A quick post from me today – everything’s a bit chaotic, I’m juggling this week’s party at home, next week’s big Selfridges reunion in London, Christmas shopping and work along with the usual cans of worms that the boys unearth on an almost daily basis. And I know I said I wouldn’t be doing any more clothes shopping for myself and I haven’t but…the bloggers’ favourite faux leather leggings that I ordered from Next back in September finally arrived. So today I did a quick road test. Now it may be that this is going to be like leopardskin shoes and lots of you are going to say that you’ve been rocking faux leather for years. Well I know not all of you have because I’ve had 5 different emails recently asking me if I think faux leather leggings are a chic look for women over 40.

Before I start, I’m just going to suggest you have a look at Annette’s post on Lady of Style where she teams leather leggings with a checked shirt. How chic does she look – we’re starting high and then moving on to me! I haven’t worn leggings since the 80s – I didn’t do the 2008 leggings and tunic thing, mostly because I wasn’t happy with my weight but also because I think I overdid leggings during my pregnancies and by the end of it, never wanted to see them again. So when I put these on my first reaction was to laugh and if I hadn’t promised to feature them they’d probably have gone straight back. However, the look on Mr MC’s face when I came down wearing them at 8.30am made me think again. I guess every man who grew up in the 80s has a bit of an Olivia Newton-John thing going on deep down! So here goes, the first shot, I was trying to think how I could style them in a chic but simple way for work:

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I need to do some thinking about whether this look is work appropriate, Mr MC believes it might get us more business (bless him – see why I married him) but I suspect it might frighten the clients. So I tried them styled more casually for the weekend.

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And going one step further to dress up a really lazy day:

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And seeing as there is 25% off everything at Boden at the moment I thought I’d show you the back view of this off duty jumper as there are still some in stock. It’s so easy to wear.

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The faux leather leggings are mostly sold out at Next but the best I’ve found in stock are at TopShop and these actually look slightly better quality – they call them trousers rather than leggings and the waistband is probably a good thing, I did find myself hitching the elasticated waist on the Next pair up a lot:

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So – what have I concluded? I’d give the Next pair a 3 out of 5 – the finish on them was a bit blotchy and I haven’t mentioned the smell – it must be something to do with the plastic but it wasn’t pleasant when I first opened them! However, I do like the concept and I’m going to try the TopShop pair and keep an eye open for anything else that is a bit more substantial and less of a second skin. I’ve been told by several people to avoid Zara and H&M – apparently without any warning they have a tendency to split at the rear after a couple of wears – not a good look! Let me know if you have any you would recommend. If I have time later I’ll try styling them for a night out – who wants a boring party dress, let’s all rock the leather look for Christmas!