PASTEL COLOURS AND JAZZ SHOES TRENDS FOR 2026/MILLENNIAL PINK

G'day my dear friends and readers, hope you are all well.

The Antipodean spring is taking its time to arrive in full force so we still need jumpers, jackets and scarves.  

Speaking of jumpers, I can't tell you how happy I am to know that pastel colours are surging back as the major trend this season and not just in the world of fashion but in home decor and interiors with soft blue, battery yellow, millennial pink (I had to search this one up) and minty green taking centre stage.  Turns out, that millennial pink is a muted dusty shade of pink - sitting somewhere between blush, beige, apricot and muted salmon, basically the exact opposite of a bright hue of Barbie pink.

It has been years in the making, I can't even remember when was the last time I walked into the department store and spotted any clothes, apart of intimate apparel, in the pastel spectrum.   Now that the tables are finally turned, I can happily store my greyscale clothes to the back of my wardrobe and jump on the pastel wagon starting with this millennial pink 😂 jumper which I bought from Nuew Denim brand well before I even read the announcement of this trend.  I just wanted to wear some different to white, black or grey.  

Today I am wearing it over my white Levi's denims.  The pants have a classic straight cut that goes well with whatever you feel like wearing with them.

As for my shoes, my husband bought them for me as a gift about ten years ago after seeing me trying them on in the Repetto shop when we were in Paris.  He wanted to surprise me and found them on-line from their website.  Truth be told, I wasn't very much into them, they look a lot like the shoes I used to wear when I went to ballet school when I was young and that was probably the reason that I didn't buy them in the first place.  But I didn't want to upset my husband so I thanked him, wore the shoes once or twice and then boxed them and tucked them to the back of my closet.

Fast forward to 2026 and now called "Jazz Shoes",  they are emerging as a major footwear trend for 2026.  I normally don't jump on the trend wagon knowing that it can soon fade away but since I have the shoes, I couldn't possibly see the reason why shouldn't I wear them after all.

If you have been following my blog, you might notice that I love wearing scarves and have quite a few of them.  Some of them were from my late mother-in-law, the others were gifted to me by my husband for various occasions, just like this LV one that he bought for me for my 65th birthday.  Traditionally I wear it wrapped around my neck but lately I like to wear it tied around my hips but that is for another post.

Do you like wearing pastel colours? And if yes, what is your favourite?  Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Jumper - New Denim

Jeans  - Levi's

Jacket - Levi's (Old)

Shoes - Repetto (Old)

Handbag - Furla (Old)

Scarf - LV From the Cloud Square 90

Until then,

Anna

xoxoxo

WIDE LEG PANTS AND A SLOUCHY JUMPER

 Hello dear friends, hope you are well.

Our freedom is gathering momentum, the restrictions are disappearing at an alarming speed and the places and spaces become more and more crowded.  I find myself in two minds lately.  On one hand it feels so good to be free, on the other – people are becoming complacent, it’s amazing to see how quickly we forgot how this nightmare has started.   

They are talking about opening international borders for travelling by the end of this year but as much as my husband and I do love to travel, neither of us is keen to travel overseas now or even in 2022.   We might take a couple of long road trip within Australia instead.  We shall see. 

We are two months into our antipodean spring, but the weather hasn’t settled yet, one day we are all at the beach sweltering under the hot Aussie sun, the next day you reach into your closet for a jumper to wear over a t-shirt, so the transitional outfits are still a look “do jour” like the one I am modelling for you today.   This jumper is made of cotton so it’s not as warm as my winter ones but still provides enough comfort against the light chill of the early morning or after sundown.  

Thanks to its soft natural colour, I can wear it in so many ways.   It is slightly longer than my usual style but the rib on the bottom is quite tight, so it fits quite well around my hips, providing this casual slouchy look which goes so well with loose fitted casual linen trousers or palazzo pants.  I picked them up in the last days of the summer sale last year at H&M and haven’t had the chance to wear them yet.  They are very light and extremely comfortable thanks to the elasticised belt and have pockets which I love and are very versatile.  I am thinking of pairing them with a white oversized blouse or a simple t-shirt in.  It should work 😊.

Today is our first official outing.  We are off to have lunch with our friends whom we haven’t seen for over three months 👍👍👍.  The café that we are going to is described as up-market, so I engaged the help of my accessories to smarten up my outfit.  Since the colour of my top is grey, I decided to wear silver.  

