Something stripy for the weekend

I have very clear boundaries between the clothes I wear at weekends and the clothes I wear for work. I also have dog walking clothes, they are the clothes I wear in the house to cook in and then walk the dog, I even have a dog walking mac! These clothes are the style free flotsam and jetsam that I can muddy up and splash with food and grease to my hearts content. They are clothes that machine wash and blur the boundaries between dressing down and dressing gown.
The problem is and it was a big problem this summer is that they are not too good when showing a public face. I needed something to bridge the gap and so relegated these two stripy tops from the premier league of my work wardrobe to the second division. I must say very successfully they played too.
First up my grey stripe from COS It is very light and so good when the weather climbed into double figures for an hour this summer, I liked it with a very, very old faded pair of trousers. They were once a deep blue but are now nearly white. I do like this look though.

Second up this lose and floppy number from Ghost in York. Bought on impulse, I never felt it worked, I always felt under dressed and then I decided that the stripy combination of grey and black did not work. The fabric however is wonderfully heavy, so it drapes really well.

But then I paired it with jeans and suddenly it rocked. Well for me anyway. So I guess the message today bloguettes is...if at first it does not work team it up with jeans instead.

I have taught Kitty a sartorial lesson, if in doubt when undecided if something works when trying on clothes in the shop changing room, photograph yourself then walk away, and in the cold light of day decide. She did it last week and told me it worked to perfection. It is impossible to really see in such a small space and the camera gives you a much better idea of proportion and shape. Having completed over a year of doing just this with my daily outfits I now make far, far less expensive mistakes and dressing for work is now a breeze because if I have learnt one thing it is to pare down and refine. I have not made one mistake so far this term , and nor have I shopped for a month...YEAH