Beautiful spring prints from Lily and Me

It was very timely that as the beautiful spring weather arrived, so did my parcel from Lily and Me with, hot off the press, some of their new arrivals for SS19.

Are you familiar with Lily and Me?  I wasn't until recently when someone mentioned them in a comment. I had a look at their website and loved their prints. I was thrilled to see that this is a family owned UK company.

Amelia and Hari launched the brand in early 2007. Coming from a manufacturing background, they had spent a number of years producing clothing for other brands and wanted to start a line of their own. Amelia and Hari were joined by brother Ben and sister Polly to make it an all family concern managing all aspects of the business. Recently ‘Lily and Me’ has undergone rapid growth and now employ a large team at their new premises in Gloucestershire.

The muse for Lily and Me is Amelia and Hari’s daughter, Lily. You can see her in the catalogues.

Lily and Me has a distinctive range of prints and I was invited to choose a couple of pieces from the new collection. I fell in love with the colourful Floral Meadow print and chose the gorgeous Border Print skirt in Floral Meadow, £53, and the Kemble cardigan in Floral Meadow. "Co-ords" or two pieces as we used to say are still very big for spring and summer. Lily and Me were kind enough to also send me the Monica top in Coral (very similar to colour of the year Living Coral too!).

These pieces aren't on the website yet but they will land soon. The Kemble cardigan can be seen in  other prints. 

I was impressed with the quality: the skirt is linen but barely needing ironing even after being folded up in a parcel. I teamed the outfit with white ankle boots and nude fishnet tights  (I refuse to bare my legs in February!). Sandals will obviously look great, and I can think of many different ways of wearing these pieces.  The cardi will look lovely with white cropped trousers. The skirt will dance its way into evening wear with a silk camisole. And the Monica top will go with just about everything.

Disclosure: I was gifted with a skirt, cardigan and top by Lily and Me. My editorial opinions are always unbiased. 

Now it's time for #WowOnWednesday

Last week's readers' favourite was the gorgeous Emma from Stylesplash and her post featuring her trademark cool accessories and a hat.

This Week's Outfits

Hello friends. Just a quick outfit round-up today. I'm getting ready for a week in Nuremberg attending an event called Embedded World, and today is a blur of printing off stuff, a gym session, packing, writing a list of meals for J, changing the beds, roasting a chicken, and a quick blog shoot for Wednesday.

The outfit above is a favourite of mine, very easy: it's a black and white printed blouse, old, from Next that doesn't even need ironing;  black straight leg trousers and a black jumper (sweater) from Woolovers. I bought it recently because I wanted a loose black cashmere mix jumper and this one had a scoop neck, which these days is hard to find.

Without the red accessories, this is a boring outfit. But by adding red with the boots, bag and necklace, it becomes a lot more interesting.

Now, what say we to green tights?  If you've been following me for a while you'll know I love patterned and coloured hosiery. This green outfit is another of my easy work outfits - cashmere jumper from Marks and Spencer (regrettably crew neck, they don't seem to do scoops these days) and a black and green skirt from Sainsbury's. I like to add something unusual to an outfit like this, so chose the green tights. I was only disappointed that I don't have green boots as well!   Too much like Kermit?

Here I'm featuring two pieces from Sainsbury's - the mustard boots and dress - plus teal tights and silky jumper from Kettlewell. The dress is a pull-on, with no fastenings, so it's another joyful piece to wear to work.

With the unusually good temperatures and sunshine right now, most winter coats are too heavy for the balmy weather so I've been wearing last summer's white boucle jacket. It was just right, with a short sleeved pearl studded jumper, jeans and Stan Smith's, for a shopping trip yesterday.
Look how the flash has done something weird to my legs!

I'll be back on Weds with a special outfit and the #WowOnWednesday link up. Hope you can join me.

No items were gifted except the red necklace from Eternal Collection.

What I've Been Wearing

My bedroom is now overshadowed by the looming form of a fully extended tripod with a camera on top. No, I am not shooting dodgy videos but trying to capture more outfit shots. The selection below were mostly taken at 6.30 in the morning, just before I set off on the drive to Cambridge.

I had a bit of an existential "I don't know what to wear for work" crisis when I first started at my new job 16 months ago. It's an engineering tech company like my last one, and most people dress fairly casually.  I always think jeans are a minefield for the older woman, so it's not a look I choose for work except occasionally.

I bought a few outfits that were too dressy, but now I've found "my uniform," which is either a patterned blouse with dark skirt or trousers, a cropped cashmere cardi and ankle boots, or a print skirt with ankle boots and a plain top.

The outfit below was what I wore on Saturday for my usual food shopping, except that I was also popping into a trendy new hairdresser's to have a patch test. So I decided to up the usual shopping ante by wearing my Bowie jumper by Orwell and Austen,  and silver boots. I have worn the jumper a lot, but here's the thing: it was expensive (more than £200) but the cashmere is a fantastic quality and it washes and retains its shape beautifully. So it was a worthwhile investment. And it always gets compliments.

The jeans are parallels from Warehouse. As I mentioned, I find jeans a minefield.  You can so easily wear the wrong sort and be instantly labelled as middle-aged/staid. I read recently that boot leg jeans are back, but for many they didn't go away.  I would advise caution until the really young and trendy start wearing them. Then we can reclaim them without looking retro.

Next up, a fairly innocuous work outfit: shades of camel and beige livened up with a pair of leopard print boots. But a trifle dull, don't you think? I was regretting all day that I didn't add a leopard print belt or scarf.  See how the scarf instantly lifts the outfit (this photo was taken a few hours later, and without flash, which seems to have aged me about 10 years!  (Memo to self:  ignore those who say "don't use flash....").

Note the long cardigan, which came from Marks and Spencer Autograph.  I have two long cardigans and find them incredibly useful.  How did I manage without them all this time?

I wore this Lily and Me print skirt (also reduced) a few weeks ago with a burgundy top that has a spectacular bow, and a special pair of knee-high suede burgundy boots.  This time I wore it with a pink silk shirt, cropped cashmere cardigan and flat burgundy boots and navy tights.

Handy tip: I keep all my navy tights, belts and socks in a bag that hangs on the door, to avoid me wearing black by mistake. The light in the bedroom is very gloomy in the early mornings and navy and black both look the same in that light! Wearing black and navy together can traumatize me for the day.

Finally, back to the eerie yellowy glow of 6.300am flash with my other signature look:  flat ankle boots, straight trousers, a patterned blouse and a croped cardigan. The blouse is from The-Bias-Cut.com and it's now in the sale.

#WowOnWednesday

Last week's readers' favourite was Mary from The Pouting Pensioner, with a popular post on What I've been Wearing Lately. I've chosen my favourite oufit from the selection:

Now let's see what you've been wearing. Any fashion or beauty posts are welcome in #WowOnWednesday.

An InLinkz Link-up

White and black

After no spend January I was itching to get something new, so here it is, an abstract print midi skirt and baggy white jumper with buttons. Plus my gorgeous Russell & Bromley white boots.