So, as you know, I’m limited as to how much I can type or drive. This is a recipe for disaster because I’m bored. I’ve tried watching daytime TV but I just can’t do it. I was obviously brainwashed at a young age because all I can hear is ‘why don’t you…just switch off your television set and go out and do something less boring instead’ (this is a small test that will tell me which UK readers are around about my age – sorry to those from overseas, once the test is over I’ll explain what I’m on about)! However all is not lost because I can still use my iPad for a while which means I can keep up to date with the blogs I follow. Last week WIT posted “A million ways to wear your leather culottes” and each way she styled them looked fantastic and totally ‘doable’. This led me to have a quick look around to see what leather culottes were on offer and I came up with these Dorothy Perkins faux leather culottes for £7. Just what I needed – a sartorial challenge to alleviate the boredom. The only problem is that WIT was looking gorgeous wearing pointy courts with bare legs and indeed, I will ape that look in May, but it’s currently -1˚C so there’s no way I’m going without tights. Anyway, a little more research and I’ve discovered that a popular ‘street look’ is to wear them with tights and long boots so here’s what I’m wearing today:
- Dorothy Perkins Faux leather culottes
- M&S Ribbed polo neck
- Boden cropped cardigan (past season)
- Boden suede boots (past season)
- White Company necklace (past season)
and, briefly, without the cardigan which is how I’ve been wearing them in the office:
Readers who have been with me a long time will remember that this isn’t the first time I’ve tried culottes, I liked them last Summer and tried them in lots of ways here but ended up sending them back. This pair are staying – they work with so many different things I’ve tried on and for £7 I’m happy even if I go off them by the end of the year. They also seem to make Mr MC smile whenever he looks at me – what kind of smile it is I’m not quite sure, it may be a suppressed guffaw, but I’m telling myself it’s because he likes them. So – expect to see these crop up a few times in the approach to Spring and why not give them a go yourself.
Thank you to the many people who have sent emails and comments about my damaged shoulder which is now being linked back to the car accident I had in December. I’ve read and taken account of them all and I will certainly look into voice recognition software next week if I’m still having problems. I must also mention the fabulous list of ideas for things to do that Jan sent me, it was so thoughtful and I was feeling so fed up that I came over all tearful – I’m on it Jan, I’m on it! I think it’s brilliant the way you’re all developing a community and friendships of your own via the comments on my posts and I urge more people to join in, there are some really interesting and thoughtful people in our little community. I had my cortisone injection on Tuesday which has helped a bit but not as much as I’d hoped. My reader Nicola very kindly forewarned me that it would be a bit unpleasant so I took her advice and loaded myself up with all my painkillers before I went which meant I had a very interesting meeting afterwards with my most important client. Thankfully he’s renewed his contract for another year but I can’t remember a single thing we talked about which is a bit of a worry going forward! Looking at this photo you’d think I’d had a few glasses of wine rather than a codeine cocktail but anyway, this is what I was wearing:
- Ines de la Fressange @ Uniqlo merino cashmere mix polo neck (A/W 14)
- Boden wool bistro crops (A/W 14)
- Clarks shoes (A/W 14)
- Mulberry briefcase (past season)
- Treaty necklace
- M&S cashmere mix coat (similar here)
Since reading a number of books on Parisian chic, I’ve realised that I am missing two core pieces from my wardrobe for Spring/Summer. One is a denim jacket which apparently is best worn short and a size too small – we’ll come onto that in another post; the other is a leather jacket. Now, this is a big (i.e. expensive) purchase so it’s something I need to get right. I very much admire the biker jackets that so many people wear but I know instinctively that the neat freak inside me wouldn’t be comfortable in one purely because of the lack of symmetry and the amount of excess material flapping around when wearing it open. And then I saw this:
Leather moto jacket which I really like for its utter simplicity. I should add that this is not to wear with the culottes – that would be more midlife crisis than midlifechic – I’m thinking it will be a way to add ‘youth’ to the Boden ponte dresses that I often wear for meetings as Annette has done here. However before making that kind of investment, I think I might just test one in faux leather to see how I get on and this is where serendipity played a part. When I was picking up my culottes yesterday I saw this in Dorothy Perkins:
I didn’t buy it because my usual size (12) was incredibly tight so I would need to size up but I think I’ll go and see if any new stock has arrived tomorrow and try it again. It’s even more symmetrical than the leather one although it does have quilting detail which might annoy me. If you’re looking for one, they’re good quality and the bikers are also the same price in the sale here. I haven’t shopped in good old Dotty P’s for years but a few of their items surprised me.
So that’s it for today, I seem to have a thing for leather at the moment (no wonder Mr MC is smiling), we’re going to see the comedian Jon Richardson tomorrow and I think the leather jeans are due an outing for that. Have a lovely weekend everyone, January is nearly through, we’ll be casting off layers before we know it. In the meantime, as context for our overseas friends (and just to make the rest of you smile), here’s the source of the cultural quiz at the beginning. By the way did anyone else spend their childhood puzzling about the sense behind a TV programme that began by telling you to switch off the TV?
