Frida Kahlo tee shirt

You may have seen this Frida Kahlo tee shirt last week when I wore it to our family lunch for Mother's day - see here. Well, here it is having another outing in what my husband refers to as my Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club look. I hadn't styled it that way. Like all of my outfits it just kind of evolved.

The day was a bit grey, dull and threatening to rain. I'd had my swim which was chilly as ever, but always worth the effort as it lifted my mood. Grey days are not my best, so as I cycled home from the beach I started thinking how I could avoid my default setting of wearing dark clothes as I often do on these dark days. This red kimono came to mind - nothing could be more the extreme opposite of greys and blacks. 

The kimono was a scoop from a charity shop in Truro last year costing me all of £3! I still can't believe my luck with this. It's a smooth satin finish, decorated with ornate embroidery. It's a year since I last wore it (see here). It seemed like the obvious thing to do to add the pretty floral Frida tee shirt (from Primark) to continue the theme.

I bought these rather fabulous trousers in the Oxfam shop in Truro last month. The shop has extended their premises since I was last there and it's much better lit with more room between the racks. I fancy that they may have a new manager as the lay out is more organised, the clothes are curated in better groups and the accessories are displayed better too. I spent a fair bit of time browsing, but only fell in love with one piece. I paid £20 for these heavyweight trousers and feel that they're worth every penny. Fully lined and covered with embroidery, I would have been mad not to grab these. They have no labels, nothing to say a brand and do look like a sample piece. The red leather belt is pre-loved, by Tommy Hilfiger and the perspex ring was another charity shop find.

The black patent boots were from the recent Topshop sale, reduced to half price at £35. My black patent oxfords are beginning to show signs of wear and tear to the point that they're cracking so these will be perfect replacements. The heel isn't too high, the width across the mid-foot is good and I'm find these comfortable enough to wear all day - result!

I've scheduled this post to go live this weekend while I'm away at the annual buying fair in Harrogate. I'm considering taking this as one of my outfits to wear. I love to see all of the stall holders dressed up for the event, and this does cascade on to the visitors too. This year I ought to try to take a clutch of photos for you to see some of the creatives and what they put together to wear - I certainly won't look out of place amongst the other peacocks!

                                                                                            Anna x

A burst of spring weather

Last week we were blessed with a spell of spring-like weather, prompting me to pack away my winter sweaters and bring out some summer dresses. (The story is somewhat different now at the time of writing, as I listen to the hail bounce off the roof of our lean-to.) Anyway, Polly and I certainly did make hay while the sun shines meaning my blog will be populated for the next little while by some sunny shots of me in the idyllic March sunshine.

My pretty dress is new from TK Maxx, the brand is Mango and I bought it for £15. I think it's going to be very useful. I cinched in the waist with a second hand leather and elastic belt. 

When I bought it I had no idea of how well it would go with these ASOS boots. Don't they look fab together? Oh how I love a bit of matchy-matchy!

Brocade boots were on trend a couple of years ago and I bought two pairs from ASOS at that time, knowing full well that I'd still want to wear them long after the trend had passed. So here they are, making a perfect entrance hand in hand with the floral frock in similar shades of orange, lilac and green. The mesh dotty tights in lilac are very old - it was a lovely surprise to find them in the bottom of the drawer looking like the ideal thing for this ensemble.

The set of plastic necklace and matching bracelet is a recent charity shop find, purchased during the same shopping spree in the hope that it would work with this outfit. At only £3 for the pair it was a good find. The ring is pre-loved too. The sunglasses are by Guess and were from TK Maxx.

There's nothing better than a floaty dress to make a girl feel all feminine...

... and in need of a twirl ...

... or two!

This is my giddy face after a few spins too many.

Here's a little snippet of island life. This landing craft arrived on the beach moments after Polly and I finished our photo shoot. It had been hired to take away all of the old vehicles and metal detritus that had accumulated over the years. The massive spring clean filled the boat to the gunnel's. After a few days of loading her up, it left on Friday in the fog.

So that's all from the lovely Isles of Scilly for the moment. I'll be back in a few days and hope you'll join me then.

Have a super week!

Anna x

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello and Happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely mums out there. Are you having a great day? Jamie and Sasha treated the family to lunch at the Ruin beach Cafe today, and how fortunate we were with the lovely spring weather. We sat outside in the sun and congratulated ourselves on our luck. I suppose I ought to have done that whole raft of images to show you what we ate, but we were far too hungry to shilly-shally about with that nonsense! Suffice to say, it was delicious and very filling - so filling in fact that one of us had to take the remains of theirs home in a doggie-bag.

The cafe sits on the beach at Old Grimsby affording a beautiful view across the bay to the Old Blockhouse and on towards the Eastern Isles in the distance. I love coming to this side of the island - it's my favourite spot, reminding me of when I used to work at the Island Hotel which was located in these grounds. I could never have imagined that 41 years on I would be standing here with my very own family, happily ensconced on this beautiful island.

