Dress Of The Day with Angela

  These smart trousers probably cost a fortune. You could buy tassel braid to enhance your own white trouser legs, or white jeans.  Americans say pants for trousers.  I would cold wash, or wash the braid, or at least a sample or section before sewing it on. You want to be sure it won't shrink more than the other fabric. Coloured braid could also be dramatic, and you might choose braid to match your top.  You want to be sure the coloured braid doesn't run in the wash and stain your garment. If you already have a stained hem, to trousers or a skirt, you canuse a braid to cover it. Stains You can buy products to wash out stains. Or keep washing. Or tie-dye. Or sew more patches over the stain. Or dye the entire garment another colour. The same colour as the stain. Or a dark colour superimposed to hide it. Turn trousers into treasure. Perfect your pants. Please bookmark your favourite posts, and share links.

  The colour contrast is dramatic. White buttons on black trousers. Or black buttons on white trousers. Transform boring black trousers into something new to wear, a fashion statement.  DIY Version They seam to have a white line, verticalling, maybe up the seam, or the front, as well as the line of white buttons. To create this look for yourself on old garments, you would need, ideally, eight buttons for each leg. Sew four below the knee, four above. Plus a line of braid, if you want to add that. Any colour of trousers, or a skirt, can be matched up with a white blouse by adding white buttons and braid.  You want to sew the buttons along the side, or up the front. Not at the back, norup the insde leg to the crotch, where they would be uncomfortable when you sit down, and the wear would detach them. I found something similar for women in all colours, on Temu. I particularly liked the orange trousers. They look loose and comfy and gathered at the ankle. The buttons were dow...

  Photo by Trevor Sharot. I have several Anthony Sicari outfits. Just search on this blog. This one is what I chose to wear for the AGM and wine tasting and fish and chips or chicken and chips supper at the Welwyn Wine Society. Bearing in mind I could spill red wine, or get grease or cutty stains on my front, I chose a darker top insteady of my more summery white background Anthony Sicari outfit. Here is the white one. Also size ten. You see what I mean about the white one being more vulnerable to red wine stains. The label with the American flag is cute, isn't it! Photo by Angela Lansbury. I had pinned the matching scarf onto the white outfit. Easy to find. Won't get lost. Nor forgotten. Easy to fold or hang neatly. Photo by Angela Lansbury Just a quick reminder about this label. It was big in the USA in the late 1900s. You can find lots of them on ebay. The cost of sending them to the UK means they are expensive for us in England, cheaper for you when you are in the USA, if y...

 From Gant label, bought in John Lewis Wonderful striped shirt. Enhances the appearance of the wearer. Jolly colours. Some people say, "It looks like pyjamas." Not to me, it doesn't.  The brand name is on the vertical edge of the cloudy white buttons on the cuffs. Shirt button with the name Gant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. The Gant company started many moons ago, 1949 to be exact, in the USA by a Bernard Gantmacher, a Jewish immigrant from the Ukraine. He had started making shirts for other companies. After the end of WW his two sons persuaded him to start their own brand of shirts. Macher means maker, and gant, not French for glove but German or Yiddish for whole. His son inherited and shortened the name to Gant. Eventually the company was bought up, changed hands several times, and now has its headquarters in Sweden. The Gant company website gives an interesting detailed history of how men shirts in the USA became colourful. And how they promoted the shirts as...

  I saw Helen Chesshire at the entrance to the London Wine Faire at Olympia in May 2025. She looked absolutely fabulous in this colourful and glittery dress, from Fumbalinas. I thought it was fun - balinas but the name of the company is Fumbalinas.  Here's all the good news about Helen's wonderful outfit supplier. 1 Sizing Solved - sizing problems solved.  They sell outsize caftans. And other clothes. 2 Look Co-ordinated,  Fabulous. Turbans can be added to complete the look of an outfit. Turbans, in matching colour, or multicolour to go with two or more outfits. Turbans, can be custom made. 3  Proud and Loud Look fabulous, whatever your size. Attract attention. Make new friends. Great PR for your business or event. Be found in a crowd. Glittery - covered in sequins.   4 Individual Visit them by appointment. Items such as turbans can be custom made. They have an online swap shop. 5 Hidden Ribbons A special feature of their caftans is the hidden ribbons....

