Dress Of The Day with Angela

  Peeling sandals surface. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.  Cushion Walk Collapse The surface started peeling off my sandals. Like paint peeling off woodwork. Horror. Disappointment. I can't wear that. It looks shabby. It annoys me. I am worried that the rest of the shoe will disintegrate. My husband is likely to grab them and throw them in the bin. But they are cofortable. Handy for travelling. What should I do ? Throw them away - no. How could I rescue them? I held them in my hands, wondering whether I  could separate the sole. As I held them, more 'paint' peeled off.  I scratched off some more. The white surface underneath was intact, not disintegrating,  nor scratched nor stained.  I continued. I didn't want to damage my fingernails. I tried rubbing with my finger tips. New Colour of Rescued Shoes Eventually I had a new colour of sandals. The sandals were originally dark pink and grey. (American spelling gray.)    Photo by Angela Lan...

 Marks & Spencer Reminder The name Marks & Spencer consists of the surnames of the two founders. The company was founded way back in 1884 in Leeds in the North of England. Where exactly? In Leeds. Is that the Midlands or the north. It's the north. Leeds is one of ten cities called the Northern Powerhouse.  Michael Marks The co-founders were Jewish Michael Marks and Christian Thomas Spencer. Wikipedia states that Michael was a Jewish Polish imigrant.  Michael Marks. Photo from Wikipedia. Thomas Spencer Wikipedia doesn't say that Thomas was Christian but that' is obvius from the cross on his gravestone and the fact that his widow was active in the local church. The St Michael brand name was founded by Michael's son Simon, about twenty years after Michael's death, a name Simon chose in honour of his father. That early co-operation and close contact between Christians and Jews explains two things which had always puzzled me, why Jewish Marks had used the word sa...

 Tesco Top Details Size UK 12. The label says that the label itself (not the hat) is made from recycled bottles! Marks Hat Details Marks & Spencer. Autograph.  Made in China. The label warns, don't hand wash, don't dry clean, don't tumble dry and don't iron.  The technical term for a hat like this, ifyou want to ask for one in a shop or search online, is a fasinator. It consits of a headband with elaborate decoration on top. It does not hide the hair, but adds height to the wearer, and completes a co-ordinated look if in a colour which matches or co-ordinates with clothes. I remember thiking it cost a lot of money compared with a full size hat, more money for less fabric.  However, it is well made, does nto fall apart. And it adds interest to an outfit. I have worn it many times. Useful Websites Marks & Spencer Tesco

  Yellow adds a pop of colour to a summer outfit. Especially if you have bonde, white or streaky hair. The Light Yellow Colour Top I love the light, bright colour. It really would go well with green Small Size Top - Solutions The yellow top seemed too small. Tight on the bust and body. Tight on the upper arms. However, I put it on. I have managed to wear it all day. I wondered whether wearing it five minutes every day would gradually stretch it.  Cotton-Elastane Fabric The fabric is 96% cotton but only 4% elastane. Amazing that such a small amount of elastane makes such a lot of stretch.  What else? wash at 40 degrees. Iron on setting one, which is cool. No bleach, no dry cleaning, no tumble drying. I don't even need to decipher which symbol is which, They are all crossed out. Casual Summer Style When I bought it, the sleeves were folded up to make a wide cuff. I folded the cuffs down to make  slightly longer sleeves. I thought that would look better, less casual. Th...

  Angela selfie. Orange adds coordinating colour under a multicolour long thin summer jacket..  Orange top. Angela selfie. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Contrasting bright orange. Showing the fun frills on the armhole edges. Decorative Armholes How you can turn a plain tank top into a statement item of clothing. Frills around the armhole. Or add pearls in a short string at the waist. Or rick rack ribbon on the armhole and hem like on my dress in a recent previous post. Why I Love St Luke's I bought the orange top for one pound sterling from St Luke's. I churned the tangle of items in the leftovers rummage box in the shop.  I chose this top because of the vivid colour. I can satisfy my craving for something new, wtihout spending ridiculous amounts of money. H & M I have described H&M in previous posts. Useful websites  H & M St Luke's  Please share links to your favourite posts.

