The lightbulb moment

That fashion breakthrough.  The realisation that sometimes you spend way too long trying to shove a square peg into a round hole.  For me, that is the thorny subject of blouses and tops.  Most of them.  Those that you keep buying and keep trying to love and never wear.

It's when you realise that it's not in fact a blouse that you actually like, it's a shirt.  To be fair, it's not a shirt as we know it, it's a silk shirt.  Doesn't have to be real silk - there are some fantastic mad made fabrics out there.  Essentially we're talking along the lines of a drapey shirt.  

Oh and we're talking plain.  No frills, no print.  I love the look of a stiff white shirt but I can't stand to wear one.  I find them ridiculously uncomfortable.  Not to mention my slovenly nature means that it would sit in the laundry room after one wash as I hate ironing.  I would say "more than anything" but I also absolutely hate making the beds - I'm not sure which is worse.  Suffice to say that even when I get round to ironing anything, I'm embarrassingly bad at it. 

Plus I just look a mess wearing them.  And this is a major problem I have with non silk shirts and bouffant blouses.  I'm tall.  They come untucked, they're not quite long enough on the body or the arms, they just don't work. 

I find a silky shirt more flattering.  Perfect untucked over skinnies but as they're so lightweight, they can easily be tucked into trousers, jeans, skirts and dungarees without any excessive bunching round the midriff.  I have enough natural padding there without inches of stuffed in cotton, thank you very much.  The thinner and drapier the fabric the better for sure.  They're also ideal for layering under jumpers.  Just fling on a jacket.  The more I type, the more I wonder how on earth this didn't occur to me sooner. 

These are a no brainer and are so super versatile, we should all be given carte blanche to buy them by the bucket load.  Oh and did I mention they're a veritable classic as well.  And one last thing - I can hear the murmurs of laundry woes... silk = washing machine in my book.  I have never had an issue with washing, allegedly dry clean only, silk blouses. 

Here are my picks of what's out there at the minute.

First up and top of my wishlist, from new season at Me+Em.

Side Grosgrain Silk Tunic £199

Another tunic shirt style.

Casual Shirt in Ivory from Jaeger was £99 now £44


Shirt style in flowy fabric at Mango £19.99  This doesn't look like the most interesting item in the world but I wouldn't be wearing it over a pair of random somethings like she's got on.  She doesn't look impressed, does she?   Pair of jeans, blazer, layers of necklaces and any footwear that takes your fancy would make this the ideal every day fling on outfit for Spring.


Another version in navy from Mango, this time with a pocket £19.99


Classic Silk Shirt from & Other Stories £65


More silk at hush and I love the pocket detail on these. 

Cecilia Silk Shirt from hush £99



And whilst the cream is lovely, it's the black that I've got my eye on, again £99.


Oversized now - again these are perfect for skinnies into the Spring.  Or cropped flares.  Love a lot. 

More black.  I'm going to go so far as to say I don't think you can have too many black silk shirts.

Oversized Silk Shirt in Black £69  Being tall, oversized is a god send.  This would probably be normal size on me, but at least I wouldn't look like Hagrid wearing Hobbit clothing (common occurrence - not that I go out like that, but so so many things I try on....).



Or in the light beige again £69



Similar at Gestuz.

Gestuz Silk Vega Blouse £109 in pink


And then I have another silk shirt that isn't white but it's black and white.  I know I said plain but it's monochrome.  It's also an Equipment shirt that with the discount ends up costing pretty much the same price as a blouse from Zara.  Rude not to include it.

Adalyn printed washed silk shirt from Equipment was £235 now £98.70 BUT there's an extra 40% off at checkout.




And since we had one spotty shirt in, I thought I had to include these.  The monochrome one because it's monochrome (duh) but the blue and red one just because it's epic and looks fabulous with denim.

The Silk Shirt from Boden £98




And then of course we have my favourite.  My "go to" staple, the blouse I can't live without and wear all the time - the pussy bow blouse.  This works with jeans, with skirts, with wide leg trousers, with dungarees - I would happily wear this every day if I could. 

Lauren Silk Blouse and Bow Set from Winser London £199, in the black.


In the cream...   This is how I wear it although the bow tie is also removable so you can wear as just an open necked, collarless blouse.  Perfection.  AND definitely machine washable.



And in the navy.  LOVE LOVE LOVE.




In the sale at Matches - with an extra 20% off now.

Goloso Blouse from Sportmax was £338 now £202 pre extra 20% off



Noel Pussy Bow Shirt from La Redoute £59

Yuki Pussy Bow Blouse by Only from La Redoute £22


Iris & Ink Pussy Bow £105


So that's me sorted.  And that's me not buying any more printed, lace or frilly blouses.  There's no point.  They're just not me.  I am now on a plain, silk blouse mission.  As I know they work.  Now all I have to do is hang out for the warmer weather so I can wear them on repeat.   Are you a print or plain girl?  Or can you do both?

In the meantime though, it's still cashmere season and this is what I ended up wearing today.  After doing Pilates and a super long dog walk.  We didn't make it to Bluewater during the day so we went after school and took the boys for supper.  Funnily enough the travel agents wasn't on the agenda with two hyper kids!  Tomorrow maybe... 



Black cashmere roll neck jumper dress - hush
Black coated skinny jeans - New Look
Faux fur leopard coat - M&S
Susanna boots - Chloe
Black small Tools bag - Balenciaga 

I will admit to having jumper fatigue.  Tomorrow I am cracking out a silky shirt.  I'm wearing dungas, I'm putting on a blazer.  I'm going in for Spring...  (she says until she gets outside and it's freezing.  Maybe I'll try layering with a silky blouse...)