I am wearing my new earrings from Elsa Peretti for Tiffany that was a gift from my husband on our wedding anniversary.  They called High Tide earrings and are “Inspired by the ebb and flow of the sea, this design emphasizes the simple beauty of nature where graceful curve echoes rippling waves”.  Sounds so romantic, I totally adore them.  The bottle necklace is also by Elsa but it has been in my possession for quite some time now.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably remember that I love scarves and wear them a lot and today was no exception.  They have this unidentifiable quality, a kind of “jeno se qua” that allows them to transform a simplest outfit into a fashion statement.

As for the shoes, the sneakers seem to be the best option possible.  And there you have it, my new casual transitional outfit with a touch of elegance.  What do you think?

Until next post

Anna

xoxox

VISITING THE GROUNDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY

Hello dear friends, hope you are all well and getting excited with the Christmas festivities just around the corner.  I know how we all are patiently waiting for 2020 to end in the hope that 2021 will be so much better 🎄.

We  are so lucky in Australia, there are no locally transmitted COVID cases and the restrictions rules have been eased dramatically.  We still need to register our names every time we enter public premises such as a restaurant or a movie house and you can occasionally see people wearing face masks around big shopping centers but you can hear a collective sigh of relief from Australians realising that we managed to combat COVID 👍👍👍.

However, we are still unable to travel overseas nor do we allow any international tourists to come to our shores.  We are stranded in our own country which means that when it comes to holidays the only option is left to us is to do it locally.   As a rule, we tend to spend more holiday time overseas but truth be told, I don't think it's such a bad idea to travel domestically, helping fellow Australians to rebuild their business and our economy and exploring the land that we call home. 

My husband and I are now more tuned to local events and jump at every opportunity to leave the house and discover something new whether it is a new exhibition, movie screening or a visit to a new artisan market.  

Last week, for example, my husband and I went to visit a new addition to the string of Sydney museums,  Chau Chuk Museum that just recently opened on the grounds of the University of Sydney.  The information page of their website informed us that the museum hosts a vast amount of exhibits from private collections representing art, science, history and ancient cultures and we were quite keen to see it for ourselves 👀.  

The last time I visited the University of Sydney was a while ago when we attended my oldest daughter's graduation ceremony and it looks as magnificent I remembered:  bright green manicured lawns, clean pathways, imposing architecture of surrounding halls and outbuilding, their walls covered in ivy leaves.

My outfit of the day was a pair of trousers from Reiss paired with a pink silk blouse (old), over-shoulder jumper (old) and the same pair of sneakers previously worn here.  If you follow my blog, you might recall that I made quite a few purchases from Reiss at the beginning of the year when the big "end of season sale" was on.  

Out of this pile, you have seen me wearing the dress (seen here) and the blouse (seen here) and now is a turn for my last purchase.  I really like the geometrical print on these straight fit pants and a draw-string waist is very comfortable and has an easy feel about it.  The other bonus was that they are super versatile and look as stylish worn with sneakers as well as with a pair of heels.

We had a very interesting time at the museum, viewing artefacts representing different eras and empires some of them over three thousand years old.  Every time I see something that old, it blows my mind away just thinking how smart, creative and skilful our ancestors were!!! 

There was a nice cafe on the premises where we had a very pleasant lunch and afterwards went for a very pleasant walk around the grounds, taking pictures and enjoying the beauty of the surroundings.  All and all we had a lovely day breaking the monotonous routine that we all involuntarily are currently living in.  Mission accomplished 👍.

Outfit details:

Trousers - Reiss

Blouse - Zara (old)

Sneakers - LV Frontrow

Hand bag - Furla

Sunglasses - Prada

Until then,

Anna

xoxo

 

WHAT I WORE ON A COOL DAY OF SPRING

Good morning, dear friends, hope are all well and smiling

I scored this white blouse with a zip pocket from a sale at Reiss.  I love this brand from England for its timeless elegance and outstanding craftsmanship and have already scored a dress that I really enjoy wearing everywhere I go (worn here).  

There are a couple of features that makes this blouse stand out from the crowd:  a small zip pocket and a silver zip that goes from the top to the bottom of the front of the blouse over a row of buttons.  

It has such an easy fit, you just put it on and walk out of the house feeling good about yourself.  Contrary to a model, who wore it tucked in into silky dress pants over high heel shoes, I went the other way and wore it with my wide-leg pants and my new pair of Louis Vuitton sneakers (one of my birthday gifts from my husband 😍).

I didn't intend to wear a coat or a scarf, just grabbed them when I was almost out the door but it came handy as despite the bright sunny day, the weather was rather nippy.

