There’s something about festivals that brings out my inner hippy.  Much to my kids’ collective embarrassment, I can’t resist the stalls selling fairy wings and other fairy paraphernalia.  Tragically, I  wore a Little Mermaid-style purple wig plus fairy wings at my last festival (I blame it all on the Margaritas being served up from a vintage bus next to the Fairy Love stall).

This year, I’m planning to be a little more stylish.  From what I’ve seen – and I’ve seen some mind-boggling sights at festivals (don’t ask) –  it’s best to stick quite close to your usual style with added beads, hats and sunglasses unless you want to end up looking like Keith Richard on a bad day. And my kids will probably tag me on Facebook so my lovely illusion of channelling Stevie Nicks 1977-style will be cruelly shattered and mocked.

Starting off with the boring but necessary bits. The weather can be anything from heatwave to monsoon, often all in the space of one weekend, so here’s my “essentials” packing list – all stuffed in a bin bag to keep it dry and clean. I’m not going to be worrying about being crumpled:

Wellies Of course!
Thick socks Prevent blisters or damp feet.
Waterproof poncho Try style-passport.com. 
Suncream  Fingers crossed it’s needed.
Sunglasses, sun hat  rubyplum, natch.
Flipflops/sandals
Baby wipes  preferably biodegradable.
Loo paper (lots!)
Big scarf or pashmina  Sun protection if hot, snuggly if chilly.
Skinny jeans/leggings  Best for tucking into wellies.
Slip dress/camisole/vest top for layering.
Small bag with cross-the-body strap to carry round all your essentials/valuables/money with you at all times.

Now for the fun bit.  Ideally, the sun will shine and I will waft around in a Seventies-style maxi dress like the one above. But who cares if it rains? The dress is washable so a bit of mud won’t hurt.  Here’s my “festival glam” packing list:

Floaty shrugs (top of my list as they look festival-y, glam and boho, take up little space and can be thrown over anything – I’m taking two of my favourites from rubyplum)
Hair accessories (flowers, clips, pretty scarves – no hair washing all weekend, probably)
Long necklaces and beads and chunky rings (Lola Rose rings are my favourite)
Boho bag for a bit of instant hippy chick glam (my absolute favourite is my embroidered Kalaya bag)

If they’re not too embarrassing, I’ll post some of my Glastonbury photos on Facebook. Send me your festival pics (wearing ruby plum) and I’ll send a £50 gift voucher to anyone I feature on the website.

Happy festivalling!

Suzy x

p.s. If you need something delivered urgently for a festival, just drop me a line at suzy@rubyplum.co.uk or ring me on 077757 85293 and I’ll sort it for you.

www.rubyplum.co.uk

There are lots of gorgeous little cardis in the collection, some with delicious jewelled buttons, one with a fab large crocheted bow on the front. These look wonderful worn over a dress.

Talking of dresses, I’ve found some fabulous ones for this collection; ranging from relaxed Odette sundresses – a best seller back by popular demand – to wonderful special occasion dresses such as an exquisite oyster coloured silk dress I spotted at an ethical fashion show. I’m not always a fan of black (can be draining to the complexion) but one of my favourite dresses this season is a dramatic black dress with a sassy Dolce e Gabana vibe, stunning worn with Chie Mihara fuscia shoes.

Shrugs were extremely popular last season, with good reason – versatility – so I’ve got lots of amazing ones for you. Throw them on with jeans for a casually glamorous look or with a dress for a party/wedding.  Look out for the Papillon Shrug, my favourite; stunning shrugs made from vintage silk scarves; plus all-time Ruby Plum best seller, beautifully embroidered Phoenix jackets in two lengths, one with silky tassels.

I adore a lovely accessory to ring the changes. So, very excited about stylish Lola Rose scarves in five funky prints and gorgeous flower hair bands and clips for glamour and drama.

This is just a taster of what’s in store. Please pop by to browse the full collection. I’ll be adding new stuff  throughout the season – if you want to be kept up-dated about new stock or special offers, you may want to sign up for my email up-dates on the home page so you don’t miss out. Being a small – but perfectly formed – boutique, I only buy a few of each item which usually can’t be repeated so it’s always best to buy something when you see it (or give me a call, and I’ll put something by for you).

I’d love to hear what you think of the new collection. Please drop me a line at suzy@rubyplum.co.uk and you may end up on my Love Letters page!

Suzy x

www.rubyplum.co.uk

Ruby Plum has been checking out trends and timeless pieces in the fashion press, online and out and about to find out what looks and feels gorgeous for real women to wear.  Check out her top tips for up-dating your wardrobe this winter.

velvet shrug

Tip 1 No need to try too hard

Good news for slummy mummies everywhere! The art of blending dressing up with dressing down – which we Brits have down to a fine art – is still as popular as ever this season. The contrast between tough and feminine, smart and scruffy, glamorous and boho is what makes it look as if we haven’t tried too hard.  Here’s a quick reminder of how: throw on a gorgeous velvet shrug with jeans; wear a silk dress with biker boots and chunky cardi; slip on a glam fake fur coat over literally anything for instant glamour.

