Circus Striped Blouse

It's nearing the end of a cold and wet Winter in my hometown. Every Winter I find I get an abundance of strangers approaching me in the street to comment on how nice it is to see someone dressed in bright colours.  I don't know why so many women play it safe (especially in the colder months) and stick with a colour palette consisting of black and shades of grey. Any other colours represented anywhere are still heavily in the "Winter Shades" which basically means dark and/or muted. (think forest greens, burgundy, dark purples....) Why oh why don't more people feel comfortable in bright colours in Winter? I don;t know if it is just me- but I always feel so much better injecting some artifical sunshine into my day through my outfit. Enough people comment on it on a regular basis for me to think that just maybe I am injecting some into their days too.

But as usual- I digress.

As far as brightly coloured outfits go, this one isn't as out there as others that get walked out of the Wardroom. In the scheme of it this one is almost even bordering on tame. It is a nice mix of a "grown up office worker" ensemble while still injecting a healthy dose of my own personality into it. Not always an easy line to toe I can assure you. The office I work in sure has seen some interesting attempts in the past! (Thankfully they are used to me and my intepretation of corporate wear...)

Red is one of my favourite colours to highlight an outfit with. (Also good for those not used to injecting colour into their winter wardrobes as red is a great off set with blacks and greys..) Red shoes, red belt and red hair flower. I have an instant outfit whatever I choose to wear in between these key peices. It's so easy it actually makes me feel a little lazy that I'm not putting in more effort...

This outfit is a variation on that basic template. Red is an easy match with the bold colours in this striped shirt and I am especially fond of the (equally bright) royal blue and shades of purples. Its a nice way to be bright and still stay within a Wintery palette.

This shirt has a bit of a sheen to it. Not quite a satin- it is definitly part of an early 80's polyester at least. As if this blouse didn't already have enough going for it- throw in some puffed sleeves and we are away!

You may notice I have titled this post "Circus Striped Blouse". When it first arrived as a package sent to me at work (thanks again trademe!), I was keen to show it off. I showed a dear friend of mine and he started singing this tune whilst pretending to juggle. To this day I am still not entirely sure if he meant that I looked like a clown or the big top....