New Season, New Colour

New season, new colour , in this case not the chartreuse in my coat but rather the total change of hair colour. This didn’t quite go as planned and turned our rather too dark and way too crimson for my skin tone. I really wouldn’t have minded if it was my own doing but as my hair was a bit patchy after my experiment of seeing my natural hair colour I decided to have it coloured professionally. Now that was a mistake , not only did it cost a fortune and take forever , it turned out so different to the colour I had envisaged and what was shown to me. I have been doing my best to lighten the colour by doing the complete opposite to what is usually advised to retain colour- frequent washing with clarifying shampoo.

 

Lesson learnt, go back to doing my own colour not only is it way cheaper but at least I have no-one else to blame but myself. I am imagining me with long , self coloured orange locks as I age. After my little experiment of growing out any colour only to discover a dark steel grey I will colour for a good while longer yet.

One of my style icons is Valerie Von Sobel , who was on the cover of the second Advanced Style book.

Valerie has the most stunning shade of red hair and wears it long , mostly in a chignon , topped with an interesting hat or headpiece.

I have been reading a fascinating autobiography of another red head , Grace Coddington , of British and US Vogue fame. I found her tales of her early modelling years in London in the 60’s and 70’s really interesting as well as her stories of her early days with British Vogue and an insight into the creative process of fashion shoots for both magazines.

Now back to the other colour , the chartreuse coat , an all time favourite from a couple of Summers ago.I had been waiting for the weather to cool a little so I could don this again. I wore the coat over my old faithful Moyuru pants paired with a Scotch and Soda pussy bow blouse . Accessories were a pair of patent leopard print patent cuban heel sandals, Preen cat eye sunnies and a black leather Obi belt.

I would like to finish this post with an extract from Advanced Style and the words of Valerie Von Sobel.

” Then there is also my perpetual love for the ceremony of dressing.If you don’t make your life a bit grandiose who will do it for you? I always had the pluck to dress as I wished , and now I do with more abandonment than ever.I dare! But disregarding convention is accidental.Fashion has a transformative power , its self expression and if it’s genuine it totally intertwines with other creative manifestations.Life is a costume party and getting dressed for it is simply grand.Some think it’s frivolous, but I don’t.It matters-and to me it always has.It speaks of you before you speak.”

I am sure those sentiments resonate with so many of us .

Joining Patti for Visible Monday, Jess for Turning Heads Tuesday, Mica for Weekday Style, Nancy for Fancy Friday Link Up.