September Style Not Age challenge - All dressed up with nowhere to go.

Hello and welcome again to our Style Not Age challenge where this month Jacqui chose the theme "All Dressed up with Nowhere to go!". Our interpretations of this are all delightfully different so I'll linger no longer and share what the posse chose.

Jacqui's outfit has graced a wedding and an anniversary which is no surprise at all. The dress is classy and stylish and yes, is begging for another outing I would say. See more on her blog Mummabstylish.

Gail's spin on this was more along the lines of "All dressed up with no office to go to" which is as sharp as her outfit. I love the mix of office smart and sassy after-work outing that speaks volumes about her idea of good work/play balance. Catch her back story on Is This Mutton blog.

Emma from the Style Splash has also opted for a lace dress for this challenge. I love the vibrancy of yellow which works so well with the russet accessories. 

Hilda is stepping out in a dress from LK Bennett with a brand new Zara jacket from two years ago that still is waiting for its debut - we all know how that goes don't we? See more from her on her blog Over The Hilda.

As you can see, I took this month's suggestion very literally, marooned as I was on Ganilly sandbar on the low tide last Sunday. There's surely no place that says "Nowhere to go" more than here. 

My mermaid coat seemed an obvious choice for this castaway shoot. I do love how this shimmering jacket catches the sunlight and said to Steve that I could easily waft about in it every day of the week. It's the most glamorous piece in my wardrobe with fabulous powers of transformation - oh how gorgeous it makes me feel!

The pastel shades remind me of the inside of an oyster shell. I felt in my element to be dancing and gadding about across the deserted sandbank, swooshing this way and that. Our only companions were the various seabirds who cared not a jot for my antics.

It's taken me a year to fulfill this desire to showcase my shimmering coat here on this sandbar.  In fact, it's my third photo shoot on this desert island beach this summer - see the others here. If you have another moment to spare you can read the post about St Martin's from last summer when I espied the heart shaped white sandbank appearing out of the receding tide. I'm such a romantic soul and loved the notion of showcasing this spot in a totally tropical photo shoot.

We were very lucky to find the right moment to take these shots, Steve and I. This was one of he biggest tides of the year and to have it fall on a Sunday in the middle of the day was perfect. We had spent a couple of hours on Nornour island, just a little way away from here waiting for the tide to go out and reveal the sandbar at its largest point. During that time we had a picnic as we watched several little boats and kayaks appear and disappear from the shoreline. Bang on low water Steve saw our opportunity to take sole ownership and off we went. 

We had picnicked on this little spit of sand on Nornour island, one of the Eastern Isles. The helicopters and planes fly across these en route to the Isles of Scilly. If you every spot our boat moored up as you fly into the islands, I'll be that crazy little dot on the sand waving to you.

To some, this may look like a little cool bag, but it did in fact contain my ensemble for the shoot. The pleated dress and sequinned coat both rolled up to fit inside without creasing - and they were kept dry too!

This beaded dress was from Monsoon and was a happy find in a charity shop a few years ago. I've worn it for gallery exhibition parties and love the fact that it doesn't seem to crease, no matter how badly I pack it. Talking of which, today (Sunday) is phase one of my clothes change over. Stripping the summer clothes out of my wardrobe will be the first step and then I just hope to bring out enough outfits to last the first week at work. Next weekend, I'll delve a bit deeper. It's always tinged with sadness to pack away my summer clothes. Summer is my favourite time of year.

I was particularly pleased to come across this rose coloured necklace which echoes the shape of the scales of my mermaid coat. Necklace and rings are all pre-loved. The rose gold bangles are: one from the Barbican shop and the other is by Kate Spade New York, bought in Singapore airport en route to New Zealand about 5 years ago. 

My blue tinted Quay Australia sunglasses seemed to be the perfect pair for this maritime shoot. 

Sunlight and reflections abound on this sparkling location. I'd like to say this was an staged shot by my creative director, but Steve confessed it was an absolute fluke.

As we left the stunning sandbar nature took over once again as seabirds and seals reclaimed their homes. We, and all of the other adventurers, had enjoyed escaping to this oasis of calm for a short while before the tide turned and moved us on.

My thanks go to Jacqui for creating this opportunity for one final beach day before the weather forces us to bring our boat up for the winter. It was a great style challenge - one that really captured my imagination. 