Tip 2 “Timeless” not “classic”

Wearing trenchcoats/slacks/loafers in sludge colours, along with a stiff hair-do, when you hit 40  used to be obligatory.  Happily for our generation, the rules for age-related dressing have been thrown up out of the window. Now it’s all about mixing timeless, grownup pieces with this season’s trends.  Skinny jeans, wrap dresses, long cardis and biker boots are a few timeless but funky items for our wardrobes – the new classics, if you like.  We can have have fun blowing a raspberry at the fashion police when we mix the odd Topshop purchase with something more classy.

studded boots

Tip 3 Let your shoes do the talking

It’s true more than ever that shoes give away your age as surely as carbon dating for trees.  The right ones can instantly take 10 years off.  Funky boots with a stud or two, glamorous shoes with a platform, or clogs transform a run-of-the-mill outfit.  Nothing up-dates your wardrobe faster than the right shoes or boots so it’s worth investing in some great ones each season.  With so much choice of flats and medium heels around, there’s no reason they can’t be comfortable.  Suffering for fashion is for teenagers and die-hard fashionistas.

Tip 4 Opaque tights are magic

Three cheers for the little darlings! This is where women of all ages happily agree simply because dark opaque tights are undeniably super-flattering, warm and somehow funky.  Despite what’s said in Vogue about the desirability of bare legs in winter (crazy!) and the threatened comeback of flesh coloured tights (grannyish!), any woman in her right mind adores opaques and some – no names mentioned – use them as an excuse to stop shaving their legs all winter. The very best opaques are by Falke who do a superb selection of sophisticated dark colours.

fake fur coat

Tip 5 Back away from black

Painful for some of us, yes, but necessary.  Sadly, black – as all colour consultants will tell you – drains colour from most faces and can look a little witchy. However, worn sparingly, it can be sexy, slimming and versatile.  It’s better to keep it away from the face (except for necklaces which seem to be fine) and try out delicious alternatives to black such as charcoal, blackcurrant, navy, chocolate and dark teal. Much more exciting and sophisticated.

Tip 6  Play with colour

Did your mum ever say “blue and green should never be seen; black and brown make you frown”?  Well, matchy, matchy has become a no-no.  Wearing everything in carefully matching colours is try-hard and ageing; picture Victoria Beckham in  fuscia dress, bag, shoes and lipstick, see what I mean?  However, not many of us want to look like Sue Pollard.  A necklace, brooch, scarf or hat in a vibrant colour is enough to create impact.  And combining unexpected colours in muted shades such as dark green, teal and aubergine looks lush and sophisticated; blue and green look fantastic together though my granny would be turning in her grave!

Tip 7 Go wild this winter

Fake fur and leopard print are everywhere this winter.  Unless you’re channelling Bet Lynch, the key to carrying them off with panache is to wear only one furry or leopard print item at a time.  A leopard print scarf or a furry coat is perfect for projecting a little glamour and drama without getting into mutton territory, and nice and warm on cold winter days.

Tip 8 Length matters

Shorter length, though not mini – yes, even you, Kate Moss – dresses and skirts tend to be more flattering, chic and youthful than long; sensibly, most of us would think very hard before wearing the currently fashionable mid-calf length full skirts currently being plugged in Vogue – they shout “frump” on anyone except skinny teenagers and Dita von Teese. For those of us who haven’t got twiglet legs (that’ll be 99.9% of the population), dark jeans worn with dresses and tunics is a funky, thigh- flattering look and cosy as well.

Tip 9  Silk, velvet and lace

You can’t beat a beautiful dress in a luxury fabric to perk up the festive season. Velvet and lace are having a major fashion moment right now for the simple reason that they project glamour, opulence and a dash of sexiness like nothing else.  Silk in rich colours never goes out of fashion.  However, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for; silk velvet feels and looks so much more luxurious than synthetic, and cheap lace can feel scratchy and sparks fly (not in a good way!).  A simple dress can look really special in silk, velvet or lace and there’s lots of choice this winter but splash out and get the best you can afford.  You’ll be glad of it year after year.

velvet dress

Tip 10 Look at the big picture

In the long, dark days of winter, drawing attention to what we like most about ourselves is a winning strategy. A stunning scarf or a statement necklace; siren red lipstick, a glamorous coat, a cheeky hat, a covetable bag or drop-dead gorgeous shoes.  All of these give an impression of glamour whatever else we’re wearing and that’s what everyone will notice as we sashay down the street.

Have fun getting dressed this winter!

www.rubyplum.co.uk

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about that old saying my dear granny used about anyone who dared to dress “young for her age” (of course, it was never a man).  “Ooh, she looks like mutton dressed as lamb” was said with pursed lips about any woman whose skirt was a little shorter/make-up more flamboyant/wore pink, frills or gingham over the age of, say, 25.

This has been passed down to my mum who often nudges me in the street and hisses “mutton!” whenever her eagle eye spots someone “not young” wearing something tight, shiny or leopard print.  Sometimes she only has to do “the nudge” and I’ll know what she means. This is quite a fun game until you’re on the sharp end of it.