Outfit details:  

Blouse - Reiss

Pants - Scotch and Soda

Coat - Bec and Bridge

Sneakers - Lous Vuitton Frontrow

 

GOING PREPPY

Hi everyone, hope you all have had a great weekend

My Saturday was fabulous.  My husband and I went to see Carmen on the Harbour.  It is an outdoor event set on the shores of Sydney Harbour and let me tell you It was spectacular – from the beautiful voices of the cast to the stage settings, costumes and a lot of lighting and pyrotechnic effects, not to mention having the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge as a backdrop made the night even more magical.  Luckily for us the weather was perfect too so all and all it was a night to remember.

We didn’t have any plans for Sunday as my older daughter was due to have a baby but nothing happened so I had time to have a couple of photos taken wearing two different outfits (one for this post and one for a future one)  and I did a bit of writing.  I knew only too well that once the baby arrives, there would be not much time left for blogging.

I describe today’s look as “preppy” and I have no reason to explain why I chose this look.  All I know it’s all started after I saw a great number of images on Instagram and Bloglovin' of women wearing dressy shoes with socks so I wanted to give it a try too.  And it went from there.

This is not the look that you can often see on the streets of Sydney unless you are around one of those highly expensive private schools and the reason for it is our warm climate and relaxed life style, so this outfit is an entirely my interpretation of the look.  A quick reference revealed that one of the main attributes of the preppy look is “a simply classic look with just few key accessories to tie it together” and armed with this piece of knowledge I embarked on the challenge.

It is the first time ever that I have experimented with this look and because of that, I didn’t have any particular clothes or accessories in my wardrobe that contributed to a preppy look nor was I sure of what exactly this look involves so I had to rely on my instinct but I figured that socks worn over smart kitten heel nude colour shoes could be a good start. 

Happy with that, I shopped my wardrobe and found a silk A-line skirt that looked right for the look.  The last piece of the puzzle came in a form of a plain round neck jumper in a dusty pink with side splits that I wore loose over the skirt.  My key accessories were a silk scarf that I wrapped around my neck and tied in a cute knot and white pearl earrings.

“

ONE OF THE MAIN ATTRIBUTES OF THE PREPPY LOOK IS A SIMPLY CLASSIC LOOK WITH JUST A FEW KEY ACCESSORIES TO TIE IT TOGETHER

“

I am sure that this is not the perfect preppy look and some might argue that it is not at all, but I felt comfortable and quite pleased of how it all came out.

What do you think of my look?  How would you describe it?  I would like to know your thoughts.

Until then,

Anna

XO

Linking up with Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Shelbee on the Edge

WHO SAID YOU CAN'T WEAR RIPPED DENIM TO THE OFFICE?

Hello, my dear followers and fellow bloggers,

I remember the days when I used to work in an corporate environment and had to wear a so called "corporate uniform" five days a week because the "Casual Friday" policy didn't exist back then.

I am sure that the corporate dress code still dominates the majority of offices but not for me anymore. A few years ago I quit my boring office job and joined the throes of creative unconventional thinking individuals doing something I always wanted to do but never before had the chance to do it.   And although the environment I am working in now is a polar difference to the one I used to work in, in almost every aspect and a lot of the boundaries are very vague, yet I still cannot bring myself to wear raw hemmed jeans or sneakers to the office.  Partially because the habit of differentiating between my Monday to Friday and weekend wardrobes has been instilled into me quite deeply or because my jeans are almost torn in half around both of my knees and could be a bit too much even in a hip environment such as mine.

I did, however, venture as far as wearing a ragged denim skirt to work the other day.  I was very cautious in selecting the other items of clothes and accessories for this outfit so I would not be mistaken for going to a picnic rather than to the office.

First, I selected a white crisp shirt.  This classic wardrobe staple is an absolute bullet proof and
always looks right, besides the white colour adds some luminosity to the skin and thus makes women my age look younger.   

I paired it with my navy tuxedo-looking blazer with black silk lapels that counter-balanced the frivolity of the skirt rather nicely.

The shoes that I chose to wear were a birthday gift from my husband that I haven't have a chance to model  to you yet.  Made by Salvatore Ferragamo, these mid heel pumps are simply adorable. What is particularly great about them is that they are extremely comfortable thanks to the low block heel, yet the spherical ornament and the detail on the heel make them look rather playful.

As for the accessories, while I settled for traditional white pearl set consisting of a pair of earrings and a ring to match my classic white crisp shirt, I tied a bright scarf around my neck to add some panache to the outfit.

Linking up with Shelbee on the Edge, Fine. Whatever, Sydney Fashion Hunter, Glam Adventure, The Pleated Poppy, Colour and Grace, Fashion Should be Fun

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