  At the London Wine Fair in Olympia, London, I admired this white cape decorated with black beads from a distance. I dashed up to convey my admiration to the wearer and to ask her where she bought it. This lovely white cape fastens around the waist. Bought from Turkey. No label. No washing label. She washes it by hand. Black beads in several shapes. What a wonderful garment. What do I like about it?  1 Curvy cape, swinging elegantly. 2 From the front like a batwing lseeve, but with a curve. 3 Not loose like a cape, but pulled in at the waist. 4 Front and back held together by a hook and eye, secure double hook and eye, at the waist. 5 Glittery black beads, faceted, add class, attention-getting contrast colour, stand out against the white. They glint to get attention, day or night. 6 Black and white, for day and night, winter and summer. By chance, the dark coloured lanyard seems to form a v-shape edging down the front.

 Update on using magnets.  Warning. Don't attach small magnets to beachwear or other clothes if you are around children under three years old. Don't store packs where small or large children can easily access them. The same applies to buttons and beads, which are chocking hazards. Magnets are worse because they attract each other and form large lumps. Useful Websites https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14715339/Hundreds-children-hospitalised-terrifying-magnet-trend-swallowing-toys.html https://www.rospa.com/policy/home-safety/advice/product/magnet-safety

  I love the colours of this Indian skirt. I bought it for one pound in St Luke's shop in Hatch End. I've seen other St Luke's shops in Stanmore and Pinner. Their website lists several more locations in London and elsewhere. The Plus - Colour and Length The skirt is made in India, and 100 per cent cotton. A very thick cotton.  Washing Obligation and Options Many people wash everything they buy, new or old, to protect themselves from germs. Whatever you buy might be handled by many people. The donor. The person applying a price ticket. Customers rummaging. The shop assistant wrapping it for you. If I tie it around my neck, it is against my skin. So, to be cuatious, I should wash it before wearing, even before handling it.  I could just hrow everything in a wash.  I could follow the washing instructions on the label. Or my common sense about cotton and items which are not colourfast. Put it in the machine and make sure not to wash it with anything white or pale coloure...

 I have several blouses and jackets with shoulder pads. They were the fashion years ago. They went away in the next decades, although they stayed in vintage items, and they periodically return. The latest reports from April 2025 say shoulder pads are making a comeback, creating the big, broad-shouldered powerful look. Meanwhile, what about old-time shoulder pads? Some of them have a new life. But, unfortunately, and unexpectedly, others have reached the end of their useful life. I considered removing the pads from old jackets. Some are attached by a single linking thread, sometimes plaited to make it stronger. Others are sewn in firmly with a line of central stitching, making them harder to remove. I have tried removing those which were easy to extract, by cutting off the linking thread, or by removing the sponge filling. Once I tried snipping the thread. Easy. I gaily cut off one pad. I smugly tried on the jacket.  Disaster! Horror! The shoulder was now too wide. Not only did...

  In tropical Singapore, where temperatures are in the eighties fahrenheit or nineties all year, I swam every day for a short time and covered up completely walking to and from the pool to control sun exposure to decrease my chances of getting skin cancer. I had inserted zips in wrap-around towelling dressing gowns to stop gaps letting in sunlight. A tip for attaching beach towels around your chest. Many uses. Not just for the beach. For the bathroom at home. Or answering the door in a hotel. Or racing out if the fire alarm rings and you smell smoke. (Especially if you sleep nude in hot weather or for other reasons) I have a lot of experience of fastening towels to wear. Sarongs - Ready-made Fastening 1 Thick Towelling First, most obviously, wear a thin beach towel as a sarong. I have bought ready-made sarongs. 1 The early towelling ones were good, but cheap, thick towelling. Eventually looke towelling ends up shabby with loose threads hanging all over. I snipped them off.  2 ...

