Jane and Beryl Go On a Trend Hunt (in their own wardrobes)

Jane and Beryl Go On a Trend Hunt (in their own wardrobes)

Thursday 28 September 2017

This week Jane and Beryl go hunting for trends in, of all places, their own wardrobes. Jane sticks to the rules, Beryl doesn't... 

Trend One - The De-constructed Trench

Mac Mango £29 reduced from £60

Jane loves a mac, but not a trad trench which always makes her take on the proportions of the ubiquitous sack of potatoes: NO NO NO to the tie belt! This one is a great bit of inter-seasonal kit as it is very lightweight, is a great stone colour and rolls up into her capacious handbag. 

Coat £20 vintage Next, Avoco scarf £25, gloves (present), bag £49

Trench coats just ooze WOACA style - remember smouldering Samantha Jones played by Kim Cattrall in Sex and The City in a white belted version? Beryl isn't really up to smouldering these days, best she can manage is a little light singeing if she stands too near the fire in a manmade fibre. This trench, which is technically more of a duster, came from the vintage rail of a charity shop and is from Next circa 1982. Its loose shape is bang on trend, as is it's tiny checked pattern. Red accessories tick the red trend box and were mostly lurking from last year.       

 Trend Two - Red Boots

Boots M&S £69

Zara £25

Beryl's very pleased with her new red boots, from M&S. She has been on the ruddy boot hunt for three years now, and knows that a real scarlet bootee is a find. Red suede, even if highly priced, can look cheap and reds vary hugely. These M&S numbers however have passed her exacting standards. They are a beautiful shape, a gorgeous Dior red and look expensive. Well done Marks and Sparks, these spark joy. If you are looking for a less pricy fashion fix, these Zara ones are £25 and very Emma Peel, no karate kicking allowed.  

Trend Three - Red (with a side order of wide trouser)

Red in Beryl's humble opinion is a WOACA no brainer. It just shouts 'hello I am a confident woman in my prime and do not mess with me.' 

Jacket Hobbs circa 2007, trousers Marella £150, shoes M&S £29.50

Jane bought these only last season but is expecting a long and happy relationship with them and, at what she paid for them, quite frankly they will probably see her out. A nice inter-seasonal weight - silk jersey - an elasticated waist and what a fabulous blue-red! To those who claim that they don't suit red - buck up, girls, there IS a red for EVERYONE, you just aren't trying hard enough!

 These red trousers £79 are new to Beryl's wardrobe and a corker. They hail from The House of Foxy near Harrogate. Beryl thinks we should support the British clothing industry in this uncertain political climate. Their excellent web-site discusses their trousers with helpful info about body shape. Beryl favours these not so wide 1940s cut, flat fronted ones, worn here
with a Top shop blouse £39, that has languished in Beryl's closet all summer waiting for some action. 

Trend Four - Pattern mixing

Desigual coat £225 in a sale, dress from a local store, £60 or thereabouts, boots, Dune £140

Not something that comes naturally to Jane, who is rarely seen in anything with much of a pattern. However, here she mixes an old coat which has always been a favourite, with an old dress, bought for one occasion and never out of the cupboard since. It may yet see the light of day...

Trend Five - Checks

Carolina Herrera jacket (second hand) £145, St John skirt (secondhand)
 £40 LK Bennett boots £300 (in the sale)

 Well, hello Mrs-Posh-Totty. Beryl bought this jacket by Carolina Herrera second-hand earlier in the year and thinks it is probably the nearest she will ever come to the Chanel version. By blessed co-incidence this strange tangerine colour has appeared on the catwalks this Autumn. It is time to dig out those hounds-tooth and Prince of Wales checked items. At last a trend in which glamorous grown up women actually look better than their daughters. Beryl suggests not too matchy-matchy accessories, as these look more devil may care.  

Trend Six - Folk lore

Over the knee boots at least 7 years old £24.99

bag £29 TK Maxx 

This is what Beryl's Dad used to refer to as a 'socialist top', and this was not a compliment. Beryl however has a fondness for this look which lets face it is fantastically easy to wear. This velour Zara top was £39.99 and has the most lovely embroidery on the bell-shaped sleeves. It has lots of middle and bottom-hiding potential. Old hippy-types and one time pinkos, yes, we mean you Jane, should get their fill now of this trend.  

Trend Seven - Dark Denim

  

French Connection dress, £47.50

Jane bought this dress in a summer sale for half-price, completely unaware that she was actually completely on-trend - she loves it when that happens. She calls it her 'batty art teacher dress' as she does feels a bit as if she should be vague and in her own bubble when wearing it. (Isn't she always? says Beryl). The up side is, it's fantastically comfortable and fulfils the maxi-as-autumn-daywear category; the downside, that the dye leaks over everything she wears underneath - including her own skin. Avatar, anyone?

Trend Eight - Chintz

Beryl must confess that this has spent the summer in her 'destined for Save The Children bag'. Beryl, who favours big splashy prints, felt that this could be her moment. However, Jane quickly pointed out that all her fifties dresses will not do at all, as the 

current floral trend is all loose and baggy. But this Alexa Chung archive dress from M&S will have to pass muster with its 70s shape. Surely 70s is a trend Jane? and it's red. Perhaps with a red tight... too much? Bezza thinks she will give it a reprieve with her new boots.  

Trend Nine - Alpine

Homemade hat, home knit jumper by Aunty Francis circa 1982, tweedy trews, Heart £60

Beryl is insisting that this is actually a 'thing' - Alpine, really, says Jane? Must she dress like a member of the Austrian resistance? Is John Mills lurking behind the nearest mountain and is it 1943? Must she break into 'I love to go a-wandering, Along the mountain track...'? Whether this ever really makes it onto the highway and byways of the Hampshire countryside is a moot point, but Jane concedes that there are elements of it to love. 

Trend Ten - Stripy strides

Beryl is updating her Zara trews £29.99 of two years ago with the new red boots. This is an idea which she has plundered from the front cover of Good Housekeeping which stars the marvellous Julie Walters, who looks amaze-balls in stripy strides and non matching shoes. Let's just do it!