10 new (old) ways to jazz up your outfit with jewels

Here's some new inspiration from my "in search of charm" book.

I've used 5,6 and 7 before and a variation of 10 on a 40s style beret. How about you?

Shona x

Are you a Marilyn or an Audrey? Or are you a Cyd?

More of Mary Young's view of the world in the early 60s

from "in search of charm"

I think I'm a Marilyn. Which one are you? 

Shona x

8 ways to wear knitwear. Have you tried them all?

Mary Young thought of everything in her book "in search of charm".

Here are her variations on knitwear. Which one do you wear?

I'm a huge cardigan number 5 fan. The up and down V that it creates minimises my bust, lengthens my neckline and disguises any tummy bumps if it is worn over a darker top - perfect! 

Shona x

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Do you know how to take off a coat with elegance?

With Spring finally sprung here in the UK I've turned back to our "in search of charm" book for the advice of Mary Young for how to elegantly take our coats off. 

Did you even think there was a better way of doing it? 

Do you do it "like a schoolboy"?

I love the classiness of not having the arms "flying in all directions"

And look, we can improve on it even more with the advanced version!

I actually remember my mother practicing this advanced version when she got a fake fur jacket in the 80s. She did it with Liz Taylor style aplomb, and still does. 

Posh Mum.

Shona x

In Search of Charm - Stoles

I found this at a charity shop. Charity shops have great books, but you knew that already eh!?

Don't you love the front dust cover? It was published in 1962 - which you can just about tell from the fashionable hot pink and orange blots!

Mary Young was the principal of the "Mary Young Model School and Agency in London", so she knew a thing or two about looking stylish.

Here she talks about stoles, and how one could arrive at a party and then run through a "sequence" of positions until one finally leaves "with the stole drifting behind her as though it were being blown back by the breeze"  Ohh, so alluring! I would have to practice the transitions beforehand

I get on quite well with stoles, though not normally to sit through a whole party with. They are handy at this time of year as a scarf under your coat and then a wrap against a chill. I always take one to the movies as they seem to have the air conditioning turned to arctic. 

I was at a wedding once where the bridesmaids, under the advice of the stylish Mother-of-the-Bride (Italian, of course) used stole position number 6 to wonderful effect throughout the whole ceremony. Theirs were fine, thin silk scarves, and looked just amazing from all angles.

Do you have a favourite stole position? 

Shona x