One of our most popular features for this weekly blog has been our regular Street Style Fashion feature in which we send a photographer out and about to spot and snap as many fabulously stylish older women that she can find.
Obviously in a pandemic this can no longer happen, so we decided to host a competition on our Super Trooper’s Facebook page to encourage our 3000 members to raid their wardrobes and take a photograph of themselves in an outfit in one of three categories - Colour, Smart Casual and/or Tea at the Ritz.
I vaguely thought that most would just choose their favourite category and post a single entry so it was a fantastic surprise when nearly everyone went to the considerable trouble of choosing three different ‘looks’ and entering them all in the competition.
In the end, we had over 300 entries and the very best part was all the delightful interactions between the Super Troopers who encouraged and supported each other to have a go and join in the party. Many said that they had decided to ‘pluck up the courage’ to enter as they hate having their photograph taken, were hopeless at ‘selfies’ or ‘hadn’t got the right clothes’ - however, that notwithstanding, we had many stunning outfits in some glorious photos - as you will see below.
Happily for me I didn’t have to whittle the 300 plus photos down to the 36 that we decided we would feature here - 12 in each category. That task fell to Jospehine Lalwan of fashion blog ‘Chic at any Age’. Josephine started her blog over 10 years ago with the intention of inspiring mature women to continue to enjoy fashion and make-up. In my view that made her the perfect person to tackle the immense task of deciding on the finalists for Colour, Casual and the Ritz and then of picking the overall winner in each category.
This is what Josephine had to say about all the photographs we sent to her:
“There were many beautiful submissions to choose from in all the categories making the decisions difficult. I felt that the final twelve outfits in each category incorporated a sense of style, fun, versatility and flattering use of colour and shape in their outfits.”
The Best Ritz Outfit - Patricia Healy
This outfit captures a sense of style with a fresh and contemporary twist. The cut, colour, fit and accessories come together to give a striking and polished look. A very appropriate outfit for tea at the Ritz.
The Best Colour Outfit - Jenny Bean
This outfit combines a playful and fun use of colour to create a lovely outfit. The beautiful Cobalt blue gives Jenny a gorgeous glow and enhances her colouring beautifully, whilst the cut and style complements her silhouette.
The Best Casual Outfit - Marieke Derrington
Marieke's outfit incorporates practical style and versatility to create this chic and casual look. The use of bold accessories and pop of colour elevates her look and makes it both timeless and stylish.
Below you can see a list of winners and runners up in each category:
WINNER - AT THE RITZ: Patricia Healy (top left)
Runners-up: Carole Barbier, Meg Warren, Caroline Mason, Jackie Edwards, Jill Burton, Joan Packard, Sue Black, Elaine Tyrie, Margaret Louyot-Smith, Brenda Evan, Jan Noble
WINNER - COLOURFUL: Jenny Bean (top left)
Runners-up: Joan Packard, Marjorie Turner, Marion Mowie, Tricia Taylor, Claire Martin, Eileen Joy, Claire Krikova, Janette Maddrell, Maria Mossop, Marilyn cameron, Mary Knight.
WINNER - CASUAL:Marieke Derrington (top left)
Runners-up: Vicky Grindle, Avril Jane, Caroline Hutchungs, Jill Lukin, Anna De Foe, Caroline Hill, Catherine Kidd, Jane Panton, Sue Cant, Denise Bynoe, Alison Shortread.
I do hope that you love the inspirational choices that Josephine has made and enjoy this very special Pandemic Street Style Fashion. I personally had a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend looking at all the delightful photographs which were submitted hour by hour. I think that it’s fair to say that the Super Troopers are a very stylish group of fabulous women!
Wonderful to see so many gorgeous women. They're choice of outfits are inspirational. Lovely to see their smiles, it's obvious they totally loved the dressing up, what a nice change to have a reason for wearing something different. I think that's what I'm missing most, apart from seeing family and friends.
