How Retirement Looks

My Dream of How Retirement Would Look

Leading up to retirement I had a dream of how retirement would look.
Well, two actually.
And no surprise, both involved outfits.

One was me getting up at around 6 a.m. to perform a yoga routine outside on the patio on a summer's day, dressed in grey cami and yoga trousers from The White Company.

The other was me strolling down the High Street, later that morning and dressed in a white midi floaty dress, straw basket over my arm and looking blissful, content and radiant (because of dawn yoga discipline).

Neither have materialised.  Perhaps if I'd visualised this stuff years ago it may have been how my retirement looks now.  But I didn't and it doesn't.

But when reading the blog Rosy Outlook recently, a pic Kelly posted brought one of those retirement visions to mind once more.   This lovely blogger effortlessly wore a white dress and denim jacket and I thought, how difficult can it be to stroll through town in a simple summer dress, right?   And would it take much effort to occasionally get up early and glide around the garden in grey PJs?  For grey PJs are just a cheaper version of a yoga outfit, right?

So if not now, then when, thought I?   Let's get cracking with the dress, thought I (because that doesn't require me to get up a ridiculous o'clock 😊, thought I).


My Style Steal

OK, this dress is not the floaty number of my dreams but it's an off-white shorter style and more in the spirit of Kelly's (plus I don't have a floaty midi number!).

I paired it with my old 20 y.o. GAP jean jacket.  Of course.  Tell me, is there anything in this world that doesn't work with a jean jacket?

The dress is a slip dress, lined, linen and from M&S 15 + years ago.

Wedge espadrilles finish off my steal, and I am finding it a strain not to finish every outfit up with my cute Primark straw trilby right now, so that went on too.

Now, about that headband ... tips on tidying up this look would be appreciated!

So, outfit done and we headed for town.  We stopped off to do the Waitrose grocery shop, bumped into friends, had a coffee with them ... And completely forgot about the High Street shoot.  

And I call myself a blogger ...?!!

Here's my inspo, the lovely Kelly from ROSY OUTLOOK, HERE.

Doesn't she look super-feminine and summery?  

I stole most of the outfit, but tweaked the dress style to suit my age - I covered my knees and wore A-line as the lovely tiered frills just wouldn't work for an aging blogger!

It's OK to Steal Outside Your Age Group

I've been following Rosy Outlook for yonks.  When I first found myself pinning outfit after outfit, I did think it a bit strange that I was mad keen on the style of a pretty lady who's young enough to be my daughter granddaughter!  But I realised that Kelly encapsulates fundamentals that I like. 

She wears neutrals, and I'm drawn to neutrals.  

Her style is kept light-touch - she doesn't slavishly follow trends and keeps to her own style, choosing only those pieces that work for her.  So do I.

And those fundamentals make her highly stealable!

So I found myself working out steals but not in a copycat way, cos that really would be muttony!  I cherry-pick the elements that work for me.

Like I did last year, in this CORAL STEAL, HERE.

Kelly has stylish elegance in bucketloads, her style transcends age demographics.  So do pop across to her blog and check her style out for yourself.  Because it is possible to steal from younger style icons like Kelly by stealing the spirit rather than the substance of the outfit.  IMHO.  

Inspo Board

Here are a few more steal tweaks I've been thinking of lately.

Switch the shorts for jeans or a denim skirt, keep everything else.

Untuck the jeans and the blouse (hiding my mature lady tum!).

Wear a longer hemline to cover my ugly knees and choose a more tailored waistline, but keep the headband and peeptoes.

Oh the steal tweaks are endless ... 

Anyway, must crack on realising my retirement dream, next stop - grey PJs at dawn!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.