Purple Phase: purple with blue, denim + grey

Hello!

Well, I was away, but now I'm back. So I thought I'd grab the chance to share the next purple-ish outfit.

I say it's the 'next' outfit in the series when actually ... it could be the last, because it's the last pre-photographed outfit I prepared for the series. I took all the photos for the outfit posts before the new term started in October and while I had enough time and daylight to get the shots.

But now: I'm at work 3 days and it gets dark at 3pm so things are a bit different ... in fact even my hair colour is different since I took these photos [far less red and much more like my natural colour] so it definitely feels like a long time ago now!

However, I do feel like I ought to make the effort between now and next week to dress-up smart to mark the end of the Purple Phase ... so this may not be the last you see of the purple-side of my wardrobe.  [I've been taking note of all the ideas you left for me about future non-purple outfit posts, thank you, so it certainly won't be the final outfit post altogether.]

Anyway ... here's today's purple palette which, if you live in the parts of the UK which have been hidden in mists this weekend, you may find familiarly grey and foggy in feel:

Do you ever forget that [the majority of] denim is blue? I know I do.

It's so ubiquitous, I wear it with so many other colours and it hardly ever dawns on me that I'm making a colour-combo with blue. 

• Think of your favourite outfit which involves blue denim in it somewhere ....
• Got it?
• Now, in your head, swap out those jeans / jacket etc for something exactly the same shape / style etc ... even the same shade of blue ...
• But now imagine it's NOT denim.

Doesn't that change the whole feel of the oufit for you? It does me, if only for the fact that I certainly don't have at least 6 pairs of blue trousers in my drawer. Why would you? But jeans? Jeans are different? You can never have too many jeans!

Now, I know this outfit doesn't involve a pair of jeans - it's a denim/chambray dress - but the principle's the same: denim goes with everything you might not think to wear with regular blue clothes ... and that includes purple tights:

I love the soft shades of aubergine-y? grape-ish? purple in these wooly tights. And, like so many of the shades we've looked at so far in the series, they're a far cry from the harsh 'purple' which turns so many people off. And, along with 'with grey' and 'with neutral shades ' I'm adding 'with blue denim' to my 'really easy-ways-to-wear-purple' tips!

That's not to say that I don't like non-denim blue with purple, as this bag proves:

And while none of the shades of blue, grey or purple in the whole outfit 'match' exactly ... that's not really essential, they blend together well enough for me:

And really, I'm never really worried about what 'matches'. Blue, purple, grey. Stripes, checks, geometric designs ...

They're all fair game in an outfit for me.

Apart from  'No wool', 'No tight elastic' and 'Must be able to breathe in it'  - I have no great overarching rules when buying - and wearing - clothes.

Dress: H&M ¦¦ Cardigan: H&M ¦¦ Boots: Ugg ¦¦ Bag: Matalan

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In other news:

•  There are only 9 days left of my Purple Phase, so if you've wanted to join in and blog your won projects, you might want to do that soon. [But I'll still pin your post to the Pinterest board afterwards if you let me know].
• The impending end of November also means it's nearly time for another 'My Month in Numbers' round-up. So if you've been planning to join in - consider this your 9-day warning!
• Also, due to how often I get asked where I start with my Month in Numbers posts, I'm planning a kind of 'how-to' on the subject, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested ... stay tuned.

And finally an unapologetic shop-plug:

• Another of my custom-made Plundered Pages paper packs has been well-received this weekend, so if you'd like to give one as a gift then just get in touch and I can put together a personalised pack tailored to match your friend and their specific interests [whatever they may be!]
• Or you could even persuade a gift-giver to get in touch with me to put a pack together for you! Either way, I'm very happy to compile one-of-a-kind packs! [All excuses to sit and flick through old-books in the name of 'research' are fine by me!]

See you soon.

Julie :-)