    The Delightful Multi-coloured Dress The neck label says Made In Italy. The washing label in the lower side seam  says 100% viscose. Produced by Every Woman. No bleach. Cool iron.   Their website says Made In Italy (711 Items) The term 'Made in Italy' has been used since 1980. Laundry b has been an industry leader in styling our discerning ladies in one size, M ade in Italy  fashion since 2005.  Our experience has led us to only use the absolute best suppliers in Italy. Made in Italy clothing comes from a relatively small area in Northern Italy, not too far from the fashion hub of Florence however the Lagenlook style is worn by stylish, cool ladies of a certain age across most of Europe.  The Italian factories mainly work with beautiful, generously cut, breathable fabrics such as linens, silks, cottons, super soft knitwear & jersey.  Our ladies love to experiment with the 'Lagenlook' style of dressing (this is a german t...

 I bought ten large scarves from St Luke's in London for one pound each. Not all at once, over four trips, once a week for a month.  Strangely, my most successful purchase was a plain colour scarf. Red. I wore it as a tunic for a change. A cheerful change. It is light weight for summer. A bright  cheerful outfit. I added a red turban and chunky red bracelets. Plus red sandals, from Free-step. Red turbans come in lots of styles and prices. They add a finish to an outfit. Also cover hair roots or bald patches or haircuts you don't like today. A new look. My turban with a flower front came from Ebay. Shein has several styles, colours and prices.  Angela Lansbury wearing a large plain red scarf as a tunic dress. Selfie photo. Selfie photo taken by using phone's timer. Edited by Angela on a Samsung mobile phone using the lasso. Turning a scarf into a tunic was simple.  Neckline Cut To start, you merely need a horizontal cut across the centre horizontally, in the midd...

Angela Lansbury wearing a short summer dress with label Emery Rose from Shein. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Copyright. The Dress Details Made in China. It has a belt.  The fabric is slightly stretchy. Favourite Features The wide rickrack (zig-zag) braid enhances the skirt hem, the elbow length sleeves and the neckline. The neck has a wide shirt-style turn back collar. I tried folding it together at the neck but that wasn't nearly as good.  The brand is Emery Rose. This label is for buyers, usually older, who like conventional and covered up clothes, not the revealing, cutaway clothes exposing all sort of bits you are trying to hide. Shein and Emery Rose Emery Rose label clothes are abundant on Shein's website. Are they exclusive to Shein, and/or owned by Shein? It's complicated. Read the Wikipedia article. When you understand it, explain it to me. Two big surprises. The Shein HQ, presumably admin, is in Singapore. But their operttions are in China. I don't know if I have got...

  Angela Lansbury wearing long summer jacket by brand Outrageous Fortune. This outfit consists of a colourful, multi-colour duster coat from Outrageous Forune, a black five tier dress worn as a skirt with the wide rushed top hidden under the long black tunic top from Primark (described in my previous post) Black Socks - Plus Comfortable Sandals The sandals are brown with double close hook and loop fastening. I chose this style rather than heels because they are practical for running for a bus. I changed from light, summer colour socks into black socks to go with the clothes. Black sandals would have looked better. Contrasting colour socks and sandals show the colour of the sandals. I tried on two similarly styled long, loose jackets, both colourful, over the tee shirt and skirt, to make the plain colour black more eveningy and dressed up. The other jacket was a better cut and had cost me more, but this cheaper jacket had black in the pattern so it matched better. The Jacket Label L...

  My black background tunic, or long tee shirt, from Primark is size 2. The neck label also says Made in Bangladesh.  The pattern on the front says Botanical index. When you look carefully, under each flower is a number, not a name. Flower # 1 to Flower #10. The flower colours are red, orange, yellow. blue, with green stalks. Primark Times & Places I checked Primark opening times. Their store in Harrow was open until 7 pm on Monday June 16th 2025. Harrow is a huge interchange with buses at the bus station opposite the shopping mall going all over London and to Heathrow, and the railway station connecting to central London. Primark sells clothes, shoes, bags, underwear, shoe liners, all sorts of handy and cheap items. St Luke's St Luke's in Hatch End opened at 9.30 in the morning. Useful Websites https://www.primark.com/en-gb/c/women/nightwear-and-lingerie/lingerie-ranges/ https://www.stlukes-hospice.org/shops/? Please Bookmark so you can quickly return to this post and sha...

