Being ... Terri

With apologies to anyone who opened my earlier post which had no narrative.
I now give you narrative, shed-loads of narrative!

Hi dearies, hope you're feeling good today.  I'm more than a little excited.  We had temps in the mid 20s yesterday, which has gotta mean that I can start walking away from those winter gripes, like arthritis and sinusitis and all the side orders you get from those dishes.

My plantar fasciitis has eased - more on that in another post but suffice to say that it's extremely painful.

But enough of the old lady stuff - I've also had my DNA results.  And within 24 hours I'd found myself a 2nd/3rd cousin in Australia, not that I'm short of cousins!
So interesting.  So excited!

 Now, back to the matter in hand.  I'd like to introduce you to Terri of Meadow Tree Style.  I do like her style.  Terri accessorises her stylish outfits with panache, especially when it comes to jewellery, hats and handbags.  She is a lover of fine quality vintage items and she makes a lot of her own clothes, which are amazing.   So when I recently visited The Dolphins here and eyed some vintage dressmaking patterns and handbags, I thought instantly of Terri.

Terri recently posted her Covered Perfectly top here and I was inspired to try the look.

So I set about recreating it, with what I had to hand.

Covered Perfectly tops are very popular with bloggers in the States.  The owner of the brand is British.

I don't have a pretty cut-out sleeve CP top, so I used a basic long sleeved M&S top in black

This may be the first time I'm showing you my old stone linen skirt.

Bought in Zurich in 2003 and reunited with its Pout owner after her recent attic emptying.

 

  

The sandals are Ecco, bought in Copenhagen 3 years ago.  So comfy.

(Zurich, Copenhagen - I sound truly international, but I do find that when you buy things aboard, you do tend to remember where and when they were bought)

I accessorised with a shell-style pendant, in black and beige.

And hats.  Terri does hats. 

I grabbed TP's from the stash we keep for the patio.

And then I grabbed one of my own, Next, last summer or should I say, SS16 (more on that further down!)


And then on to jeans.

 

The same top with M&S jeans and a stripey neck scarf.  I don't look too happy with the look. 

And to be honest, I felt I could do better.  So I revisited Terri's blog and realised I needed to accessorise better.  With pops of colour and different accessories and definitely sexier shoes!

So on another day I started with a Next top.  This was seen on my first ever post here!

(Oh how endearing, I used to write stuff like AW15 because I'd seen it on fashionista blogs!)

I teamed it with my Adesso shoes, guaranteed to turn an outfit (and me!) around.

I gave the other hat another go.

But you know, I preferred the cheeky TP hat look best.

And on yet another day, I gave the skirt look second whirl.

Terri's colour pop was a bright blue, which I don't have any of.  So I went with what I had, red.

The red wood necklace is from East, about 15 years ago.  The shoes were bought at the same time.

I added a spotted scarf.  Just because I had one.

And as I was cribbing off Terri, I added a bag.  I rarely wear bags, but I felt quite the lady. 

And there you have it, Terri's look but with red instead of blue.

  

All of these red accessories were bought at the same time.  I'd bought a white linen shift dress for work from East.  I had a white linen trouser suit from the same place and thought the jacket would look great with a dress.  And it did.  I wanted to accessorise with a bright red contrast.

2003 was The Year of Linen Workwear for this gal.  I indulged myself in black, white and aqua linen, in dress, trouser, jacket, shell top and skirt forms.  I had a perfect mix-and-match summer workwear capsule.  For Slim Me.

Yes, unfortunately I bought them as a celebration for having lost some weight.
Top tip:  When having lost weight and when you have a 50 year history of yo-yo'ing, do not go mad and buy lots of slim-fitting and expensive new clothes.  You rarely get to wear them again. 

But you do get to wear the accessories, so there is some good that comes out from my knee-jerk reaction, for I was able to wear those "slim" accessories to bring a pop of colour to my black and beige.

Black, beige and red.  I do like that colour combo.

 

And here's Terri and her CP look, which I have attempted to recreate over several days.  Doesn't she look great?!

I really hope you visit Terri's site (link above) for you will enjoy looking at her OOTDs.  And her amazing nails! And everything else she writes on. She's a stylish lady with some great OOTD ideas.

So I took my looks to the doctor's, a bar meal with cousins, a mooch around the shops, some errand-running and grocery shopping.  Which shows how versatile these outfits really are.

I took the last look to the bar meal.  I broke with tradition.  Normally when I meet up for a bar meal I wear some form of jeanage.  But I'd been somewhere earlier dressed like this and I thought, nah, I'm not going to change outfits, let's mix things up a bit and see how it feels to do a bar meal, Ladylike-Style.  I have to report that it felt good, I didn't feel out of place amongst all of the jeanage there and I did feel like a stylish mature lady. For, that is what I am.

Question: Do you ever go against your traditional style and try wearing outfits different to your norm when going out?  Like jeans for posh, and skirt and heels for casual?

I'd love to hear how you mix things up a bit.

A la perchoine.