I then decided to really play up the colourful girly outfit to the max. Heck, I probably wouldn't wear this again until next year, why not give it the full treatment? So, I introduced the green kitten heels which gave birth to the green gemstone crucifix necklace. And to finish, the purple tights were just the thing to pull everything together. The finished outfit may not be too different to the first time I wore it (quite recently I think) as here, but hey, shoot me for loving this blouse so much I just wanted to give it another reprise! Vintage blouse: charity shop. Skirt: Boden. Shoes: Office. Tights: old. Necklace: old. Sunglasses: Quay Australia. Linking with Catherine from Not Dressed as Lamb |
Bedazzled in pink and orange - flashback to September
Mid week mix
Apologies again for pulling this out of my draft box while I'm away on my holidays. Thanks to you all for hanging on in there and coming back to view.
The right shoes and tights can make such an impact on any outfit I think. Imagine this same dress but with flesh coloured tights and simple courts. It just wouldn't have this impact, would it? I would encourage anyone to experiment with coloured/patterned/lacy tights to inject a bit of personality to a dress that may have become an old faithful. It's an inexpensive way to add a pop of colour, to test the water too.
I've hesitated about showing the first photo, as it strikes me as a bit frumpy. The jacket was a purchase from eBay ages ago and I've never worn it until today. The rosette pattern was what attracted me, but when I put it on I feel a bit blah. However, it ended up in too many of the shots to edit therefore I'll let you guys be the judge. Don't worry about hurting my feelings as it's already been allocated to the recycle pile. It'll be heading off to eBay in a month or two when I finally get straight. Watch this space...
Currently we should be sailing towards Barcelona if my calculations are right. I do hope that my instagram account is firing on all cylinders showing snaps of our jolly trips out and about and that some of you may be keeping in touch with our travels. Thanks for taking time to visit the blog despite me flaunting my playing hooky. I'll try to keep abreast of all of my favourite bloggers antics too. See you all soon x
Dress: Ninewest (old). Shoes: Irregular Choice. Jacket: eBay. Thermal top: M&S. Orange necklace: old. Brown ring: East. Yellow ring: Martin James. Tights: Topshop (old).
Golly, I'm not too happy about my mop of hair here! I hope to be looking a bit more sleek upon my return.
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Ditto.
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These Irregular Choice shoes were a gift from my friend Bun. I've dollied about in them recently and felt totally cutsie-glam, if there's such a thing. |
I'm a bit late showing my fake fur in February. Most fashion bloggers had theirs on show in December at least. |
The right shoes and tights can make such an impact on any outfit I think. Imagine this same dress but with flesh coloured tights and simple courts. It just wouldn't have this impact, would it? I would encourage anyone to experiment with coloured/patterned/lacy tights to inject a bit of personality to a dress that may have become an old faithful. It's an inexpensive way to add a pop of colour, to test the water too.
I've hesitated about showing the first photo, as it strikes me as a bit frumpy. The jacket was a purchase from eBay ages ago and I've never worn it until today. The rosette pattern was what attracted me, but when I put it on I feel a bit blah. However, it ended up in too many of the shots to edit therefore I'll let you guys be the judge. Don't worry about hurting my feelings as it's already been allocated to the recycle pile. It'll be heading off to eBay in a month or two when I finally get straight. Watch this space...
Currently we should be sailing towards Barcelona if my calculations are right. I do hope that my instagram account is firing on all cylinders showing snaps of our jolly trips out and about and that some of you may be keeping in touch with our travels. Thanks for taking time to visit the blog despite me flaunting my playing hooky. I'll try to keep abreast of all of my favourite bloggers antics too. See you all soon x
Dress: Ninewest (old). Shoes: Irregular Choice. Jacket: eBay. Thermal top: M&S. Orange necklace: old. Brown ring: East. Yellow ring: Martin James. Tights: Topshop (old).
A SUMMER'S DAY - FLASHBACK
Polly had watched me tip toe my way down the slippy incline onto the beach and had been snapping away furiously - I think she had hoped to catch me slipping onto my derriere! |
This clutch belongs to my daughter who has moved out, but not moved all of her things out. She may decide to collect some of these featured pieces now that I'm making good use of them!
