Looking Fabulous @ Fifty: BRIGHTS AND STRIPES

There is a slight twist to the outfit that I am wearing today: each piece of it was bought without any consideration or thoughts about the other two. You know, when you are in the store pondering over a piece of clothing thinking about how it will work with other items in your wardrobe and how you can organically incorporate and create a totally new fresh look with it?

Well, it was none of it. Moreover, only one out of these three items was meant to be for myself, the other two - just randomly made their way into my wardrobe where I put them together into an outfit.

Two years ago when we were on holidays in Sorrento my husband mentioned that while we are in Italy, he would like to buy a pair of linen pants and a shirt. It is well known fact that Europe is a cradle for linen clothing and nobody does it better then Italians.

One evening, during our evening walk, we came across a shop which speciality was linen clothes for men and women. As we stepped inside, my eyes went into overdrive from the amazing array of colours and prints. Each range of clothing was represented in all colours of the rainbow in every possible hue and saturation. I felt like a child in a candy store. After what seemed like eternity my husband finally settled on a pair of pants in a taupe colour, and a grey and blue striped shirt. As it was towards the end of summer season, the shop offered a deal whereupon you pay for one shirt and get the other one in similar style for half price.

My husband didn't want another shirt so it was my turn to chose one. Without thinking too much, I chose one in grey and yellow stripes and we left the store. When later on I tried the shirt on I wasn't exactly smitten by it. It was too long and bulky to wear as is, the only way I could wear it would be unbuttoned and thrown over a top but no matter how many times I was doing a mental inventory of my wardrobe trying to figure out what can I wear it with, my mind drew a blank. And so for the very long time the shirt remained unworn.

My husband, on another hand, really enjoyed wearing light slightly crinkled pants topped up by the linen shirt, this laid back La Dolce Vita style until one day it was time to refresh them. Not bothering to read the care instruction, it was in Italian anyway, I just threw them into the washing machine with the rest of the load and started the cycle. When my husband wanted to wear them afterwards and put them on, I couldn't help but burst out laughing 😊.

The pants had shrunk both in length and width to the point that my poor husband couldn't wear them anymore and wanted to throw them away.

I was having such a good fun at my poor husband's expense that in the spirit of the moment I decided to try them on myself. To my unexpected delight, the pants fitted quite well around the waist and the short legs looked quite chic and so by mutual agreement I became their new owner.

The first item I tried to pair with the pants was the linen shirt that I bought in Italy but somehow it didn't work, it needed a piece that would bring it all together. The solution came in a hand me down from my older daughter sleeveless top, and with its colours of light beige and chartreuse became the missing link I was looking for.

Both my earrings and the ring are from local market and the shoes are old Bruno Magli that I bought in Florence on our honeymoon all the way back in 2007. Just as in my previous post I shared with you how I treasure classic clothes and excellently made shoes no matter how old they are (you can read it here).