Jeans and a blazer (and a stripe top…)

Jeans and a blazer are my ultimate go-to when it comes to casual dressing: here’s how I wore them on a recent day out…

I know British people get teased a lot for our obsession with the weather, but there’s a really good reason for it: when the weather is as changeable as ours is, it makes it really hard to plan anything, whether it be outfit or activity.

I mean, seriously: I like to think my closet contains an outfit for pretty much any occasion, give or take. Like, if I was asked to officiate someone’s wedding at short notice, say, (Which, OK, hasn’t happened YET, but you never know, do you?) I’d be ON IT. Ask me to select something to wear for a day out in the good ol’ British summertime (or springtime, even), however, and that particular dilemma might roll on for days. Will it be sunny or rainy? What if it’s sunny AND rainy? What if you need your snow clothes in the morning, but sunscreen in the afternoon? (It can happen, people. It HAS happened.) WHAT IF?

Given that a day spent (mostly) outdoors is one of the hardest things for me to dress for, then, when Fat Face asked me to do exactly that a couple of weeks ago, I assumed I’d be spending the day in question freezing my ass off in the name of fashion. When I woke up to brilliant blue skies on the morning of our planned outing to the New Lanark World Heritage Site, then, I still wasn’t going to risk the assumption that it would actually be warm out, so I layered up in two different tops, heavy jeans and a blazer:

In fairness, my cynicism here wasn’t without reason: we’ve visited New Lanark a few times now, and every time we’ve been there, no matter what the time of year, it’s been absolutely freezing. See that white top you can see peeking out from underneath the stripe one in the photo above? That’s the Natasha boat neck t-shirt… which I’m wearing underneath the Breton stripe t-shirt (Which I got in blue and grey, rather than blue and white, because that’s about as adventurous as it gets for me these days…), for extra warmth. Now, the Breton is not a thin top: it’s actually a really thick, stretchy fabric, so it’s reasonably warm on its own, but I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance, hence the addition of ‘Natasha’. I actually have quite a few of these white, long-sleeve t-shirts now: they rarely seem to make it into outfit photos, but that’s because they’re generally being worn under something else, thanks to the thin fabric, which adds another layer of insulation, without adding any additional bulk to the outfit.

As it happened, though, I needn’t have worried about the weather, because, as it turned out, it was so gorgeous on the day these were taken that, within minutes of reaching our destination, my trusty ol’ jeans and a blazer outfit had turned into one of my OTHER favourite looks: the classic jeans-and-a-stripey-top. Because either of those looks is just fine by me, really.

In addition to the two tops, I’m also wearing Fat Face’s Super-Skinny jeans, which are, not – thankfully – as super-skinny as the name suggests, but which were really comfortable for a day spent mostly walking around enjoying the sunshine. This is a really typical weekend look for me (and by “weekend” I mean, “all the time,”obviously…), and one of those outfit formulas I wear all the time, because I always feel comfortable, and at least a little bit pulled together in it. The biggest challenge, of course, is adapting the look to fit our beautifully unpredictable weather, but, thanks to my friends at Fat Face, I think I’ve got that sorted now too – so here’s to a spring/summer filled with days out, whatever the weather: and here’s to all of the jeans and a blazer looks I’m no doubt going to wear for them!

[This post was sponsored by Fat Face]

How to wear jeans and a blazer:

Fat Face Breton stripe t-shirt*

Fat Face Natasha boat neck t-shirt*

Fat Face skinny jeans*

H&M blazer

Zara ballet flats

Phillip Lim Pashli satchel*