How to make an entrance

How to make an entrance

Tuesday 17 December 2019

While the Powers That Be make their entrance into the big black shiny door with a number 10 on it, Jane and Beryl have their sights on less exalted portals, but ones which are a whole lot more fun than a Brexit negotiation. Whatever the festive occasion, go for it, girls, and swan into that event with a confident air and a braid in your hair knowing that you look amazing.     

Jacket, vintage Wallis, jumper and necklace, charity shop,
culottes, £168, Anthropologie

Go for gold

Going for gold... but not in the sporting sense, obvs. Jane is as likely to come first in that department as fly to the moon. However, a bit of the shimmery stuff is a great asset to a WOACA especially when she wants to shine like the fairy on the tree. These culottes would have been in Jane's shopping bag faster than you can say '11 ladies dancing' had they had them in a size bigger than an XS (she squeezed in for the pic, Jane is such a martyr to the cause). Always the way at this time of year.

Cape £89.99, Sparkly dress £59.99 both Zara,
boots Guess £40 TK Maxx

Add ankle or floor length sparkle and a cape 

Two things are crucial to making an entrance: a beautifully fitting and well cut garment, and the knowledge that you look amazing. Here, Beryl is swathed in an ankle length black dress bedecked with sparkles and a puff-sleeved velvet cape. Large earrings and red boots polish the look, which is sort of Hogwarts meets Queen Narissa from Enchanted. Now there's a woman who knows how to enter a room. 

                

Dress £40, coat, £69, both the White House Summer sale

Revisit your summer wardrobe

Jane is determined to take the ecologically sound option to its limits ie. buying nothing which isn't second hand etc etc, so she has tried to look at her summer wardrobe with new eyes. Lo and behold! She found a Christmas green frock which is actually labelled 'beachwear'. On it goes with a long - it must be admitted, somewhat thin - overcoat. All find and dandy, Jane, as long as there's no snow.

Pre-loved Phase Eight dress £75, LK Bennett shoes £198 (this season)
matching LK Bennett bag bought preloved £60 , Golf ball pearls £1.50 Charity shop 

Wear a stand-out colour

  Just consider for a moment the joy of wearing your top colour, the one in which you are at your eye-popping best. Particularly if everyone else has worn elegant but safe black. For Beryl this is ruby chiffon. The very word chiffon is thrilling, 'chiffon, chiffon, chiffon,' shouts Beryl.  Jane is forced to administer a short, sharp slap to bring Beryl back to her senses. This also often happens at this time of year.  

Go vintage 

And Jane really means vintage. This coat dress came from her mama's wardrobe and was her going away coat in 1953, never worn again and in its pristine state. There's always something in the back of someone else's wardrobe.

Dress vintage Monsoon £25 (Charity shop) Necklace Hobbs £49 (past season)
Belt Zara (this season) £25 Boots her daughter's Zara cast off, bag gift

Add sparkle and net

Jane has decided to forgive Beryl this black frock but only because it has a very full skirt made out of net, and Jane feels about net how Beryl feels about chif-fon. (Oh, no not that again) Beryl has heavily accessorised her net with sparkles, a look redolent of 1950s dinner-dances. 

 Two years ago Beryl spent £49 in Hobbs on a jewel encrusted necklace, which seemed rather rash at the time, but has turned out to be a good investment. This year she added a belt from Zara to her collection. Her daughter's cast off sparkly ankle boots add a touch of modern sass. 

Dress £29.99, Faux fur jacket £79 

Wear a slip dress, with faux fur... 

Dress, £29.95, furry jacket, £79.99, sparkle jacket £89.99 all Zara

                            ...or sparkle

The very thought of a slip dress has, until now, filled Jane with the sort of horror that is only akin to the thought of the middle-aged backside in leggings. All that mutton masquerading as lamb - ugh! However, when she came upon this one in Zara, she changed her tune - and it's leopard print to boot. What ever has come over her? She feels rather glam and outre, so what's not to like? 

Trousers, £79.99, jacket, £129.99, M&S ( both this season) bag, Zara 2017, shoes, Top Shop vintage

 

Plump for the velvet suit

And in Jane's case, 'plump' is the word, having been told she must lose weight by the medical establishment (grr). If you are feeling the pre-Christmas paunch, then this is definitely the answer. The single tone, right down to velvet shoes and bag, only elongates the body and adds to the illusion of everything slender - it'll be the last time until the spring. 

Vintage coat £150, pre-loved Rixo dress £120 , 

            
              Invest in a vintage evening coat

Beryl gets very over-excited by show stopping party clothes, which probably means she is going to get one of her sick heads and miss all the party fun, lying in a dark room with a damp tea-towel on her head. But for now at least, she gets to wear her vintage, green, swing evening coat on top of her Rixo dress covered in the moon and the stars. 

                               Add a bow

Dress Monsoon £99 (this season)
 Nine West gold shoes £16 charity shop  

And finally ... pop on a big bow, as if you have gift wrapped yourself. 

Merry Christmas 

and a very Happy New Year 

from Jane and Beryl. 

They will be back with you 

for more fun and frolics 

from the land of mid-life fashion 

in 2020