Love in Neutral Gear

Hello my lovelies!

Paraphrasing Shakira today,🎵 The legs don’t lie. 

Summer is the time for shorts.  Shorts feel fun, free and youthful IMHO.  

 But they do have a best before date. 

There’s a reason why you should wear shorts NOW, before you get to the best before date.
Varicose veins.

They happen and they don’t photograph well. 

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I did try the shorts option for  @my_stylejourney #herstyleourway style steal but I had to edit out my aging legs. 

The legs really don’t lie on camera.  In fact, the camera highlights faults and is more brutally honest than a mirror.  Or hubs trying to be kind!
But even though veins show up badly on camera as huge blotches, bruises and lumps, they are there IRL but no quite so frighteningly so. 

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So remember, younger ladies, wear shorts whilst you can.  You may be put off showing your legs as you feel they are less than perfect.  But this is as perfect as they will be.   As I’ve said before on this blog, legs don’t improve with age.  The pins you have right now is as good as it gets.  If you avoid wearing shorts because of a little cellulite or lumpy knees, they will get bumpier and lumpier as time goes by, and most likely some veins will be added to the mix too.  And your opportunity will be gone.

So wear your shorts, knee length skirt or dress now.

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But back to the outfit, I really liked the chosen Pinterest looks because I’m a lover of a neutral jumper over white jeans. .

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So white jeans worked, covering up the veins nicely, whilst still feeling fresh and classic-casual with the neutral jumper. 

The outfit felt spot-on for the day’s activities which revolved around buying a new tree, a beautiful copper coloured Acer.

Here’s the jeans look I stole, but without any tummy tucking.  Hope you like my interpretation.

And maybe this simple styling is something you fancy giving a whirl. 

But remember, wear your shorts NOW!

A la perchoine, 

Mary x. 

Floral Blouse and Jeans

Hi my lovelies!

For another of my outfit steals which  @my_stylejourney had chosen, it was yet ANOTHER week went I went with their Southern Hemisphere choice (far left). 

I wasn’t feeling the summer. 

So yes, I had to add an extra layer because it was bloomin’ cold and wet too. 

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My retiree’s twist was to switch out the jacket for a more cardi-casual vibe. 

And this cute but cosy cashmere cardi was the perfect foil for the day’s  gloomy weather. .

(It’s since warmed up and we’re back on course for summer.)

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One of the benefits of entering these steal challenges set by others is that you shop your wardrobe, yes, but you also come up with combos you hadn’t thought of before.

I’ve worn this pretty blouse countless times, with chinos and white jeans, with little linen skirts, even over dresses. 

But I have honestly never thought to wear this blouse with jeans before.  

Duh, you might say, for EVERYTHING goes with jeans eh?

I think the secret is to link a colour in the print to shoes and cardi so that the jeans come through as a neutral backdrop. 

And having worked out this link thingy I discovered that I really liked this outfit.  

So did TP.  I tried on two other choices for the challenge and this was the one he selected for my OOTD.  Choosing my day’s outfit is a little reward I give him after putting him through about 59  photo clicks.  Though I think his reward of choice would be a Galaxy chocolate caramel bar!

Anyway, my conniving aside, I put together a cheery and bright outfit.  

And not only did I need that to combat the day’s winter-like weather, but also to brighten up my day generally as on the agenda was a trip to the dentist.  Yes I had an “incident” during lockdown and had to wait until the dentist’s surgery was fully operational to get myself properly fixed.  

Do you come across combos you’d never ever considered previously ?

And do you “steal” from outfits you see on social media, Pinterest, films etc?

I’ve been doing it for a few decades now and it’s always a surprise to discover that you have long-forgotten pieces that can make up a darn good outfit steal. 

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

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#retirementdressing #retirementfashion #retirementstyle #retirementcasual #agelesstyle #over70style #over70fashion #over60style #whatiwore #whatiworeatthedentists

Lacy Top and Jeans

Hello my lovelies!

I switched hemispheres for last week’s  #herstyleourway challenge.
The choices for the Pinterest steal were a short sleeved top, supposedly for the Northern hemisphere gals, and a long sleeved version for those down under the equator.
So I switched cos there was no way I was going to spend my day in something suitable for 20c+ temps when ours have been  hovering around 10-15c.
Needs must when our summer temperatures are all over the place in June. 

