An injection of colour which should earn its keep and I have a great excuse for a whole new outfit...

I think that it's probably pretty fair to say that we all have a lot of black/navy/grey in our wardrobes during the winter months and it can get a little tiring. Equally it can be tricky to find brighter coloured things and if we do, they stand out like a sore thumb after having been worn a dozen times so we end up getting bored of them too. Which is why I thought that this scarf could come in handy in injecting some colour into all manner of darker things. It was £20, reduced from £80 in the Whistles sale (bought at the same time as the bargain basement boots) and I stuck it with this Jigsaw jersey dress which is about four years old now, giving it a new lease of life. It will also work well with an older, navy, traditionally styled Jigsaw coat that I have, together with plain jumpers - so hopefully it will be worn enough to justify its £20 price tag.

This ruched jersey dress from Baukjen (£99 down to £59) is very similar in its style to the one above and I've also linked to other Baukjen black dresses which may suit different shapes slightly better - there's a wrap one, a v-neck one, a midi length one an A-line one and a very nice leather one too!

Now, despite my efforts to wear everything that I own already without any new major additions, tomorrow I will be kitted out, head to toe, in new gear. Because tomorrow I am going to "learn to ski in a day" and for that, new gear was required.  Can you imagine it? Me learning to ski in a day that is? Although I'm pretty bendy and pretty active, I am rubbish on anything slippery. When I was a kid I only had to see a hill with some snow on it and I would sit down, which the children have told me that I must not do under any circumstances, because I will only go faster. And I don't do speed either which doesn't bode well. True, I've challenged myself quite a bit over the last couple of years - running the half marathon, doing various other forms of exercise and last summer doing the high ropes too. However, the problem is that when I'm scared, really scared, I have to distract myself and I do this by singing One Direction very loudly. I'm pretty confident that my singing is probably as bad as my skiing (will be) so I'm not holding out much hope for anyone, or anything, within close proximity to me tomorrow. Thankfully Mr SG is no longer planning on popping in to "see how I am getting on" (ie videoing me so that he can take the p*** out of me mercilessly) on his way back from a meeting tomorrow.

When is a blazer not a blazer and when is a cardi not a cardi? When it's a jersey blazer, or a jacket style cardi....

 

Whilst I realise that from these photographs it looks as though I accepted the offer of Thunderbird on the train to Leeds at 10am yesterday, honestly I didn't. The slightly tired/barely there make-up look is as a result of a very long, and very lovely, day out with my friend - plus not looking in a mirror since lunchtime.

 

Anyway, back to the train. Somehow I managed to get myself caught up amongst a stag party of 15 men travelling to Wakefield whose sole intention was to get totally and utterly trollied - hence the offer of Thunderbird at 10am. I have to say that the reveller who apparently drank a whole bottle of gin one evening not so long ago, and who ended up in intensive care for two days as a result, really looked quite good on it - so perhaps I should have accepted the offer of Thunderbird after all.  

 

For all sorts of reasons I'm a fan of using jersey type blazers, or jacket type cardigans, instead of a more formal blazer, or a traditional styled cardigan.  Whilst in some instances only a really sharp blazer will do, on many occasions they're not really necessary anymore, particularly given the more relaxed rules in the work place. Equally a soft jersey blazer or jacket style cardi can give a very casual outfit a much smarter/pulled together look than a traditional cardi - so they can have a dual purpose.   

 

The cotton jersey jacket Jigasaw (£49) is a Jigsaw perennial and usually comes in a couple of colour ways. They are a really useful "roll it up and put it in your bag" type piece, to quote my friend from yesterday, who has one. They're not currently in the sale but still, they're not too bad a price. I've put several ladies in these jackets and they have found them really useful for many different occasions.

 

 

This knitted cropped jacket from Hush (£60) is a lovely piece. It's quite light weight but definitely warm enough for the summer. I thought that the s/m would be huge on me but it's not. To me this is one of those interesting pieces which doesn't necessarily have a lot of appeal as an image but when it's on a person....

...as seen here (OK, a rather beautiful person I admit!) it takes on a whole different look. That's so true of many pieces that I come across. Often people think that they look frumpy or boring but when they're on, they can really come alive. So that's my tip for the day - try, try, try!

The Jersey blazer Hush (£55) is of a similar ilk to the Jigsaw one - an easy peasy throw it on piece. Great with a big scarf or statement necklace or even under a sleeveless coat.

Again, you can see here how it looks when on a real life person - much better!

The multi-coloured short cardi Hush (£120) is another example of a jacket style cardi. It's quite short in the body, fuss free and with an interesting neckline. Please do check the sites for up to date prices as they may have changed in between this post being written, and read.

