Outrageous Fortune Long Summer Jacket - Super For Striding Across A Stage, Outfit 568

 

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
Label Outrageous Fortune.  100% polyester.  Cool wash. 

Bought for £1 from St Luke's in Hatch End.
Outrageous Clothes brand is known for being colourful and affordable. No buttons or ribbons, just a big splash of attention-getting colour, tropical prints. Just what I needed on a summer day, and a summer evening. Seasonal pattern. Bright flower colours. Light to wear, not constricting. Loose cut around the arms. Synthetic so won't stain.

I needed to wear plain colour underneath. I wanted something to brighten up the all black outfit i had worn around the house all day. 

I was going to be 'on stage' at a Toastmasters International meeting, of the Harrovian speakers club. If I had been standing behind a lecturn fixed to the floor, a tight outfit would have been suitable. However, I was in a room set up with wide rows. Instead of the chairs arranged far down the room.  

I was evaluting table topics, (impromptu two minute answers to questions which were originally topics written on cards picked off a table). I had to be cheerful and alert to evaluate five speakers, saying something positive about each one before finishing with a suggestion for improvement, and a final, happy, encouraging exclamation. I needed to stride across the speaking area, and march left and right, gesture enthusiastically with my arms, without have a pull of tight clothes across my shoulders. Flowing clothes, flapping about, with wavy hems or edges, encourage flamboyant gestures.

I was voted best evaluator, hence the ribbon I am holding. After the meeting I received two compliments on my colourful outfit, one from a member of the audience, and another from a young lady who started talking to me at the bus station.

Duster Coat Style
This light jacket, duster coat style, was perfect. The wavy edge was just right. A duster coat is a light weight jacket to throw over an outfit to keep off the dust when travelling. (In the old days of horse and cart.) The term duster coat, the style of duster coat, has come back.

Company History Revealed
I've had trouble tracking them down. My google search throws up a New Zealand TV series of the same name. Then Asos, but when I click the link I get the message, that brand is out of stock. I found a couple of individual second hand, or pre-loved items on ebay and other websites.
AI tells me the brand is owned by the Little Mistress group, which was started by Mark Ashton. 

Secrets Revealed By Companies House
Finally I was directed back to Companies House, a gov.uk website, which informs me that Outrageous Fortune Design Ltd was incorporated in 2002 and dissolved in 2021. Yet again, I found that if neither Google nor Wiki give you an instant answer, the place to look is companies house. Their website can tell you where a new company is based, and also reveal the dates of arrival and departure of companies which are vintage, deceased, gone, although their lovely clothes live on.

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