Shein has lots of Leopard print clothes. Here is my latest favourite. I have saved my favourites to my Angela Lansbury on Pinterest on the board Dress of the day.   I don't know how to save to blogger where I create and which you read on blogspot. I can't slide the Shein picture onto my desk top. Either they haven't made it possible or they are blocking it, I don't know which. In theory I could do a screen capture. Instead, I have taken a picture of my screen with my mobile phone which also shows the price, handy for myself, if I ever want to come back later to buy the item, and, compare items, plus of course, a useful price guide to my readers. For free postage for me there was a minimum spend. If you are a new customer you might be buying more items and reaching the minimum required for free postage, or be offered a discount for a new customer signing up to their mailings of items to buy. Useful Websites Caftan  https://www.shein.co.uk/SHEIN-Lady-Spring-And-Summer-Cas...

  Astonishing.  Take off your clothes and you can still stick to your latest favourite leopard skin pattern. To wear in the shower.  Or when applying or removing make-up.

 Now that I am alert to leopard skin patterns, I am seeing them everywhere. Here's a bag.  Leopard print bag. Photo by Angela Lansbury. The label  The label says, fit+ fresh. Pourdly designed by women for women. est 2005, providence ri. Explanation of my outfit and post numbers A friend asked me the significance of my numbers on the posts. The reason is that early on somebody asked me, where did you get that blue dress? I had fewer than twenty posts, but I had at least three outfits mostly or partly blue. A word search produced several more. I realised that if I had all the posts numbered in sequence, I could identify the one my reader was asking about, or direct them back to the post so they could find the clothes shop website. Now that I have reached more than 500 posts, it is even more important to identify each post, especially if I have several posts about one subject, such as as leopard skin prints, cowboy shirts, santa outfits, and so on. Originally all the posts w...

  A necklace from Accessorize. Thirty pounds.  Sparkly Pink Necklace Sparkly necklace in pink with imitation pearls.  A gift from a new friend. I admired hers and she gave me one. If you look carefully at the necklace, you see it has a beach theme. Five point stars with elongated points are, in fact, starfish shape, some plane gilt (gold paint or shiny gold effect). Small and large elements are shell shapes in pink with gilt fanned lines.  The imitation pearls look like pearl which grow inside shellfish. These pearlies are in three sizes, some like pearls in cups, others like half pearls, dome shape. I then counted the shapes. thirteen starfish. The design is like a shallow v. Thirteen starfish, some plain gold colour, some pink sparkles, others with plain sparkles. Twenty one pearlies. Thirteen shell designs, a mixture of pink with gold lines, and covered with sparkles. This is much more complicated than anything you could make yourself by stringing beads. Even sold...

You can buy animal print spectacle frames to match your favourite outfits or to co-ordinate with brown or black clothes or hair.  Leopard or tortoiseshell spectacles? Whatever they are, they win lots of compliments. They have attractive curvy sides. The owner says, 'I get my free sight test on the NHS from one place, take my prescription, and choose my glasses from another place.' Tortoiseshell From Specsavers Specsavers have tortoiseshell glasses, brand Ravello, to buy in store not on line. Straight sides. They also offer a try it on virtually.  About ninety pounds. Prescription lenses. Scratch resistant surface. Case and cloth. Get tested in their premises. Leopard Patter From Vooglam Cheaper ones, leopard with distinctive circles and gaps between them, rather than tortoiseshell which to me looked brown with black splodges, about ten pounds or less (prices were jumping when I was online - if you sign up you get a reduction) from another company, Vooglam. At about ten pounds ...