Hi Tina - as you are so tall I definitely think that you could get away with leggings underneath a dress. I'd probably suggest sticking to calf length rather than ankle length. Having 'stop points' for the ye makes you look shorter - so a stop point at the hem, another at the leggings and another at the shoes would help - but be best avoided by someone shorter! Tx
I think the ladies all look fabulous and very stylish...so I wondered if any of them could advise me ..
I am 5' 10 tall ...I have a short body and long legs, due to a foot injury I always have to wear flat shoes ...Please could you tell me what the rule is these days on wearing leggings under a knee length or longer dress with flats or what could I wear as an alternative and what length should I wear them is it full length or 7/8th Any ideas or advice would be gratefully received , I really enjoy watching all your videos .. you do a great job
Kind Regards
Tina
Hello everyone,
I really enjoyed looking and admiring all your wonderful and stylish outfits!
Well done to everyone taking part you're all winners :D!!
Wonderful idea Tricia, thank you so much for this and all your fantastic blogs
during this awful time!
Thoroughly enjoyed seeing these very stylish ladies. For some reason I was unable to increase the size of the pictures as I would have liked a closer look.
You are amazing Tricia , as you come up with so many interesting ideas.
Thank you
So very entertaining and inspirational! Congratulations to the winners! Everyone looked like they put some thought in it and had fun. So sorry I let time slip away and didn’t enter, but the joy I get from seeing all these ladies with smiles made me a winner too!
Congrats to all you stylish and brave ladies who won, placed or entered. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed seeing the posted entries and the incredible encouragement from this group for everyone who entered. What will Tricia think of next?
Congratulations to the winners! You are all amazing women, looking fantastic! I,too, enjoyed looking at the outfits; the choices were delightful. I never want to,see a pandemic again, but would truly enjoy another contest in the future.
Huge apologies Catherine - I was responsible for the mistake. Every time I downloaded a photo I put the name at the top and had to do more than 300 - and it took me hours on Sunday and Monday last week. Once the photo was downloaded from FB there was no way to recheck all the names. So please forgive me and you did look fabulous! Tx
Congratulations to the worthy winners & runners up. It was great to see everyone’s different outfits, certainly inspiring. We all had such fun, it certainly has made me feel I should add more colour & buy clothes that I would enjoy wearing, not to always worry what everyone one else is wearing & whether I will fit in or not. Thank you ladies & Tricia xx
Congratulations to all these wonderful ladies who took part in this competition.
Great fun, terrific way to stay to stay connected and distracted from the current situation.
Stay safe everyone
Oh, by the way I have decided to reduce my weight as I am totally inspired seeing all the wonderful colours and styles, so thank you
Look fabulous Forever xo
Really enjoyed this competition- thank you Tricia. I was a runner up in the ‘Going to the Ritz’ category but my name is Catherine Mason, not Caroline Mason!
Congratulations to winners and everyone who participated im trying go see the detail of each picture on my phone,but cant get them to enlarge. Does anyone have a suggestion? I tried the usual finger soread but no go. Have android phone.thanks.
Congratulations all winners very well done you have made good choices lovely colours you have chosen the soul m is shining every where.
Congratulations again
MaryR
Congratulations Patricia, Jenny and Marieke, and well done to everyone who entered. Thank you so much for my runner up award in the Casual Outfit category, I am delighted and so chuffed! I think we are all fabulous, all winners and all gorgeous Super Troopers! Thank you so much for organising the competition Tricia, thank you Josephine, what a difficult task you had, and thank you to the LFF team for all your hard work behind the scenes.
Congratulations to all those selected and all those who took part - and for the fabulous idea which gave so many of us a fun day dressing up. As much as I enjoy the "Street Style" blogs, what this did was give us all a chance. Style is not just in the cities - its also village style, country town style, north, east, west & south style, in my case Welsh style! We all love an excuse to look fabulous. Thank you Tricia.
