God Save Her!

Aaah her Majesty and some lovely black labs..Hold up! I think it's Helen Mirren

My goodness I have some explaining to do..What a long absence! Firstly I had a blissful ten days in the Shire thanks to a combination of Easter, the Royal Wedding and the May Bank Holiday before coming back to my busiest two work weeks of the entire year..then giving myself a weekend off! Many things have happened on Planet Fashion since I've been away, we've had the Wedding Dress (I loved it), Princess B and E's hats (hilarious), the beginning of Cannes and the melting away of the beautiful hot weather to be replaced by the Great British Public wondering around praying that the brief sojourn of sun we had wasn't actually all there was going to be this Summer, please? PLEASE?

I have two new addictions in my life, The West Wing and Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt and I'm considering making an investment purchase influenced, in part, by a rather key member of the Royal family and the unpredictable British weather.  A Barbour. "But" I hear you cry, "the Barbour is young and hip, it even comes with a Liberty lining for Pete's sake! Alexa Chung has one, Lily Allen has one, heck Gaga has probably eaten one..No drama!"

Well this decision was not influenced by the fash pack peeeps, it was..gulp...a practical call. I borrowed one from a friend at the prospect of a wee break on our beautiful but unpredictable coast. Given that it might be warm, it might be cool, it might be windy, it might be wet, it might, indeed, be all of those things at the same time, what, without wishing to travel with my entire wardrobe in tow, to wear?

A pair of jeans. Not too skinny. It's all a bit Boden around those parts and sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb is generally best avoided in order not to cause embarrassment to self or The Boy. A sun-dress. Cotton. Prints possibly..but nothing too loud. That would be ridiculous. And a Barbour jacket.

A classic man's Bedale. The women's jackets are too womanly – both in terms of cut and more

pastel-coloured tartans in their linings. True, the Bedale is the type La Chung likes to wear. But I'm not going to let going head to head with a fashion icon put me off (hello this month's Vogue cover) – there are so many of them now, after all. 

Having the hood up on the Barbour enhances the Bambi eyed look.

 Should a Barbour be green or black? "Green's a bit country on you, isn't it?" a colleague opines. I point out that I have been known to leave town, if only for a day or two at a time, thank you. Also black is perhaps overly masculine – and too flat in the rare event of blue sky.

And so I borrow a sage green Barbour. And wear it. For four days solid. Over everything. It's got massive pockets so I don't need a bag. It's waterproof so in a hail storm I stay dry. I even sling it on over my pyjamas when I wander outdoors on a particular evening I can't sleep because it's too quiet!!

Versatile doesn't cover it. And if, admittedly, on occasion I might look just a little like Her Majesty The Queen only with much, much messier hair, what's so very wrong with that?