she's addicted to clothes

I am celebrating crossing the frontier from my early- to mid-40s, today, by trying some colour-blocking, and being obnoxiously visible. Orange and hot pink? Now that’s visible, people. Particularly when you’re wearing those shoes that elevate your already considerable height another five inches. Six-foot-five. Orange and hot pink. Yeah, people saw me.

I spent a lot of time, while I was out, noticing people’s reactions to me. I got everything from a few dirty looks (visibility seems to actively piss some people off), to obvious approval. And a shocking number of men, ranging from sort of mid-20s to well in advance of my age (which is 44), checked me out. I think I hit a sweet spot with this outfit. Yes, I’m very colourful, and pretty much bang on-trend, but I don’t feel at all as if I’m pushing the boundaries of what’s considered age-appropriate. Perhaps it’s the cardigan, and the fact that other than showing a fair bit of leg, I’m pretty covered-up. Then again, I’m totally shameless about showing a bit of leg, so really, there’s nothing new there.

Now I’m off to have a very grown-up birthday dinner of french fries and cupcakes.

Details:

Sunglasses: Etienne Aigner, remixed.

Earrings: Linea, via House of Fraser. I have a necklace that matches these, but it would’ve been too much, and besides I wanted to wear a scarf.

Scarf: Accessorize.

Cardigan: LK Bennett, via TK Maxx. I absolutely adore orange and pink together, and I plucked this gorgeous, lightweight tussah silk cardi off a clearance rack with no idea how I’d end up styling it, but trusting I’d eventually come up with something. I did!

Barely-seen tank: Zara. Another clearance rack find.

Skirt: Adrienne Vittadini, via TK Maxx. I think this is remixed.

Bangles: Topshop.

Lace Tights: Vintage Mary Quant, sealed original package, thrifted. I’m pretty sure these tights are something very close to my actual age. And they’re a size Tall, and you know, whatever counted as ‘tall’ in the mid-60s was clearly a hell of a lot shorter than I am, but they do fit. Just. Really great construction on these things, though (a cotton/nylon blend), they’re incredibly sturdy, and I had absolutely no fear I’d rip them when I was stretching with all my might to get them somewhere near my actual waist, as opposed to my hips.

Platform Clogs: Michael Kors, remixed. I LOVE these.

And here’s an Edinburgh outfit report:

It was super gloomy when we got there, so the traveling outfit I wore is presented over four photos. The photographer was feeling arty and trying to deal with the very low light in the hotel room. Plus, the hotel we stayed at The Scotsman, is located in the building originally built to house the offices of The Scotsman newspaper, and it’s basically a Scottish Baronial pseudo-castle, so we had an actual turret, which I found absurdly exciting. The seated photo is me in said turret. Our hotel has a great location, very central, and just off the Royal Mile, so the views from the turret were pretty awesome.

This was a very good choice of traveling outfit, even if the jumper isn’t doing my figure any favours. It was comfortable, did not wrinkle, looked reasonably smart, and kept me warm. I wore the skirt again, and could have saved myself still more room in my luggage had I known it was going to travel well enough to get a second wearing.

It will surprise absolutely nobody to learn that aside from accessories, tights, and boots, this entire outfit is from Gap. Honestly, I do shop other places!

We have reservations for the train and our hotel, and it looks like we are headed to Scotland on Friday morning. I’m taking no technology with me, other than my phone and my iPod, and thus, it will go quiet around here probably from tomorrow night until Tuesday evening, GMT. This is the first holiday we’ve taken in a very long time, and it almost feels weird. This will be my longest break from the interwebs in YEARS, because, seriously, I have not traveled without a laptop in a very long time. I’m kind of looking forward to it. My phone is not Smart, since I keep it primarily for ringing taxis and communicating via text message with my husband, and it’s probably ready to start drawing a pension in mobile phone years.

Now I’m freaking out about what to pack, of course. I am determined to not overpack this time. I want to get this in ONE cabin-sized bag, plus my handbag. We shall see how successful I am. I’m not doing 30-for-30 this time around, but I am going to attempt to think as if I am whilst packing. Wish me luck!

I went on autopilot today. Lots to do, needed to be both comfortable and presentable, and I had to laugh, once I got dressed and then looked in the mirror, because, honestly, if you’ve been following along for a while, you can see this is just about as quintessentially ME an outfit as you could imagine. This is exactly the kind of thing I default to when it’s a day like today, and I just don’t want to put much thought into it. This outfit is Ana in every respect, which I shall now run down for you. Ready?

• It contains thrifted items.
• It is a soft neutral
• corduroy (skirt)
• cardigan (or jacket, whatever; there’s a LAYER involved here)
• tights
• boots
• two of the items worn are from Gap
• I paid full retail for not one single item I am wearing

The only missing elements that could make it more me, that I can think of, would be adding a scarf and bangles. I only avoided the scarf today because the weather was mild, and since I wouldn’t actually need a scarf, I decided to wear a pendant.

So, if you’re up for commenting, please reassure me that I’m not the only person with a uniform look she defaults to when creativity is not on that day’s menu. And, if you do that, tell me what your personal uniform is.

Details:

Cardigan: Gap

Tee: Gap

Necklace: Mysterious key found in our house when we moved in. My theory, which I’ve mentioned before, is that if I can find the door it fits, I will locate Narnia. Remixed.