The vista from our table shows the spit of sand called Blockhouse Point which always looks so inviting - it's the stuff of daydreams for me. In fact, that's exactly what I used to do when I was meant to be dusting in room 2, I would actually be hypnotised by this view, thinking how wonderful it would be to live here. 

After lunch Sasha and I took a detour home via this field of oxalis flowers, far too pretty to be classed as a weed surely? Anyway, they made the perfect backdrop for our photo shoot.

My kitten heels kept sinking into the soft soil.

I built the whole outfit around this fabulous tee shirt (new, from Primark) which will be my go-to top for the summer. I already wish that I bought a couple of these as I worry that the colour will fade. Hand washing may well preserve the dye so that's what I'll do. 

You'll probably remember the pink (pre-loved) Topshop trench from here. After my recent abstinence from bright colours I have reverted to my default setting of colour, colour and more colour for my Mother's Day celebrations. I feel so much more me when I'm swamped in brights. This is the third outing for the coat bringing down the cost per wear to under £1.50 already. 

The trousers are new from Boden (still some left in the sale here), the result of a severe longing I've had for a pink suit. The matching jacket was sold out, but this trench pretty much fits the bill. I'll confess now that I am in the midst of a trouser suit moment - so you have been warned! The blog will be awash with suits very soon in all sorts of colours and patterns, some second hand, some new, all of them filling me with excitement and utter joy at the prospect of a suited summer ahead.

The white kitten heel boots were from New Look, in the sale for £7.

Just rings to finish the look. Pink one was a gift from my friend Maggie, silver and gold one by Emily Nixon.

My pink handbag was new from a charity shop last year/year before? Oh dear, time is whizzing by so fast!

My Quay Australia sunglasses add the final flourish to this springtime outfit. 

I know my homage to neutrals may have been short-lived, but I will make another stab at these sombre shades again, I promise. The addition of the JD Williams snakeskin jacket has already given me some new ideas along those lines, so do please bear with me if that's more your thing. In the meantime, I hope that you're enjoying a bit of a lazy day and that someone is out in the kitchen getting the evening meal together while you put your feet up. Hope your Mother's Day has been as lovely as mine. I have a new magazine waiting for me amidst a pile of cushions on the sofa. Steve, what's for tea?

                                                                                           Anna x

Less colour, more detail

Further to my post on Monday where I placed myself well out of my comfort zone by wearing top to toe beige, I decided to run with the theme of less colour but more detail today. My default setting as you know is to turn the volume up colour-wise at every given opportunity, but the positive response to the March Madness feature gave me cause to consider the value of more neutral tones.

Less colour doesn't necessarily mean less fun though!

What is fun, is the fact that even though I'm in my 60's I am still learning about clothes. If Hilda hadn't come up with that particular challenge I would never have pulled those random separates together to make my homage to beige. 

The starting point for today's ensemble is this snakeskin jacket which has been gifted to me by JD Williams. The fabric is a suede effect making for a very soft finish, comfortable to wear and more lightweight than if it were real suede. I'm a big fan of biker jackets, so when the offer came to through to choose something from their current range, I was happy to see this one. I don't have a patterned biker jacket in my ever expanding collection so this seemed to be the ideal opportunity. Made to the usual specifications the jacket has zipped pockets and zips on the sleeves plus the slanted zip across the body. The fit is good - I'm a size 10 and this was as expected. My favourite points have to be the pattern (snakeskin is always on trend in my books) plus the cool look of a biker jacket crosses all age groups. 

I decided to pair the biker jacket up with black work trousers to give a less rock chick look, but as usual I couldn't settle for plain old black trousers could I?

These eyelet trim trousers were from Zara last year. They tick the right boxes for me when I need a well fitting ankle length black trouser that keeps me out of the boring zone. The sock boots were from Zara too. I suppose if you don't feel this adventurous you could indeed wear plain black trousers with simple boots or even a pair of sandals with this look - see some ideas for sandals on the JD Williams website here. 

In my quest to wear less colour I've gone big on accessories, bringing out a new handbag which I bought in a tiny boutique in St Andrews in January. The turtle shape plus all of these sparkling gemstones had that quirky appeal for me and was also in the sale coming in under £40 which suited me too. I've been saving the bag for a special outfit and this seems to be the perfect one. Tonally the jacket and bag work so well together and the black ties in with the trousers too. I really like this mixture of black trousers saying work and biker jacket saying rock chick - it's all about being an individual, isn't it? This may not be a conventional work outfit for some, but it would be great for a lunch out or after work drinks with the girls, don't you think?

The final touches for today's look are this statement necklace from Topshop along with these gold coloured rings, both of them pre-loved. 

Before you go, let me confess that I had to give this gorgeous snakeskin jacket the true Anna's Island Style treatment and dressed it up with a mega splash of colour here -

Leave me have your votes please for which look you prefer. Either way, I'm a winner!

Wishing you a fab week ahead!

Anna x