Thank you so much to everyone who tweeted, emailed and commented over the weekend. It's so exciting to know you're out there, it makes it all worthwhile. This weekend we went to our first 50th birthday party - I remember this happening in the run up to 40, first our older relatives, then friends, then us...it's coming!! So the honour of the first event went to my niece's husband who takes great pleasure in calling me "auntie" even though he's [...]
Ok, so following on from yesterday's post about core chic, let's identify the chic basics you need as workhorses to form your casual weekend wardrobe. This little group should take you through Spring and early Autumn. Bear in mind we're looking at absolute essentials here - the fashionable pieces will be added in a later post. Here are some Pinterest pics to show you what we're aiming for - it's basically a European version of preppy. For more inspiration see [...]
I've been quiet on my blog this week because I've been spending a lot of time analysing 'chic' and, in particular, midlife chic. It is after all what I set out to do. My plan is to create the ultimate timeless wardrobe of essentials that can then have the odd fashion accent applied to them. I've been studying the women who really inspire me to try to find what it is about their style that encapsulates midlife chic - I've [...]
I had to attend a client's board meeting on Friday. They're a law firm, so dress there tends to be pretty subdued, although I've found they expect their creative agency to display a little pzazz. I think they like to see us as a slightly exotic species that flies in to entertain them with marketing fluff. So, as it was officially the first day of spring (and despite the driving rain outside) I thought I'd go for a touch of [...]
So the shopping trip for a Spring 2014 wardrobe update begins. Saturday definitely felt like the morning after the night before - I think we overdid the pre and post show drinks a bit in our excitement at being away. Anyhow, after raising my blood sugar a bit at the hotel breakfast buffet, I was a woman with a mission. I'd decided that I needed to focus on some core wardrobe essentials. On the list was a jacket, at least [...]
On Friday morning I set off for my weekend in Manchester with Mr MC. The first part of it involved me travelling down early to attempt a bit of a makeover session. To this end, I'd booked at David Rozman, the hairdressers in Manchester who repeatedly win national awards. I couldn't have looked much worse when I arrived. I'd been soaked through in the playground earlier that morning and then blow-dried by a howling gale as I made my way [...]
So, if you've been reading my blog you'll know that I'm off for a heady weekend with Mr MC in Manchester. Even though it isn't quite Marrakech or Moscow, sometimes just a little bit of away time is all you need! Grandma has already arrived to look after the boys and is snoozing on the sofa. I've thrown a few random things into a suitcase hoping that I'll see lots of new things to buy and I won't need any [...]
Living in a house full of males, you wouldn't think that chic stationery would be something I'd need to stress about. But big rugby playing hunks though they are - they have an eye for a nice pen or pencil and as fast as I restock, I find they all disappear. So last week I took to the web to find something suitably girly that they might just leave alone. Now I'm not a 'Hello Kitty' sort of girl so [...]
What's going on at M&S? There's a lot of noise about M&S in the press at the moment. Spring / Summer 2014 saw the second collection launched under Belinda Earl's reign (note: Belinda's previous roles were at Debenhams and Jaeger - let's hope she's bringing more of the latter than the former with her). She sounds as though she's in touch with the customer that M&S is aiming for - she's reported as saying that they might be 40 plus, [...]
Back to back client meetings today and the trouble with this time of year is that it's not cold enough for a winter coat but everyone still has their office heating turned up to the max. In the 90s a suit would have solved the problem and I keep hearing that they're coming back but then they never quite do. Anyway the sun's shining for once so I wanted to wear something bright but it's a bit too early for [...]
Boden's timing was good last week - 20% off just as the sun came out and made me want to think about dresses. Of course there were also some restocks on the 80% clearance that I'd been looking out for and I was only being kind to Johnnie really by offering to add a few to my basket. Anyway delivery today. Item number 1 - big fail! Now if I took any notice of my own advice on this blog [...]
The weighty issue. It's been great to have comments and emails since Midlife Chic launched and one question that people keep asking is about how to lose weight after 40. I hadn't intended to blog about this but I think because I talked about how much better losing weight had made me feel, you are naturally wondering how I did it. Before I start I need to say that I can see the beauty in all body sizes, in fact [...]
