The Glamour of it All!

I recently posted some pictures from my trip to see my Nana in Blackpool. One of the (many) reasons I love visiting her is because of her style. She has been one of my biggest influences from the word go.

When my mother was little, my Nana owned a dress shop in  the small town of Rishton, Lancashire. She'd save up her money, put her best outfits on and get the train into Manchester to do the buying for the store. She was once asked to be a buyer for Kendall's (a huge department store at the time) and also once got hit on by the Busby Babes. Why? Because my Nana is the most glamorous person I've ever known, and probably one of the most glamorous that Lancashire has ever seen. She's a true Hepburnite and I'm so proud and so lucky to have her to look up to.

Unfortunately for my Nana, my Mum was a tomboy who loved wearing jodhpurs and didn't appreciate being dressed up in the shop's latest stock. Me, though, I'm a girlie girl and my Nana has always loved having me around to share her style with. I used to put all her diamonds and strings of pearls on and parade around her flat when I was little.

So while I visited this time I took a few pictures that I think show her influence on my style and the things she has shared with me. A lot of this is pastels, pearls, diamonds, silks and chinoiserie (above is a picture of the Fabergé egg on her mantelpiece) but most importantly, my Nana also taught me that true glamour is in the way you present yourself and that you don't need offshore accounts in Switzerland to do that well. I hope you enjoy her influence as much as I do!

The first pictures are of an outfit styled with my new favourite shorts, a close-up of my current favourite handbag (from Topshop), and my Nana's china that I've always loved so much. (All of her crockery is china, all of her cutlery is silver - I've never known such decadence. Most of my kitchenwear is plastic!)

The next few pictures are of the silk bedsheets she always puts on the guest bed for me, my current favourite skirt and it's gorgeous pastel watercolours. 

I have more pictures but I don't want to show too much of her home, I feel it would be an invasion of privacy. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it!

But if you look at the pictures of the inside of my wardrobe that I posted here, you'll see a great deal of her influence on me once more.

Who are your greatest style influences?

Ciao for now,

Charlotte