I loved this cotton knit jacket Jigsaw (£110) when I spotted it a few months ago. Sadly it looked pretty terrible on me but on others it would look great. I didn't fill its shape and with my long arms the sleeve length was all wrong but I still think that it's a cracking piece - on the right person.

And lastly the hand crochet jacket Boden (£59.40 down from £99) which I am wearing above. I knew that the forecast for Leeds was chilly - and it wasn't wrong! This suited me down to the ground though. It has a good thickness to it and whilst the reviews are accurate in that it is snug on the arms, that's just the closeness of the knit, rather than anything else. Anyway, it can't be that tight as I managed to get a long sleeved top and a sweatshirt underneath it too!

 

 

For anyone who hasn't yet included something like this in their wardrobe, I think that they are an under-rated wardrobe hero and definitely worth investing in. With shorts, jeans, chinos, printed trousers, over dresses and with skirts they can just add that little something extra - or take the sharpness away. Take your pick!

 

In the above photo I am also wearing printed M&S shoes, Jigsaw boyfriend jeans and the Clover handbag by Oushka which was kindly gifted to me by them. It was the first time that I have used it and it was brilliant. The bag comes with a detachable clutch which is on quite a long strap. This means that you have easy access to your purse/cards/phone etc all just by pulling the clutch out of  your bag with the strap, rather than having to take the bag off your shoulder and delve about in the bottom for everything that has dropped down there. Sometimes the simplest things in life can make all the difference. (Like click and collect from Waitrose for John Lewis cushions......) 

What to wear when you want to feel as though you are wearing PJs all day but don't (quite) want to look like it!

 

 

Today dawned sunny and bright and I knew that with that came the possibility of tennis with our son, bouncing on the trampoline with the youngest (subject to the loan of some pelvic floor muscles from somewhere), a few random squats/lunges should the mood take me (it didn't), some ironing and faffing in the garden. So with all those possibilities in mind, jeans or restrictive trousers were out of the question.

Given that I didn't plan to come across many people that I knew, other than during a quick trip to Waitrose (to buy the most unhealthy basket of ingredients for posh bread and butter pudding, ice-cream and chocolate cake - thank heavens for the huge bag of crisps which hid everything) I figured that I could get away with my harem jogging bottoms from Next.

I stuck them with a denim shirt tied at the waist and a modal lace vest from Jigsaw (£24) to fill in the gap between the two. M&S are great for vests with their long ones being particularly good - and H&M vests are great too but if you need one with lace around the bottom, the Jigsaw ones are the best. With a pair of converse I was good to go and all that I needed to do all day was swap the converse for wellies when I went into the garden.

I really think that a pair of good joggers/track pants, call them what you will (as long as it's not a shell suit I really don't mind. Oooh, can you imagine those making a comeback?) are a good addition to your wardrobe. Easier to style than leggings, they are also a little more forgiving, (arguably) a little more stylish and can be worn for travelling or whenever else you just need to be uber comfortable.

With trainers being such a huge trend now they can be worn with those, skater shoes, converse or wedge trainers and somehow they have become acceptable as a fashion piece in their own right, rather than just something to slob around in at home behind closed doors or when nipping out to the chippy.

My trousers aren't cuffed at the bottom but I would be very happy to wear a pair that were. I think that the thing to remember about them is that some cheaper ones will work great on some people, whilst others will have to spend a bit more. It just depends so much on the individual. I bought some from H&M late last year and they were so wrong that it was hilarious - too low in the rise, too tight on the calf - not a life enhancing experience! Anyway, here's a quick round up of some that I have come across:

There's the Next harem track pants, which at £22 are a really good price.

The Next luxe joggers (£30) are made from modal so are slightly more elegant than jersey ones and could also be styled for an evening out.

The Whistles Lola track pant (£65) are lovely and soft and hang really well.

The Whistles Dalia jogging pant (£65) have a good rise on them, for anyone preferring something not too low slung.

These slim leg joggers from Hush (£39.50) are some of my favourites - but then I'm a bit of a sucker for Hush!

And these cotton cashmere trousers from Cos (£49) have had my fingers run over them many times, although I haven't ever tried them. I'm very tempted to do so though as the combination of cotton and cashmere makes them a) much less spendy than their cashmere counterparts and b) means that because of that, I would actually be more likely to wear them than rather just look at them and wish I were brave enough to do so!

 

As an aside, whilst Freddie was taking my photos, he was fiddling with the camera. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was making me look "vintage" to which I responded that I was quite capable (sadly) of doing that all by myself. Oh well, it's good to be good at something.