Belt: Thrifted. This came with a different skirt, originally sold by Next.

Skirt: Crew Clothing Co., thrifted, remixed.

Tights: John Lewis, remixed. (I think these are John Lewis, anyway)

Boots: Aralia, Duo. I do believe Duo has a shop in Edinburgh. STOP ME BEFORE I BUY BOOTS AGAIN.

Shopper: I am kind of embarrassed to admit this, but it’s Louis Vuitton, and it’s thrifted, and it’s actually authentic. I am SO not a Louis Vuitton kind of person, and had no idea it WAS Louis Vuitton until I picked it off the peg and started looking at it. I just liked the bag, particularly the checked print and the braided straps, and since there was no nasty, screaming logo to tip me off, I really had no idea at first.

I got your Breton stripes right here.

I love stripes, so I was all over this:

I’m pretty sure I’ve held forth on my love of stripes before, and how it’s as if I’ve finally grown up enough to not give a toss about things like whether or not I “should” be wearing horizontal stripes. Of course I should — I LOVE THEM. Would I deny my love of polka dots? Or plaid? No, I would not.

Details:

Striped Shirt: Hobbs, thrifted.

Cardigan: Marks & Spencer, thrifted, remixed.

Skirt: Topshop, thrifted.

Tights: Primark. More of those super-opaque black Primark tights, I am in LOVE with these things.

Boots: Elba, Duo, remixed.

Bangles: No clue, have had for ages. I have an immense collection of cheap bangles, and they come from all over.

Another lovely day, weather-wise. It can’t last forever, but it’s a relief to be getting a bit of sunshine at the moment. I am prone to the winter blues, and getting some actual sunlight helps a lot. I’m finding this blog really helpful in that, as well, since it inspires me to make an effort, and, shallow though it may sound, looking smart does improve my mood.

Something else that improves my mood is a having a high proportion of thrifted clothing in my daily outfit, as I do today:

Cashmere cropped cardigan: Boden, thrifted. I got this, and another Boden cardigan (although the other one is just very soft and lovely wool, not cashmere) in utterly perfect condition, from my local Oxfam shop for three quid each. Of the many reasons I love thrifting so much, you can put “buying cashmere for small change” high on the list.

Embroidered skirt: White Stuff, thrifted. This is a company I’d not heard of until I bought this skirt at my local YMCA charity shop, and I’m very impressed with the quality of this lined skirt.

Tights: Marks & Spencer. They look teal, but the packaging called them “kingfisher,” which I like better. They match some of the embroidery on the skirt perfectly. I LOVE when that happens.

Boots: Kirov, Duo, remixed.

Oh, and I did cut my bangs today. Shorter than I usually go on my own, but I’m rather pleased with it, and glad I was bold with the scissors. The rest of my hair looks incredibly flat today, for some unknown reason, but I wore a beret when I went out, so it’s all good.

Casual Sunday. No contact lenses, just a quick blow-dry of the hair, some quick, light, make-up application, and into comfort clothes. This Sunday, however, thanks to Allison and her snazzy scarf-tying video, I had big fun with a newly-thrifted scarf. This is a really great way to tie something pashmina-sized, and I’m glad to add it to my sadly limited repertoire. Mostly I am a wrap-and-go kind of girl.

Details:

Velvet blazer: From Urban Outfitters’ Urban Renewal line. Definitely vintage, definitely about a size too big, but I don’t care; I got this baby for less than 15 quid, and it’s exactly the right weight for wearing on an exceptionally mild winter’s day.

Scarf: Accessorize, thrifted. I put in a close-up shot of it, and it could just be my crappy netbook’s crappy screen, but I’m not sure if you can see the very subtle tone-on-tone pattern or if it’s just a big blob of grey.

Jumper: No label, thrifted. This is colour-blocked and striped in red, grey and black. The red is all on the upper body and the arms, so alas, you can’t see that part, due to the scarf and the jacket. I really, really like this jumper, though, so I will wear it again soon, with nothing covering it up.

Jeans: The ubiquitous Premium Skinny, Gap Outlet jeans, oh-so-very remixed. I have never owned a pair of jeans I love more than these. It only took 43 years to find my perfect jeans! Never give up hope, people, but be prepared to search your entire life, heh.

Socks: Dunno. These are grey knee-highs, all scrunched down.

Boots: Ancient, remixed.

Shopping bag: Lucky Brand Jeans, via TK Maxx. This has many useful pockets inside.

Gloomy, somewhat rainy, and pretty warm today. The spouse punked out on day tripping anywhere, but he did seem keen on having a fairly extensive photo session before I headed out, thus, today’s photos. As for me, I had a good old stroll down Bold Street in Liverpool, passed some time in a lovely coffee shop on Church Street, and then picked up some produce and came home. The change of plans was fine with me, as I very much enjoy solo wanderings, and my husband very much enjoys not trying to be patient while I dig through every vintage and charity shop on Bold Street.

Details:

Coat: Laura Ashley, thrifted, remixed.

Dress: H&M, remixed. I am so glad to be wearing this again, after its first appearance in the No Repeats Challenge. I am also so glad I got over my fear of horizontal stripes.

Tights: Primark

Boots: Yes, those boots. Elba, Duo. Remixed.