Such fabulous choices. Can you imagine what our parents would say to us. Mine would be in their hundreds and didn't have any spare money to spend on themselves. Every cent went on their 3 children. Aren't we a very lucky generation in so many respects.
Many congratulations to all the winners. What a fab competition and it’s great to see so many different styles in the three categories. Lots of ideas, lots of inspiration! Thank you.
Congratulations to all the winners, great choices, and to all the runners up. I thought everyone looked lovely and it took some of us out of our comfort zone which is good for us now and then.
It was a lot of fun, to take part and to admire all the fabulous posts. Well done to those in this blog and especially to the three main winners. Simply being in the Super Troopers makes me feel like a winner too! Thank you Tricia and all you lovely people for support and feelings of "lurve" x Stay safe, more so than ever now that we are being allowed a tad more freedom and a tad more danger! x
Being a ‘vulnerable ‘ over 70 year old.
Thank you so much for your thoughts on the subject because can I tell you it has totally cheered me up on this sunny Sunday morning! You have very eloquently made me feel that I’m not alone in feeling, for the first time in my life, that my age number has categorised me into some special vulnerable group. Being over 70 has allowed me to be more active, healthy and busier than I’ve ever been so what do we do about ‘keeping alert’ during this strangely dangerous time. I’m generally a risk taker in life but my family are adamant that now is not the time and I should save risks for later. My decision is to keep preparing for the future when we have effective track and trace and a vaccine. If only......
all I want to do thought right is see and hug my children and grandchildren. Thank you again for your inspirational words.
Well done to all the winners. We were all winners really because I think we all enjoyed taking part in this fun competition while in lockdown, and that's the main thing.
Hi
Enjoyed looking at all the lovely ladies in their fantastic outfits, would have been good to see where they were from and how different country,regions,or towns interpret style. X
A difficult choice indeed for Josephine. It’s amazing how many of our initial reactions were ‘I can’t do that’ but then thought about it and decided ‘Why not?’. In the end it was a lovely change from our routine and we had a good time and a laugh in the process. It took us out of our comfort zones which was good too. I can’t believe out of all the entries I am a runner up. I am surprised and delighted to put it mildly. Congratulations to Patricia, Jenny and Marieke for their winning outfits. Also to everyone who entered who are also winners.
Kudos to the judge - I don't think I could have chosen a winner. It gives me such inspiration to see how so many other women are beautifully and appropriately dressed.
Congratulations! Is your dress by Ribkof? It looks gorgeous. The last time I wore mine was to The Dorchester - same difference. They take you anywhere!
Wow, what a fabulous lineup of well put together ladies. I am so glad I didn't have to pick the winners as there really are no losers. Well done to all, you ladies are all amazing you look wonderful, beautiful, colorful, and stylish. Thank you for putting yourselves out there.
So fun ... and so inspiring! I'm with you Tricia - I'd have NEVER wanted to choose. Looking at all my "long distance" friends assures me that I can do this too!!! Congrats to everyone!
Thanks. I really enjoyed seeing who won....good choices. I would have liked to know where they were from.....Country and City.
Tricia has entertained me every day during this pandemic. I’m from Pennsylvania.
Wish I looked as good as these women. They all look great! I've put weight on during lockdown and am now 5'1" with an enlarged waist which I shall have to deal with. My Grandson had to cancel his wedding so I let myself go. It will take place next May instead so do I have enough time to rectify it I ask myself? Thanks for your Ritz Teas - kept me going nicely.
This was a wonderfully inspirational, warm and friendly competition and, although I didn't have the courage to post myself (this time!) I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all these amazing photographs.
I've been inspired to look at my own wardrobe and rethink how I would like to dress, I've found lovely new shops to 'virtually visit' and am excitedly awaiting my new purchases!
The warmth, encouragement and friendliness of the Super Troopers has been an absolute joy throughout.
Thank you so much for setting up this group.
Karen Pearson