Recently that little phrase was stalking me when browsing the rails in Topshop surrounded by hordes of teenagers.  There was that sneaking fear of looking like I was trying to be down with the kids, pathetically trying to recapture my lost youth .  Not that it put me off – I can always pretend I’m buying something for my daughters.

And for the record, there is no way on earth I would want to be a teenager again.

At an age when many girls are possibly at their most beautiful, every small spot or blemish feels like a hideous disfigurement.  Excess hair is policed in a fascist manner by both boys and girls.  And to be different in any way takes the courage of Joan of Arc.  I have every sympathy with teenage girls and am hugely relieved to be the right side of 30 (I mean the side furthest away from being a teenager).

Having said that, I do envy a young girl’s ability to wear absolutely anything and no one will EVER say the dreaded “mutton” words.  At the moment, the shops are stuffed to the gills with gorgeous little silky slips, net petticoats, lacy shrugs, sparkly hair clips and brooches, ballet pumps with chiffon bows and all manner of what I can only call “girly stuff” ….. and I love it!  I want to wear it and waft around in elegant, vintage-style glamour!  But my granny’s words haunt me.  And of course the remote possibility of being mistaken for Miss Havisham, more of which later.

And yet don’t they say “50 is the new 30″ (great news for all Baby Boomers) but does that apply to wearing tutus?  It’s sad, I know, but one of the best moments of my life was at a festival last summer when a man dressed as a fairy – don’t ask – insisted on dressing me in full fairy kit. Wings, tutu, wand, wig, the lot.  I felt FANTASTIC …. until I looked in the mirror and could literally hear my granny’s words and see those pursed lips.  The look on my teenage daughter’s face didn’t help much either.

Forget about tutus for a moment – I’ll try, I’ll try – is it OK for a woman over a certain age to wear a large flower in her hair?  I’ve decided “yes” and am experimenting with it right now.  I’ve also tried a sparkly bow hair clip.  No one in my family has dared to mention mutton, at least not within my earshot.  I like to think I’m channelling Billy Holiday in a small way. It feels goooood … looks OK too or so I like to think.

I’ve been inspired to include gorgeous silk tulle petticoats in my Spring/Summer 10 collection which I shall wear both under and over dresses (is that getting a little tutu-ish?).  Hell, I’m even going to wear them as shrugs too.  I shall probably call it the “Miss Havisham” collection though it may not catch on with anyone who’s actually read “Great Expectations”.  Anyway, I bet Miss Havisham was probably only about 50 and who’s to say she wasn’t REALLY happy sitting there in her wedding dress trying to hit on Pip in a cougar-ish sort of way … until she blew it all and tragically went up in a puff of smoke.

Have I answered my own question?  In a roundabout way, yes.  The “outmoded mutton concept”, as I shall now refer to it, is officially as dead as a dodo and we can wear what we damn well like whatever Heat magazine (or my mum) says.

Let’s be glad not to be teenagers, let’s celebrate our maturity and – don’t stop me now, I’m on a roll – womanly confidence.  It’s only a small – well, not that small – but glorious leap from “don’t-care-if-it’s-mutton-I-like-it” fashion to a disreputable old age (Third Age? Golden Age?).  That reminds me of a wonderful poem which I shall share a snippet of with you:

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals

Way to go, girls, way to go!

For Christmas days and nights out (or in), take a peek at our top party recommendations:

• black silk georgette wrap dress with luxe sequin embellishment
• marabou and ostrich feather collar with silk ties (channelling Sarah Jessica Parker)
• beaded/sequinned chiffon shrug

Have a great time!

Suzy, Ruby Plum’s designer, says

“I have designed the most flattering wrap dress and created it in beautiful fabrics and rich colours – silk jersey with big teal and green spots, organic bamboo jersey in midnight blue and damson and silk chiffon in petrol and aubergine.    Each dress has long, long ties that you can tie at the back or at the front which is very flattering to tummies.  The kimono-style sleeves on these dresses are my absolute favourites and go beautifully under my own design kimono sleeve long cardis which come in darkest teal and blackcurrant.  All in sizes 8-18.

There are some stunning pieces of jewellery in the Ruby Plum collection, many featuring sterling silver and gemstones such as amethyst and jade which go perfectly with the rich colours of the clothes.  I’m really excited about the glace leather handbags being made specially for us which are going to look the perfect combination of luxurious and understated.

I’m mad about accessories as they can  make a simple outfit look fabulous.  So there will be cashmere and silk pashminas, cashmere gloves and wristwarmers and some cosy but somehow sexy angora berets – all in colours to look great with the whole collection.  Oh, nearly forgot to mention the marabou feather collar with ribbon tie to glam up an outfit for the party season.

There will be new pieces added throughout the season.  A navy wrap coat in softest pure wool felt.  An absolutely stunning sequinned chiffon capelet to wear out in the evening.  I hope you’ll agree that they’re worth waiting for.”

If you would like to be told when Ruby Plum’s website goes live, please email me at suzy@rubyplum.co.uk.  I’d love to hear from you.