A Trip to the Orient

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Dress: Anthea Crawford silk/satin

Jacket: Vintage, Ipswich Antique Centre silk (from Hong Kong)

Heels: L&J suede platforms

Bag: Gift, Vera May patent

Ring: V&A Museum, London gold & diamante

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Posting pictures of what I wore to attend an important meeting a couple of weeks ago (more information as it comes to hand... if all goes according to plan) when the Autumn weather had just started to turn that little bit cooler in the mornings & late afternoons & it was finally time to "dig out" all those gorgeous coats & jackets from the back of the cupboard where they had been languishing for the entire long, long, long hot summer...

This stunning, vintage Opera Coat in an amazing shade of pink/purple (depending on the light source; either artificial or from the sun) was the perfect nexus for a sumptuous, memorable, Oriental-inspired outfit comprised of only 5 easy pieces. Sourced from my local Ipswich Antique Centre, the coat is made from lighter-weight Hong Kong silk & is covered in a tiny pattern of lamps, teapots, deer, flowers, dragons & leaves, as evidenced below:

As avid readers of this blog will already know, I regard pattern-mixing as my forte, so the dress underneath the coat was unlikely to be a block colour; in fact, it was a draped, silk/satin paragon from Anthea Crawford, redolent with large, photo-realistic Chinese orchids in gradient shades of pink, purple & silver. Here are a few pictures of the dress without the jacket:

The relatively straight, midi-length cut of the dress - disregarding the amazing under-bust pleating that visually whittles the waist when the dress is worn on its own - & asymmetrical neckline work well with the 1960s cut & Peter Pan collar detail of the Opera Coat while the difference in pattern-sizes (one large, one small) & similarities of hue create a sense of cohesion-through-eclecticism that is pleasing to the eye. 

Black suede platforms from L&J were used to "anchor" the otherwise busy look but instead of a matching black handbag, a chartreuse patent option from Vera May was carried to "draw in" the touch of green in the coat's print & really "pop" against the myriad of pink & purple shades.

Only one piece of jewellery was required: a chunky, gold & diamante cocktail ring in the shape of an oversized bow that was originally a souvenir from the V&A Museum in London, finishing off a rather whimsical look. 

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