CARGO PANTS AND BOHO BLOUSE

Hello dear friends, how are you all?

It has been quite a while since I touched my blog.  As you may or may not know we are now in a lockdown which originally started as a two weeks affair and now it has been extended by another two and it's not clear what might happen next 😟😟😟.

On top of if, the weather is so bad, it's cold and raining all the time, so even though we are allowed to go outside to exercise or have a walk, it's not very pleasant to walk in the rain with a strong wind blowing into your face.

Anyhow, it occurred to me that rather then dwelling on the negatives, I should try and find some positive aspects of the current situation.  And here is one example of how I did it.

I figured that now is the time to do the things that you were meant to do a long time ago but have been delaying doing them for a lot of good reasons 😉.  One of those things that long has been on my agenda was cleaning up my closet, giving away the clothes that don't fit me anymore, mending lost buttons and torn hems, re-discovering some pieces that I forgot I bought and feel happy about it. 

Case in point, today's outfit.   I was going through the shelf where I store all my jeans, slacks and other pants that don't need to be hanged and came across these cargo pants.  If my memory serves me right, I bought these pants in 2019 and wore them for the last time about 5 years ago.  When I got them out, I wasn't even sure that they would still fit but surprise, surprise they did.  That alone put a great smile on my face 😂.

I then checked out all my tops trying to figure out what can I wear with it that I haven't worn before and came across this white boho style top with tassels and intricate embroidery running along the deep V-cut of the blouse and along the slits of the sleeves.  It was a hand me down from my older daughter, she bought for herself while holidays in Brazil but grew tired of it very quickly.  I used to wear it with a white denim pencil skirt but since the skirt became too tight and went to the clothing bin, I was struggling to find a perfect fit for it.

I decided to put the two together and actually liked the result.  The khaki, which belongs to the Green colour family, works well with the red elements of the blouse (Christmas decorations are the best example of this classic combo) and the loose fit of it goes well with the tight fitted cargos.

I do apologise about the quality of the images, my husband is still learning how to use his phone when taking photos indoors 😏.

So all I need now is for spring to arrive and COVID to go so that I can wear my newly re-born outfit.

And that is all for now, do please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Until then,

Anna

xoxo

CARGO PANTS REVISITED

Hello everyone, hope you are well.

In my previous post I was talking about the revival of an old staple, skinny jeans.   Today I would like to continue going down the same avenue and look at another piece of clothing that has been on the fashion scene for quite a while (I bought mine all the way back 2009!!!) yet still shows no sign of disappearing in the near future - cargo pants aka combat pants.  

Originally designed for tough outdoor activities, they can be unmistakably identified by one or more cargo pockets.

Since then, they have gone through some metamorphoses and emerged more stylish-looking and refined.  Their versatility has been tested and extended well past their initial purpose. The most important moment in the history of cargo pants occurred when the new slim shape replaced the bulky heavy shape of the original design thus making it possible to wear cargo pants way beyond occasions that call for a casual dress code.

These days cargo pants are manufactured from much lighter and softer fabrics that allows for a more feminine fitting.  

They also come in different shapes of the leg from the wide floppy functional pants gathered at the bottom into a cuff to slimmer, rather elegant looking shape that actually help visually to elongate the legs.

You might think that having the same pair of pants for 8 years is a long time and I would totally agree with that, however every time I think of disposing of them in the bin and buying a fresh pair, it turns out that they look very similar to mine, obviously, that's why they are called cargo pants, dah, and I return home empty-handed.  

When I went shopping for my cargo pants, I tried few pairs of various shapes trying to figure out what style suits me best until I came across a pair from J Brand  that I really liked.

The fact that I can wear them to a picnic  in a park , come home, kick off my casual shoes and a t-shirt and replace them with a pair of smart or dress shoes, a long-sleeved attractive top, grab a stylish handbag and I will be ready to go out to dinner with very little effort is the main reason that I have kept my cargo pants for that long.  

With just a few simple moves your cargo pants take you from the casual activities during the day to an evening adventure from drinking cocktails at a swanky bar or to a dinner at the hottest restaurant in town.

I am wearing: cargo pants - JBrand
Shoes - Bally
Handbag - Bvlgari
Belt - Hermes
Top - from Iconic

Have a great week, everyone

Till the next post

Anna

xoxo

WHO SAYS RED AND GREEN SHOULD NOT BE SEEN?

What I love about fashion blogging is the sharing of ideas, styles, fashion news and inspirations with other fashionable women that enriches and inspires me in so many ways, gives me confidence and brings a sense of feeling great about myself which brings me to the topic of today's blog.

There was not one but two bloggers that inspired me to share this outfit with you.