  Blue? I bought a one-piece outfit, with the label Shein. The pattern is a mixture of turqoise and blue, or green.  Green? I remember reading that one language, or maybe some languages, more than one, have only one word for blue and green. Which ones. I googled it and got an A1 answer. Vietnamese, Thai and Korean  have one word for green and blue. So do the Pashtun people of Afghanistan and N.W. Pakistan.  Japanese has a word for blue and green but the word for blue is often used for colors that English speakers would consider green such as traffic lights and unripe fruit.

Shein Choices Angela Lansbury wearing a wide trouser Shein outfit from St Luke's. Photo by Trevor Sharot. Shein Styles - Dresses  I have been buying dresses with matching jackets from Shein. These co-ordinated outfits look smart to go to dinner on holiday in a hotel or restaurant. Shein Styles - Trousers (USA Pants) Shein uses the words pants, wide leg pants, and causal pants. Shein and news (Daily Mail) and other social media sites (Facebook) show me Sheirn ads. They all bombard me with tempting ads for wide-legged one piece outfits or two piece outfits. And three piece Shein outfits with cardigan jacket, tank top, and wide leg trousers with elasticated waist, in multiple colours. I have saved some of these to Pinterest where I have a board called Dress of the Day, but it has so many pictures that I find it hard to locate anything. On this site you can search in blogspot within this blog for specific words. But I have so many posts, more than 500 that it helps to know the number o...

Angela Lansbury wearing a Bravissimo dress with pockets.  Photo  by Trevor Sharot. Copyright.   Why pockets? For two, or more, reasons. 1 Holding things handy. A hanky needed in a hurry, with an impending sneeze  At weddings and funerals.  To help others. Baby wipes, toddler wipes, kiddie wipes. Toilet paper and drying hands. Removing lipstick before trying on clothes. Or at the dinner table. 2 For Carrying Things Keys. Money. 3 For Hiding Your Hands Relaxing. Not working. Resting. Slouching. Not writing. Psychologically, feeling safe. Protecting your tummy. And genital region. Holding your arms down.Why? To relax your shoulders and straighten your neck. Fan your fingers. Why? So that your forearms relax. Hiding your hands. Concealing peeling nail polish. One of the above. All of the above. When wearing clothes on stage, public speakers need to keep their hands visible. Then it is easier to gesture. However,  pockets can be usef to conceal props. To ge...

  Angela Lansbury wearing a navy blue dress with white polkadots, label Bravissimo. Photo by Trevor Sharot.  Bravissimo is Italian for excellent, well done, the superlative of bravo. I bought this garment because of the polka dots. Later I noticed the label. Bravissimo. They sell online: bras, bikinis and one piece swimsuits. They even do virtual fitting with a lady at the other end checking your size. Bravissimo Photo by Angela Lansbury. Large comfy clothes come from Bravissimo. I associate them with large bras. When I searched for large size bras, up popped links to Bravissimo. Here's a dress, or long top. Metal Zips - For and Against The dress has a metal zip. Vertically down the front. At the front for easy of getting into the dress. Metal might be sturdier. However,  metal is stiff and harder to fold over the front when raising the waist if you are short or want to adjust the neckline or length of the skirt hem.  Style - Lining  The skirt has a thin black l...