  I searched online for leopard skin print and found a shirt from Temu. For men. I presume the cut is broader at the shoulders . Also I would expect with no bust darts, although a lot modern women's shirts have no bust darts.  The snazzy shirt costs under ten pounds.  With free shipping. But that is only on goods shipped from their warehouse.other sellers have a threshold or minimum spend. Anyway, now we know you can get leopard skin pattern for men. They say it is true to size. You can click on their how to measure diagram. This covers bust, waist, hips and height. The pattern is a choice of colours. Black and white goes with more accessories, as well as formal occasions. The alternative is  what they call yellow, which looks brown on my screen. Brown can look good if you have brown hair, brown shoes and socks, and a brown belt. Light in the Box website offers brown or grey, 18.90 pounds, GBP, Great Britain pounds, reduced from 21 pounds. Four pounds shipping for th...

Angela Lansbury wearing a leopard pattern coat from St Luke's in London, England. Photo by Trevor Sharot. I bought a budget price coat in loepard skin pattern. I was sure I had bought something in that pattern previously. I searched my own blog and discovered that I already own several outfits.  I also have, somewhere in my clutter of clothes, an assortment of amusing acessories. My low price items include a fun, leopard skin pattern cowgirl hat.   Low Price Leopard Skin Coat & Accessories See also post 527 of Angela Lansbury in a leopard skin pattern coat from St Luke's in London, England. Free Leopardskin Broken Umbrella The cheapest item was completely free, a rescued broken umbrella which somebody had abandoned under a bush after a shower of rain in Singapore. I could not bear to part with the pretty fabric. I cut it off.  I placed it over another plain colour umbrella. You could do this to rescue an umbrella and disguise or replace fabric which has lines of ...

  Leopard Skin Accessories To protect this stranger's pricacy I have edited the photos to show her clothes and accessories, but not her complete face. I was first attracted to the matching boots and bag. It wasn't until I came to edit her face that I noticed the spectacle frames were also leopard skin pattern. Low Price Leopard Skin Coat & Accessories See also post 527 of Angela Lansbury in a leopard skin pattern coat from St Luke's in London, England. I searched my own blog and discovered that I already own several outfits. See a summary in my next post. Please share with your family and friends links to my posts.

  I went onto the John Lewis website searching for leopard print or animal print items from the label KAFFE. I instantly found two long skirts, one at about fifty pounds. Another at sixty pounds. Plus an animal print belt for 28 pounds. 84 items with the KAFFE label. Also, an alternative or extra skirt or two in peoplard print in the sale. That's better priced if you are on a budget or love a bargain. You could choose the short skirt style animal print, or a brown animal print which I would call tiger, curved stripes, rather than ovals or leopard spots. Another option is the black and white animal print which co-ordinates well with your other black or white jackets, tops and accessories such as belts, bags, shoes and hats and tote bags, ear rings and jewellery. Finally, best of all a complete outfit, a sale price dress. I clicked on 'sale', and there it was. Animal print in brown/multi, at 79.20, reduced from 99 pounds, a 20% reduction. See also post 527 of Angela Lansbury ...

  The Effect of Contrasting & Co-ordinating Colours This was the dramatic and elegant co-ordinating and contrasting outfit I admired at an evening meeting training speakers. This oufit was worn by a member of a Toastmasters International club whilst giving a speech in her role as Area Director. It gives her the air of being in control, authoritative, yet warm and friendly.  Open Gestures Her open-ness is emphasized by her open hand gestures. The gestures are also eye-catching.  Co-ordinating Blouse & Skirt The black stripes of the blouse co-ordinate with the black skirt. Black and white stripes are jollier than plain black. Plain white might stain easily if cotton. I worry about whether black will run into the white when washing, especially with cotton, but black and white in synthetic fabrics is usually safe. The Warmth of Orange The orange jacket adds warmth and softens the black. The light white alleviates the dark black. The open neck adds a casual note to wha...