"

WHO SAYS RED AND GREEN SHOULD NOT BE SEEN?

"

Let me tell you about inspiration number one. A while ago Jacqui from Mummabstylish  shared with us a post where she was wearing cargo pants that she paired with red shoes.  I left a comment saying that I love that look and that since I also have a pair of similar pants and a pair of red shoes and a matching handbag, I might copy her look and she gave me her blessing.

There is a scientific explanation why we love this colour combination so much, just think Christmas decorations for example.

If you look at the colour wheel which is a visual representation of colours according to their chromatic relations, you will see that the red and green are sitting right opposite each other and therefore called complimentary colours.

Since red and green are both strong colours, I didn't want to add any more colours to my outfit and thus chose the colour of my top from the same family of green just with a slightly different shade.  Keeping my accessories simple (except the handbag), I selected a pendant in buffalo horn from Hermes, suspended on an adjustable leather cord.

This pendant is very special to me, it was given to me by my older daughter on my 45th birthday.  She was a student back then, so I can imagine how difficult it must have been for her to afford such a beautiful gift.

The second contributor that inspired me to wear this outfit was a comment made by Sheela from Sheela Writes about a floral long shirt dress from Marks & Spencer (you can read a full story about this collaboration here).  She wrote (no pun intended) that she would wear this dress as a light coat over skinny jeans and a simple top.

It all happened a while ago and I  haven't had a chance to replicate Jacqui's look or implement Sheela's idea until last week I was asked if I can re-style one of the outfits of my recent collaboration between Marks & Spencer and Shopping Links and all of a sudden the light went on in my head and all the pieces suddenly came together and an outfit was born.

Linking up with Style Splash, Lady in Violet, Doused in Pink, My New Happy

WIDE SLEEVE BLOUSE| CARGO PANTS AND A RED BRICK WALL

Hello dear fellow bloggers,

This post is totally unintentional and what I am wearing here is just a random selection of whatever was closest to me to reach.  This post was not meant to be written at all.  The inspiration behind it is not clothes nor even the event to which I wore the clothes but rather red brick wall.  But let me start from the beginning.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful store called Country Trader, globally renowned as a Mecca for designers and discerning customers offering a cornucopia of furniture and home wares that are exceptional, vintage, quirky, eclectic and simply beautiful.  Its creative environment has always been a first call for inspiration among interior stylists and designer and if my clients were looking for something special either to add to their existing décor or to buy a special gift for someone, Country Trader was my first port of call and I it was very seldom that I left empty-handed.   Over the years, I also made quite a few purchases for my own home.  And now, after 34 years of trading, the time has come to say goodbye.

When shop of such reputation is having a major sale, you don’t want to miss it and so one afternoon my friend and I got in the car and went over there to see if we could score some bargains. 

As we entered the store, we didn’t know where to look first.  French furniture and dinner wear, huge ceramic pots, massive antique chandeliers, table linen and silver crockery, carefully curated Chinese porcelain vases and so much more – all  were marked down and ready to be snapped by some smart buyers. 

Sadly, since my husband and I recently agreed that we do not need to add anything else to the existing decore, I settled for buying few nice small items and beautiful Christmas decorations that I can give to my friends as gifts while my friend, on the other hand, fell in love with a silver framed gorgeous mirror and rushed to the cash register to pay for it before she changed her mind.

The staff was very he and they suggested that we bring my car to the section allocated for their customers only.  When we drove in and got out to collect her purchase, I noticed that the bricks of the back wall of the garage were painted in a rich red colour paint.  It was such a perfect background for a photo shoot that I couldn’t resist it.

So I asked my friend to take few photos of me so that I could decide later whether they are worth publishing or not.  Truth be told, the main reason that you are reading this is not only that the wall behind looked great but also due to the top which I was wearing, or its statement sleeves to be exact.  It is by a brand called Save the Queen and I bought in New York back in 2010.

I find it's quite ironic that the label that has the Queen's name in it, depicts one of the most iconic architectural structures of Manhattan, The Empire State Building.  Its made of semi sheer silky fabric and I used to wear it for going out.  I kind of forgot about it until now, when the statement sleeves are on the must-have list this season but this time I wear it whenever.  It is so easy to slip it on without too much thinking about what to pair it with.

Today, for example, my choice fell on a pair of cargo, also sometimes described as utility pants and a pair of ballet flats - effortless, a simple and comfortable outfit put together on the spur of the moment that sometimes can deliver better results then the fashioned ones.

My outfit details:  pants - J Brand, top - Save the Queen, shoes - Ralph Polo

Linking up with Not Dressed As Lamb, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, High Latitude Style, Pleated Poppy, Sydney Fashion Hunter