What I've Been Wearing Lately

Hi my lovelies, are you feeling the love for spring yet?  It's around the corner, honest! (see what I did there, I  !'ed!!).
The daffs are out along the hedgerows but sadly none have popped up in Pout Gardens yet.
But what I find amazeballs-uplifting at this time of year is the winter phenomenon of the days drawing out.  That first day in early January when I look out of the window at 5 p.m. ... and it's still light.  That event in our seasonal cycle fills my soul with child-like enthusiasm, joy and hope.  So, if you live in the northern hemisphere, I defy you to not feel that love for upcoming spring right now!

Now, on to the matter in hand.  The important stuff.  Outfits.
My weekly Wednesday roundup.

Let's start with a coat.  It's been cold  (yeah, it's January, what were the chances?).

This cosy camel car coat (Dotty P) has been much in play and with winter white scarfage and taupe boots (Jones) I think it creates quite a classic look for winter eh?

More classic dressing,  black jumper and jeans.  The necklace is a jumble sale find from the 90s and worn with the dangly earrings (also from the 90s) .  This fancy jewellery took a plain classic jumper and glammed it up a little,  n'est pas?

I'm getting a bit repetitive with this week's round up as some of these outfits charged into my JEANS AND A NICE TOP POST, HERE   But these are my outfits of late so I make no apology for this as is is what it is.

But the  beaded top leads me to where I took the outfit ... to this table laden with yummy nibbles!  Drinks and nibbles at the neighbours' house.  "I'll keep it simple" she'd said when she invited me.  When I arrived to this sight, I immediately whipped out the camera 📷.  "Well, this is simple, for me" she said.

 She's an amazing cook, so just imagine what she rustled up for her "simple" supper last year - READ ABOUT IN WINE WITH THE NEIGHBOURS, HERE

With the benefit of Insta hindsight I realised that my January had been one long grey, black and winter-white knitwear fest, so I remedied that.  I added a bright blue summer cardi to go to Bro's house for birthday cake and coffee.  Which was fine as his house is toasty-warm during the day, unlike Tight-Pout's.  So later in the day a HUGE extra cardi layer was added to this ensemble, rather than turn on the heating off-timer!

My message here is clear and two-fold: 1.  A simple addition of one item of bright colour can liven up a bleak January outfit, and 2.  If your house is cold, go to someone else's!

Winter white Monsoon sweater dress, brown suede waistcoat (machine washed, Terri!) with brown tights and accessories.

I did a flat lay of my accessories on the waistcoat backdrop as I wanted to show you my old boots.  These brown leather Gabor boots (together with their black rellies) are simply 

the. comfortable-est. boots. I have ever walked in.  

They are more than 15 years old and 

I. have. never. repaired. them.  

Add to this their butter-soft suede bang-on-trend mustard lining as seen in this pic and you have the loveliest boots this side of The Pecos!

Liberation Themed Ball - doesn't TP look good as a spiv, ladies?!

And finally!  I've been doing a challenge on Insta this month and this day's subject was "midi dress".  I really couldn't be bothered to go hunting round in the archives for a midi dress that I didn't really want to wear that day anyway (and I'm not sure I even own one). So I cheated and used a photo from more than ten years ago (it's ok, I fessed up to my cheating!).

The dress was charity-shopped, and I have to say it ended up being much used as it really was a quite lovely dress.  All other items are "model's own".  I was particularly innovative with the "fox fur stole" - I simply left my faux fur collar/scarf thing draped over my shoulder.  I think it worked.

And Vronni, check out the headscarf!!!!

So my dears, that concludes this week's round up.  And what is of note in today's post is that my !-exclamation mark is demonstrably back in Pout World!!!!

I think it was facing up to a blogging crossroads on my blogaversary that got me feeling quite empty yesterday, quite lacking in puff, and finding nothing to, well, exclaim about. 

But, Tomorrow is Another Day and we  would be wise to remember those Hollywood-immortal words on a meh day, eh peeps?

Cr: Anne Cummins

Let's wake up tomorrow and smell the spring daffs!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

Tweaking The Everyday Pink Dress

I've had some vague plan to take pics of what I wear on a day to day basis now and again.  You know, the kind of daily out OOTDs that I'd normally post on Instagram, if I were a fan, but I'm not.  I guess my plan was to reinvent IG but without the stuff that keeps me off that media platform.

But life gets in the way and I've been forgetting to snap my outfit, each and every day.

Here I remembered.  A cool cotton M&S dress (old) which I wear a lot when it's really warm.  And it was.

I grabbed comfy Jones loafers for my trip to the beach but when I saw this snap, I felt I could do better.

So I washed the dress that night (it dries a dream) and started afresh a few days later.

 .

I took my inspiration from the smart and stylish Nikki from Midlife Chic   HERE 

My pink dress always reminds me of one which Nikki wore so stylishly on holiday a few years ago.

I looked carefully to see what made Nikki's outfit so much smarter than how mine looks when I just throw it on, grab serviceable shoes and hope for the best.

And apart from a pretty face, slim body and great attitude, what stood out were the bright espadrilles.

2nd Loved, Terri!

So I changed the shoes.  Red espadrilles from my fave charity shop.

Yes, red shoes with a pink dress. For many, this colour combo is just a walk in the park, but for this matchy matchy girl it's ground-breaking stuff indeed!

I dug deep and found a pink and pale yellow necklace set, probably about 15 years old, East.

And this felt so much better.

Whadya think? 

Just a tweak of footwear can make a big difference to how you feel about an outfit.  I felt tidied up and "coffee morning chic", ready to meet friends for coffee out in the garden feeling cool and ladylike in my summer dress and espadrilles.