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So for  my Pinterest steal I went with the lacy longer sleeved option which @my_stylejourney had chosen for the southern hemisphere’s early winter, and with the day’s “summer” temperature of 15c I was rather pleased that I did.  It felt like early winter here!

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Lacy top, M&S Limited Collection, 2007

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I snapped this pretty top up when I saw on the “last chance” rail back in 2007 because it reminded me of my wedding lacy bolero.  I’d thought to wear with with a dainty skirt or posh cream or black trousers.  Maybe even over a dress but without the camisole it comes with.  

But what’s amazed me over the years is how it goes so well with jeans.  It’s dainty femininity is the perfect foil for the ruggedness of the jeans .  Yin and yang seems to work so well in outfits.

Do you like doing that, pairing a rather fancy top with jeans?

Yin and yanging your outfit?

Wishing you a very happy, peaceful and safe Sunday,

A la perchoine,

Mary x. 

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#retirementdressing #agelessstyle #over70style #over70fashion #over60style #whatiwore #lacytop #laceytopandjeans #jeansandasmarttop

Stealing Red Jumper and Jeans

Happy Thursday, maties!

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I wore this recently when participating in the #herstyleourway challenge. 

This outfit quite surprised me. 

I’d thought it was going to be quite a dull outfit but it felt bloomin’ good on!

Comfy yet cheeky.  I think it’s all about the footwear.  I chose peep toe booties to summerise the Pinterest look (see below).

Wearing heels with jeans makes me feel that bit sassier.  You too?

I tried the tummy tuck once more, and once more it was rejected by The Photographer With Fashion Views.  He says it looks messy and bulky and it’s not flattering.  I think he may be right ... on this occasion!

This is the look I was recreating.   One that I was not looking forward to styling. 

It turned out to be a comfy outfit that I’d wear again on a cooler summer’s evening.
But right now the summer is hotting up and hopefully this one will have to stay in my mind’s storage for some time to come.

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A la perchoine,
Mary x 

Transitioning Seasons in Pink Crops and Denim

Good day to you, my lovelies!

More style stealing from The Pout today. 

I saw this Pinterest inspo as something to wear post-lockdown so I tweaked it a little to create an outfit for home right now. 

Is this an outfit you’d wear right now? I think it’s casual enough for home lounging with cami and the flatties.

And switching up to wedges and striped bag would be a quick tweak to take it outside in that big wide world I’m rapidly losing touch with whilst cocooning in my little household bubble. 

Wedges and a bag are additions for when we get back to normal. 

Pink shorts are definitely left for someone with the legs for them. 

Old pink crops are my switch to make this retirement style. 

A cami and flatties make this an around-home outfit for lockdown lounging. 

And come lockdown exit, I’ll totter around on heels once more!!

Have you worn any form of heels during lockdown?

It feels weird putting them on right now, like I’m dressing up in mummy’s stuff and pretending to be a grown up!

A la perchoine,

Mary x. 

Transitioning Seasons in a Black Midi

Hello dear ladies!

Here’s another outfit from my April challenge series.  You can read the background to the challenge HERE.

This  particular #transitioningseasons challenge went through its own transitioning and I was pleased with the final stripped back version, suited to the temperature and my lifestyle right now .

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I would have worn brown sandals if Prince Charming had hunted me down to return my missing sandal (scroll down). 

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Is this an outfit you’d wear in lockdown? .

I found it very easy-wear for an evening at home.  Minus the jacket and bag, of course. 

Are you wearing jackets, accessories and jewellery right now?  

I seem to have quickly abandoned all the “trimmings”. 

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This pared down version of the outfit challenge worked for me. 

Even the scarf was ditched. 

And Prince Charming still hasn’t returned my missing sandal!

I whittled down from large brown leather bag to a dinky sized bag, but that was still one bag too many for a stay at home outfit. 

(Both are Gianni Conti bags from yonks ago)

This challenge seemed all about finding lockdown level. 

Are you finding that too?  That you’re wearing far less of everything?

A la perchoine,

Mary x. 

Transitioning Seasons

Good morning my lovelies!

In recent months I’ve got to know a small group of ladies on Instagram.

We join together for outfit challenges. 

It’s drifted into a weekly style steal challenge which I really love because a style steal encourages us to dig deep in our wardrobes to find the elements that make up the outfit we’re stealing, usually from a Pinterest lady. 

Each month one of the ladies chooses a steal for each Friday.   That’s the background to today’s post. 