Update 

Apologies to my long term readers and also to the Style Collective - it seems that old age has set in with me. I've showcased this coat 18 months ago during one of our previous monthly challenges. I completely forgot - oops! 

                                                                                Anna x

Two summer jackets (in autumn)

Hello there! At the time of writing it's blowing a gale outside with torrential rain battering against the windows which makes this seem a rather odd feature to be posting, but I've been promising this for days, so here we go. So far I've managed to get photos of two summer jackets and still have two more waiting in the wings, however they may have to wait until next year.

I was particularly pleased with the pairing of jacket and dress in this outfit. I love the stripes of colour echoed in each even though the patterns are different. The colours too work really well together. It's a real match made in heaven.

It's the first time I've worn the jacket (the brand is Divas) and it's a neat fit with discreet zip up pockets and zip front. The dress is by Per Una and is a perfect summer weight in linen with fitted waistband and inverted pleat creating a generous skirt and those lovely pockets making it a sure fire winner. The v neck kept me cool and the pretty pleating added a bit of style in what could have otherwise been an overly simple frock.

The dress, jacket and rings are all pre-loved pieces which just goes to show how second hand isn't just the green option, but can be a colourful and stylish one too. The necklace is by Drift jewellery one of the brands we stock in the Gallery. I collect Tresco sea glass from our beaches and send it to Fiona, the maker, who turns it into one-off pieces for us to sell. 

The Primark petal sandals have jewelled centres. I've had these for a couple of summers now and goodness, they're so comfy!

The second summer jacket is showcased just a day later in what was a real dose of pea-souper fog. It disrupted flights, delaying departures and arrivals with some guests not moving to or from the island at all. Fiona and I decided to go ahead, aiming for that atmospheric shot ...

The pre-loved jacket is by River Island. It's unlined, but has pockets and again this is its first outing. I seem to collect jackets as that handy item to finish off an outfit. I'm quite formal on the quiet, despite my efforts at rebellion sometimes. When I'm being smart, a jacket is the finishing touch and yet is easy to discard when it gets too hot.

The Topshop orange satin trimmed top is also pre-loved and very well worn by me. The off-white trousers were from F&F at Tesco many moons ago. They are great wash and wear trousers requiring the minimum of ironing to look sleek and smart. 

Comfort and style are combined in these glorious embroidered trainers by Replay, bought in the Harrogate branch of TK Maxx last spring. They certainly do draw lots of compliments every time I wear them. 

The shopping my closet theme continues with my jewellery too. Both rings and the tiny seed pearl necklace were all gathered along the way over the years. Vintage and second hand are always more interesting to me. 

And so here we are bang into autumn with fog, rain and gales. My newly found jackets look like the only place they're heading is into a suitcase along with the rest of my summer clothes. The big clothes change-over may be coming sooner rather than later...

In the meantime, I've got one more summery outfit coming up on Monday for our monthly style challenge with the posse from the Style Not Age collective. Our theme for September is "All dressed up with nowhere to go". It'll be no surprise to you if I say that I took this one rather literally! Do swing by on Monday to see what that might look like.

                                                                                                Anna x

September beach day

Apologies if you're waiting to see the next summer jacket installment as promised, but I just wanted to share this beach day before it seemed out of context. September has been a great month for picnics - Steve and I have managed to get off in our boat most weekends to escape to another island for a change of scenery. Last weekend we went to Great Bay on St Martin's. 

We plonked ourselves in the middle of Great Bay Beach and drank in the glorious view which included the ghostly outline of mainland Cornwall in the far distance.

I'd taken three beach outfits with me, not knowing which would be the one to wear depending on the weather. This ornate Ganesha top was a gift from a blogging friend many years ago and yes, surprise, surprise I've never worn it before. I wonder why on earth not as it's orange with sequins and beads and it's lovely and bright and colourful and fabulous and summery and goodness, what's wrong with me sometimes?

Anyway, this seems to be the year for showcasing all of these unseen gems so this is another one for the blog. Underneath is a bikini of sorts. Top from one, bottom from another, but they somehow seem to work. The different colours of trim are the only thing to give it away that they're not a pair.

I do wonder if you'd have noticed that this wasn't all one and the same bikini? I've no idea what make these are as I've had them for years. Every summer I check in with myself as to whether I'll brave the belly-exposing bikini scene again and then I get over it. When I visited my friend Bo in Portugal where she lives I was greatly heartened at the sight of every woman on the beach, regardless of shape, size or age, wearing a bikini. The beach culture there is all about catching some rays and the best way to do that is in a bikini. Lots of suncream and skimpy bikinis was the norm - I like that mindset.