Have you found simple changes to an outfit can totally change how you feel when wearing it?

Perhaps you haven't.  Yet.   So how's about you take something you like wearing but perhaps leaves you feeling a bit meh, then zjush it up with totally different shoes, jewellery.  

See how that feels. Then report back?

A la perchoine.

Roses and Pearls

I love every single thing about my rosy skirt, worn here.

One of my blogging mates, the bubbly blonde Kellyann of thisblondesshoppingbag, suggested wearing the skirt with a Chambray skirt and pearls.  Problem.  Unlike most of the blogging ladies out there, I don't own a Chambray shirt.  In fact, I don't own many shirts generally as they require the dreaded ironing, that being possibly the devil's worst work ever.

But green is one of the skirt's many colours, and I do have a khaki shirt.  Linen.  Go figure, I don't wear it much!  But despite that mega drawback, I was forming a plan.  It did involve  ironing, so my plan didn't grow legs with any speed.

Then with my lovely mate Anna gave me the kick start I needed.  Anna is another blogging blonde and my twin separated at birth ... by many years!  We decided we'd like to try out a roses and pearls outfit (and hey, I could try out the shirt and pearls look too!).  Suddenly I had a plan with legs!

I'm excited to see what stylish Anna of muttonyearsstyleandi comes up with. 

 But, for the moment you have me and my roses and pearls.

Taadaaah!!

Yes, the iron came out today!  Roses.  Pearls.  Shirt, not Chambray, not blue.  

Any views, ladies?  Perhaps I could have hung the pearls tidier ...

but is this glam casual?!

I then played around some more with the roses and pearls theme.

I felt it worked well with a sleeveless top and different pearls.  Neat.

It's getting a little cooler now, so I tried long sleeves.

Still using khaki to pick out the leaf and stem work in the skirt.

I switched pearls.

I felt the longer pearls gave better balance to the outfit.

I love the full skirt with little strappy sandals.

I think this look is my fave, especially for this time of year.

The curvy line of the top accentuates the fullness of the skirt.

The pearls pick up the background colour in the skirt.

The heels add both elegance and a touch of sassiness.

Soooo ladylike, even though I do say so myself!

Overall, I think the balance and line of all these pieces work well together.

I gave the shirt another go, now as a shacket.

Hmmnn.  A bit windy.  If shirt tails require tethering ..

then tie a knot in 'em!

Nah, not such a good look.

So it was the 3/4 sleeved top which ended up being my look for the glorious day.

BTW, today's post has a guest photographer. My super Sis stepped in to take these shots.  Didn't she do well?!!

What do you think about my roses and pearls outfit, dear reader?  And a casual shirt with florals and pearls? 

I guess if I wore shirts more often I'd learn how to look tidier in them!

I like that this post has taken me down new avenues, experimenting with colours, shapes and pearls.  

 I love khaki as I find it seems to draw the redness from skin tone.

And of course pearls bring so much to any party, be it formal, casual, or anything in between, as I discovered today.

So, dear readers, I hope this post perhaps gets you thinking about mixing things up a bit too.

Try a shirt with pearls and a full skirt.

Try new colours with old clothes.

Try roses and pearls!

Now, please do head on to Anna's blog here.  I bet she's done something truly stylish with her roses and pearls  ...

A la perchoine.

Shirt, M&S, old

Skirt, M&S, old, but charity find so new to me

Sleeveless top, Dotty P, last year (so that's Pout-New then!)

3/4 top, H&M, v old

Shoes, Adesso, old

Pearls, super old

Body, model's own, also super old

Charitable Works

Well, how are you today, my lovelies?

I'm feeling surprisingly bright, given the amount of wine I consumed at a very special birthday lunch yesterday.  I'm putting together a few photos on that but I was just itching to show you my little pressie to self which I bought a few days ago and I can  hold back no longer.    So I give you ...

Tadaah!

My charity shop finds.

There is a rather nice charity shop for the BHF which I sometimes pass in Town when returning to my car.  And it sort of feels, well, uncharitable, if I don't pop in 😉.

It was love at first sight when I snapped my eyes on this beauty of a skirt.  Tell me, just what is there not to love?

I have quite fancied having a cheeky little summer dress or skirt with a bit of fullness.

This M&S skirt has a deep waistband top so the pleating starts about 6 inches down from the waist, which means there is no bulk in the place where bulk is best avoided.

And then, of course, there is all that lovely colourful botanical stuff going on.  Oooh, I just wanted to scoop it up and take it home with me.  So I did.  £3.50 worth of scooping up.

But what to wear it with?  Well it just so happened that this Fat Face cardi was hanging nearby.  In my mind they were two best mates who'd had so many good times together with their previous mistress.  But when discarded by said fickle mistress, they had been garment-categorised away from each other, as is the wont of those most efficient charity shop ladies.  I just had to get these besties reunited. 

So the cardi went over my arm too.  And then I tracked down their best playmate, a pink necklace in the jewellery section.   And then The Terrific Three were finally reunited and came home with me!

What a lovely ending to a sad tale of discardedness and enforced estrangement.

Now ladies, can you imagine what pleasure this skirt is going to give me?

The creative hours I will spend teaming tops and cardis with my pretty new playmate?  For the skirt, of course, is the main event (but please don't tell cardi I said that!) 

As well as the predominant hot pinks and reds there is also green leafage, splodges of blue and a soft buttery yellow lurking in the background.  

Is your creative mind getting to work on this colour-matching project too?

So those are my exciting charity shop finds - have you found any little gems whilst out a-rummaging recently?

A la perchoine.

Teaming up with