These are the first two challenges we had in April. 

You’d think a navy top, white trousers and a scarf would be an easy #herstyleourway challenge, right?

But I struggled.  I tried two different top and scarf combos.  I tried two scarf ties.  I even attempted the Pinterest pose - that didn’t work either. .

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I learned a valuable lesson from this challenge.  The more stripped back the outfit is, the more vital it is to get all the elements just so.  For there is nowhere to hide with a simple outfit. .

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I felt more comfortable with the second of the month’s challenges. 

The #herstyleourway #transitioningseasons challenge comprised of four variations on the chino and blazer look.

 I chose two.

A simple white T. 

An ecru/black striped linen mix Breton 

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My #over70style variation was to ignore the tummy tuck, mainly because I could definitely do with my own personal tummy tuck!

I left the tuck in the trousers look for the other younger ladies in our geoup. 

And my younger  #instachallengechums were 

@jackiebluebeautytips 

@happiness_sparkles 

@lifestyleoflaura77 

@mature_sass 

@mutton_style_myover50fashion 

@my_stylejourney 

@ruthgovender 

@shannon.garms .




A la perchoine,
Mary x . 

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3 Ways to Wear A Tan Moto

Hello my lovelies!  How are you doing?  

More specifically, how are you doing with your new season's wardrobe? 

Well, as I explained in my post dressing-by-numbers-longer-cardigan. HERE, I need help in putting together outfits when faced with my seasonal switch of clothing.  

My wardrobe looks somewhat alien, like its been sprinkled with the clothes of other ladies.  My mind's a blank each day as to how I (and those other ladies!) wore all this stuff previous autumns, so I struggle to come up with outfits from the eclectic mix I see before me. 

I look for inspo and I dress by numbers, for ease and, well, because mine and everyone's lives are too busy to dwell too much on mere outfits eh?  There's a whole world of turmoil out there when we step our stylishly booted foot out of the bedroom, so scant thought can be afforded to even simple style.

My dressing by numbers this past week has been focused on light outerwear, for there is a decided nip in the air now and it's cool enough outside to need a light dressing of outerwear.

I see from my Pinterest trawl that tan leather and suede motos are popping up with fervour this season.   Hmmn what do I have in my arsenal that gives a nod to this trend?

I don't have a tan moto, and not even a tan anything in the leather or suede outerwear department.   But eureka, I am just looking to a nod to the trend rather than slavishly jumping on the tan moto bandwagon, am I not?   

Well, there is answer to that rhetorical question and that answer is decidedly YES!  

So I hooked out my brown suede jacket, bought in Debenhams at the turn of the millennium.  That'll work.  Warm but not too warm so perfect for temps right now and something to work with to try to bring some of my previous seasons' pieces together into a look that says NOW(ish).

My first steal was this.   That aforementioned old brown suede blazer. A Woolovers longline cashmere merino jumper in a colour close to this season's caramel.  Brown Clarks ankle boots and totally undistressed girlfriend jeans finished the steal.  And I forgot to take one single solitary photo.  Sorry.

My next steal was based around a grey column.  And it is evidenced this time!

Grey jeans, Peacocks.  Grey cashmere merino high necked jumper, Woolovers.

Grey crossover bag and scarf, Primark.

 And the old brown boots again.

My third look will be to add some leoprint to the mix.   I say "will" because I have since been distracted by a moto jacket I DO have, my old faithful black moto.  But I WILL try out this third steal (it can hardly be described as challenging - white T and a scarf, for heaven's sake!).  And when I do, I'll make sure I photograph it and include it in my roundup of October outfits.  I didn't post a September roundup as that was mostly filled with cruise outfits and that deserves a post of its own, coming up (WHEN I can find the time!).

So there you have it - 3 ways to wear the tan moto.

Except that the moto is a blazer.  

The tan is a chocolate brown. 

One styling wasn't photographed.  

And I still owe you the third styling.

And I call myself a blogger?

It's no wonder I look contrite right now ...

As I head hurtle towards my 70s, I learn more and more that when I see a look I like, my first port of call is my wardrobe rather than the shops.  I can interpret the look into something in keeping with my age with whatever I have in there, then test drive it ... and if I'm blown away by it*, then maybe, just maybe I'll invest some pensioner pennies in a purchase.

Is this your approach too?

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

*P.s.  I think I'm teetering on the edge of being blown away by the tan moto!

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.