The final variation on my beachwear outfits is this pair of pyjama trousers that I bought in New Zealand. In fact the whole ensemble is very southern hemisphere as the top is from Hong Kong. I totally love these trousers, both for the beach and for slouching around at home over the weekends. They tie at the front, are loose and cool - perfect easy summer wear.

Could this be my favourite beach outfit of all time? I do think so. All I need is a frisbee and  we're talking a perfect day on the beach.

This will be one of those heckling from the sidelines shots. Good old Steve for keeping me in line when I was talking too much, generally bossing him about and being gobby!

And this is the boating outfit - not in the least bit glamorous, but very practical for slipping my sandals off and jumping into the dingy. Well, I say practical, when in fact the shirt tails did end up trailing behind me in the sea at one stage. I suffered damp derriere for most of the day! The gorgeous shirt is heavy cheesecloth, a fabulous vintage find destined for Steve who refused to wear such an outrageous colour. It's now my go-to boating shirt, hurrah!

Bidding farewell to St Martin's. We'll be back again, but maybe not until next year! By next month Steve will be bringing our boat up before the winter storms arrive. 

The shots below are from the previous day, Saturday last weekend, when Fiona and I had done a wetsuit swim, the first one for both of us in a whole year. We swam from the beach below the Ruin Beach Cafe at Raven's Porth along the shoreline past the Blockhouse and Cook's Porth, Cradle Porth, along Rushy Porth finishing at the far end of Pentle Bay. If we were serious wild swimmers one of us would surely have a fancy gadget to measure how far our swim actually was. Sufficient for us was the fact that we swam for 55 minutes and still felt full of energy by the end.

This is us, two joyful, happy bunnies full of gratitude for being able to swim in such beautiful clear water. These are always pinch me moments - how very lucky we feel to live here!

                                                                                          Anna x

Hush dress and H&M sock boots

Hello again! How are you and how has your week been? It's been another busy week at work, which is great as the time has just flown by. Weather-wise, it's been a mixed bag of sunshine and fog making the job of getting photos together for the blog interesting to say the least. My good friend Fiona has stepped to the fore, helping out with some end of day sessions which has been great. I know I promised to share the newly-found summer jackets, but this summer dress seemed too lovely not to feature. 

The animal print dress is by Hush, a brand that I hadn't come across until last summer when a customer walked in wearing this exact dress, sparking an in depth grilling from me. I tracked one down online in the summer sale and have worn it again a few times this summer. Today I've paired it with my red H&M sock boots, which gives it a funky edge that garnered me quite a few compliments. Much as I'm not averse to buying high street brands, I do like to style them in my own particular way.

I'm suddenly very aware of the fact that we're hurtling towards the end of September and I still have quite a few summery outfits I want to show you as well as a beach shoot Steve and I did on St Martin's last weekend. We visited Great Bay for a picnic and also managed to take three variations on my beach outfit too. Anyway you'll see those in due course, although I'm not sure if that will be before or after the summer jackets...

The trapeze dress in pink and red zebra stripes with hankerchief hem and side splits is cool and airy, perfect for a hot day in the gallery. In fact, I did start the day off wearing a trouser suit and a long sleeved blouse, but by lunchtime it was simply too hot to bear. I often finish my lunch hour but doing a quick change due to the weather. 

I thought this Topshop tribal beaded necklace was a great partner to the dress, along with two pre-loved resin rings in tonal hues. My sunglasses today are by Radley London. Did you notice the animal print theme continues with these too?

I suppose today's look could be my first forray into transitional dressing between summer and autumn. My sock boots are much loved and do add an element of joy in what might be otherwise seen as the end of summer. I'll be squeezing every last drop out of these golden days of this, my favourite time of year. I'm sure the internet is full of the latest autumn fashion, but I'm not in any hurry to follow suit!

So, here we are, on the brink of the weekend yet again and the question is, what will you be getting up to this weekend? Much as I'm taking a break from retail therapy, I'm very aware that I would normally be taking a week off work at this time of year and be treating myself to bit of clothes shopping within that time. Will you be making your first autumn purchases this weekend, and if so, what are you looking for? Please share all the details - if I can't shop then at least I can enjoy hearing about your shopping. 

Have a lovely weekend!

                                                                                       Anna x