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The little harbour behind me is always a hive of activity in the mornings with frieght being loaded and unloaded, and visitors catching the jet boats to make their trip homewards. |
Travel tales
The reality of this post is that I'm setting this up in advance in the hope that the technology works and it does in fact publish while I head off on the next stage of our holiday. On Wednesday morning, if everything works out, we ought to be sitting on the train travelling from Cornwall to London and my plan is that this is the outfit I'll be wearing. So here goes -
As I said we're leaving Cornwall today after spending a couple of days with Sasha. I've got a hair appointment lined up as well as a facial so I hope to be looking a bit more groomed by the time we hit the bright lights of London. These posts may not be quite up to scratch as I'm feeling the pressure as we rise to a crescendo of printing off tickets, insurance papers etc as well as the packing of that ever elusive capsule wardrobe. So excuse me if I'm not quite delivering my best.
I've had this yellow tartan jacket for quite a few years now and it comes out every winter. I particularly like the cut which gives it a very feminine feel. The boots are new and came in the deluge of boots and shoes which were the result of my "influenza shoppingitis" episode and were lucky to have made the cut. Once I was well, I could see the error of my ways and was quite brutal with the returns. Only those with true merit were retained and these most definitely made the grade. I even used these when I was trying some frocks for the cruise and despite them not being the exact look I was hoping for they were OK. Well see what you think -
This is a kind of half way house in the dressing up scale to my mind. It's not what I will want to be wearing on board our cruise but I could be taken out for a posh meal in London, say. I'm meeting up with my dear friend Bo on Friday to see the Monet exhibition and wonder if I might persuade her to stay on for a meal that evening. Well, I'm ready for all eventualities with this I think.
Jacket: Next (old). Jeans: Gap (charity shop). Cardigan: H&M (old). Blouse: eBay. Boots: River Island (sold out but these are similar). Dress: H&M. Handbag: charity shop. Rings: charity shop.
I'm in boot heaven with these. I love Chelsea boots and I adore a bit of bling so this is the perfect marriage of the two. |
These are my favourite jeans of the moment. I've never bought Gap jeans before, but the fit is really comfy and seems to be my shape exactly - I may have to look out for another pair. |
As I said we're leaving Cornwall today after spending a couple of days with Sasha. I've got a hair appointment lined up as well as a facial so I hope to be looking a bit more groomed by the time we hit the bright lights of London. These posts may not be quite up to scratch as I'm feeling the pressure as we rise to a crescendo of printing off tickets, insurance papers etc as well as the packing of that ever elusive capsule wardrobe. So excuse me if I'm not quite delivering my best.
I've had this yellow tartan jacket for quite a few years now and it comes out every winter. I particularly like the cut which gives it a very feminine feel. The boots are new and came in the deluge of boots and shoes which were the result of my "influenza shoppingitis" episode and were lucky to have made the cut. Once I was well, I could see the error of my ways and was quite brutal with the returns. Only those with true merit were retained and these most definitely made the grade. I even used these when I was trying some frocks for the cruise and despite them not being the exact look I was hoping for they were OK. Well see what you think -
This is a kind of half way house in the dressing up scale to my mind. It's not what I will want to be wearing on board our cruise but I could be taken out for a posh meal in London, say. I'm meeting up with my dear friend Bo on Friday to see the Monet exhibition and wonder if I might persuade her to stay on for a meal that evening. Well, I'm ready for all eventualities with this I think.
Jacket: Next (old). Jeans: Gap (charity shop). Cardigan: H&M (old). Blouse: eBay. Boots: River Island (sold out but these are similar). Dress: H&M. Handbag: charity shop. Rings: charity shop.
The final countdown
Maybe the expression on my face says - "Not long 'til I'm being whisked off on my hols!" |
Does this happen to you? The minute you've made the appointment to have your hair cut it suddenly looks the best it's been in ages. |
The beautiful woollen shorts came from ASOS via a charity shop in Penzance a couple of years ago. I like the feature of the side zips which conceal the pockets - very nifty. |
So, on to the frock situation. These are a few that might make the final cut, but at the moment it's as clear as mud.
