COLOUR CO-ORDINATING

Anne C here.  I love to co-ordinate outfits with bright and colourful accessories, and the best thing is they're relatively cheap so it doesn't cost so much to turn a simple or plain outfit into something a little more special.

Of course I do have accessories in just about every colour and shade of the rainbow, but today I have just pulled together a few items in my favourite palettes to illustrate how I would add splashes of colour to lift plain dark colours.

The purple accessories would probably be worn with a black evening dress - I do have a purple cocktail dress but you would be surprised how many shades of purple there are, and having too many matchy-matchy items just wouldn't work!  I have been collecting scarves, jewellery and handbags for years and have hundreds of items, but unfortunately most are no longer in the shops.

I also like quite a bit of bling - especially for evenings - and they can certainly lift a plain black evening dress.

I also love bright green, so am wearing this with black skinny jeans and my trusty Max Mara wool coat.  I picked up the green necklace during a visit to Australia (I sound well travelled don't I??) while the cardigan and scarf are from M&S.  I love the green gloves which are an unusual colour and which I don't think I have ever seen anything similar since.

The pink items (my favourite colour) are more for daytime.  The bag I bought in France some years ago and the earrings came from Vietnam - I love to shop wherever I go and nearly always buy jewellery.  Actually the pink pearls are a recent purchase from my friend Liz at Simply Devine in Tadcaster - as are the gorgeous soft purple leather gloves in the purple accessories picture.