Tuesday, 17 February 2026

An Outfit to Scare the Husband

Dear friends. We were inundated on Instagram last week with suggestions of what to wear for Valentine's Day. Well, as Mr Mutton and I don't usually mark this in any way, I wasn't paying too much attention.

But then my new-to-me red skirt with purple flowers arrived from eBay. It's a Boden skirt and you know my love for them.

I had seen it before but hesitated to buy it because it looked tricky to style.

My first interpretation made me smile because it's the sort of outfit that sends Mr M running to the hills. His own style is, shall we say, fairly muted. He often raises an eyebrow when I wear bright colours, and particularly in what he would call "a lairy combination,"

Purple and red is a tricky duo, and particularly difficult in winter because you need more components (tights, jacket etc). Tights in winter, to me, must be opaque, and black, navy or purple tights would have jarred. So I went for red. And then added my red coral Roxy jacket (Kettlewell) and red tartan flats (Boden).

Meanwhile I decided to echo the purple flowers with a purple top and bluebell belt (Kettlewell) and scarf from My Season.

I don't think it looks too bad, but Mr M would hate it!

Here's an alternative spin to make the skirt a bit more casual. Very simple, black boots (old, M&S) and jumper from French Connection. I think even Mr M would buy this interpretation.

An alternative styling for Is This Mutton's red Boden skirt. This one is more casual and wouldn't frighten her husband

I think I'll save the skirt for summer when it will come into its own with bare legs and a top, colour TBD!

I mentioned at the start that we don't normally mark Valentine's Day. Well, this year there was an exception. I ordered a Michel Roux meal kit from Dishpatch and we had that at home. I'll share my thoughts on the meal kit in the monthly round-up on 28 February.

Too much red? How would you style the skirt for winter? Do tell in the comments.

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