Two beautiful beaded numbers. The peach chiffon one is new, but marred slightly by the fact that someone said it was a bit Bollywood, hmmmm. Can I let that put me off? |
I have fellow fashion blogger Suzanne Carillo to thank for leading me to discover this stunning skirt by Anthropologie. It was in the sale, (sold out now) which did reduce the sting somewhat. |
This is the green beaded dress I wore to my 40th birthday bash - truly vintage now methinks. |
I wore this gold maxi dress on our last cruise. Does that mean it ought to stay at home this time? |
And this maxi dress hasn't had an outing since I bought in on eBay last summer. I can imagine Melanie from Bag and a Beret wearing this to an exotic soiree, with elbow length gloves, whilst brandishing a cigarette in a very long cigarette holder. |
The gold knee length dress is lovely with the gold beaded crochet top, but again has already been cruising. And the dark green 50's frock has never been worn, but looks amazing with my black net underskirt underneath. To be honest, it seems like I've got a whole lot of trying on to do to help with the decision making. Wish me luck! I'm scheduling my posts to continue to go live on Wednesdays and Sundays for the duration of my holiday and so dear readers it would be great to know you'll still pop by to see some new outfits. Some are from last summer which I thought might be a bit cheering during the last weeks of the winter. I hope to also post some new shots from our holiday on Instagram which is under the same name as my blog - it would be great to hear from you there too. I'll be checking my comments on both and provided I have network will respond, so do keep in touch x Coat: charity shop. Boots: Office shoes (sold out but these are similar) Shorts: charity shop. Top: eBay. Tights: gift. Belt: Zara. Bag: charity shop. Rings: charity shop. All of the dresses shown are old, vintage or from eBay. The striped skirt is now sold out. |
My birthday jacket
Yes, this was me on my birthday, sporting the new jacket that my daughter chose and my husband financed, which is pretty much the perfect arrangement I'd say. Sasha has a great eye and knows my style, as you can see. I love the unique nature of the jacket - the colours, the patchwork and the tiny studs, all of which say class act to me. Arriving just on the cusp of our departure for our holidays, this soft suede bomber jacket will be ideal for warmer weather when I need to step out in style in Rome, Malta and Barcelona. Thank you Sasha for finding a such a perfect gift.
A week ago one of my favourite fashion bloggers, Suzanne Carillo posted an article which asked her readers to chose our style statement for 2016 (see here). Suzanne then went on to state her own, as "Artistic, unique, relevant, fun and strong". If you have time, please take a moment to visit her blog and you will soon understand how well she has summarised herself. I admire Suzanne's bold sense of dressing that isn't about following trends. As a savvy shopper she finds bargains in the sales, loves to charity shop and has some great tips on dressing as seen here. Her strong sense of self is what I admire so much and is something I recognise in myself too.
I considered her question as to my own style statement and came up with "I aspire to inspire". Apologies if this comes across as very grand and self inflated, it's not meant to at all. The older I get, the more I feel I know myself and what suits my body shape. I've found that if I wear the right combination of colours and shapes it greatly increases my confidence. This often results in women of my age talking to me about my clothes and where I bought them, and can also create the opportunity for them to talk about why they wear what they do or why they think they couldn't wear what I do.
As we mature we all need to cultivate the older version of ourselves and maintain the individuality that we had in our younger days. It's so easy to let fashion, trends or an interest in clothes pass us by as we age, believing that it's no longer important. I disagree, hence my motto of "Let's bin the beige and have fun with colour". I like to think that my boldness may inspire one or two to step out of their comfort zone. Whether it's just to try out a new shade of lipstick, or some coloured tights or even revisit a trend they loved when they were younger. I'd like to think my blog may liberate, inspire, inject some fun or at the very least give food for thought. "Could I wear something like that?" you may ask. Well you won't know unless you try. A trial within the privacy of your bedroom is the best way to see how you feel, see if you have the right shoes, belt, jewellery to complete the look. Taking time to do this is essential. I hate the rush of changing rooms, where you feel obliged to scurry in and out so quickly, too quickly to weigh up the look at all. Take an hour at home, in the daytime, when you have good light to see the true colours and see what you can find in your wardrobe to match or compliment the piece in question. Go on, you may surprise yourself!
Before I go, I feel I must mention these boots which have lain dormant in my wardrobe for over 20 years now. I bought them in a swish boutique on Gandi Street in Exeter and they pretty much drained all of my reserves in one fell swoop. It was love at first sight. The price tag became insignificant. I knew I had to have them. I'm sure this is common to other shopaholics - the fight is over before it has begun. Give in. You know you're gonna have to buy 'em, so just get on with it. Hot sweats, racing heart, panic, all of the ensuing signals to try to stop this train wreck will amount to nothing. And so it was. And here they still are, as sensational as ever. They are by DKNY and everything about them is fantastic. From the exquisite scrolling pattern, to the staggering heel shape and the opulent purple leather lining, they are outrageously beautiful. Whimper, pine and drool over them from a distance as they won't be up for sale on my (forthcoming) eBay page anytime soon.
Jacket: KattyKitt Vintage. Dress: charity shop. Polo neck: charity shop. Boots: DKNY. Tights: Dorothy Perkins. Blue rings: charity shop.
Linking with
Cherie at Style Nudge
Allison at Sydney Fashion Hunter
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