Angela Lansbury wearing a multicolour shirt from Sainsbury's supermarket. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. I bought three outfits and several scarves and a ring for ten pounds. This was my best buy. The one item which looks really good, on its own, on the hanger, and on me. The colours are attetion getting. Warm. But not to bristh. Soft and soothing. The wow factor. The now factor. The take if off the hanger and put it on factor. The Shirt Style I consider thiis smart casual. Shirt style with a collar and cuffs. Gently curving hem.   The Colours A happy harmony. Brighter red whether the horizontal and vertical stripes of red cross each other. Three colours of plaid interwiven to make squares  And oblong. Jolly orange, yellow and a murkey grey blue.  The Cut The two front vertical seams curve, to accentuate your figure. Figure hugging. Fitted. Buttons Nine almost see through half brown shirt buttons with four holes are down the front. One more button on each cuff....

  Souvenir Socks from a Shop by Embarnkment station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. Socks were £12 for three pairs. Better value than similar prices for teeny Paddington Bear keyrings.  Souvenir Socks You can buy souvenir socks showing red phone boxes, red mail boxes (in the UK known as post boxes) guardsmen wearing the red top uniforms and big black hats and black trousers. Statement socks, souvenir socks, and amusing socks, stand out against a plain colour outfit head to toe, if you dress all in black, black jeans and a black tee-shirt and black jacket, or blue denim jeans with a white tee shirt and denim jacket. Where can you buy souvenir socks, tee-shirts and key rings? In London at shops near the busiest stations. For example, shops near the entrances to Baker Street, Embankment, Paddington, and Green Park (kiosks). If you want something cheaper, look in charity shops. In London I shop in St Luke's.  Online Party shops. Useful Websites https://www.lulu.com/shop...

Searching For Suits, Two Piece Outfits Online I had started looking for my favourite vintage, second hand, Anthony Sicary outfits. Anthony Sicari Outfits - Advantages  I like three pieces with a scarf, failing that two pieces. The batwing sleeve tops suit my yo-yoing weight, so that any size will fit, and look elegant. over my large arms and large thighs.  Not much came up in Anthony Sicary, even though it's all second-hand, in three pieces. I bought a top on its own.  Then I hunted online on ebay for skirt and matching jacket. Two piece outfit. Any brand. Up popped this. Anthony Mark Hankins. Anthony Mark Hankins clothing  Long skirt and matching long-sleeved loose open front top. Yes!  I saw the dark swirly peacock blue pattern, with jolly little squares of orange peeping through. I thought that looked attractive, attention-getting, original, enticing. The price was right. So I bought it. It arrived crumpled, scrunched up in the post in a plastic bag. I hesita...

What Can you Hand Wash? What am I hand washing and why? Red Silk Vest With my sleeveless salmon pink dress I wore a short sleeved red silk vest. The vest should prevent me getting perspiration on my dress and having to wash the dress immediately. I have worn the dress for less than half a day.  Hand And Body Wash As I work from home, I can wash out the silk vest, taking up less space to dry it in the bathroom than the whole dress. Being at home, I can have an all-over body wash every two or four hours, to save getting clothes smelly. My drawers and cupboards contain only washed clothes. Nothing, no dandruff or skin, nor perspiration, to attract moths and insects. Clothes which can get another half day of wear are hung up in the bathroom from the drying rack. I shake clothes out over the bath Maybe. I think, I'll only wash partly, just under the arms and around the neck, the cuffs and collar of a blouse, maybe the placket under the buttons.  Sometimes I don't want to wash the w...

  From ebay, so second hand. No label. Maybe Jacques Vert?  First Impression - Feel The Fabric The dress and matching scarf are silky. So far so good. The coat is polyester and feels slightly rough. I was a bit worried when I opened the delivery package and felt it. However, when you are dressed, the silk dress is next to your skin.  The dress is short sleeved. When you get hot, or sit down to dinner you might remove the coat. You could wear a silk vest or blouse with long sleeves under the coat to keep your arms against the smooth fabric.  I wear a long black waist slip as well, from Marks & Spencer. I have been wearing this for years.  The Washing Label The washing label says size 12. Hand wash at 30 degrees. Iron low, on one. 100% polyester. Made in UK. The Style The dress is straight, and sleeveless.  The length is ankle length on me and I am around five foot tall. Not so long that I trip over it. Just long enough to cover socks and not leave a gap ...