Two very simple outfits this week, made successful by two elements. Firstly, the balance of a strong, vibrant colour in contrast with neutral hues, and secondly interesting shaped trousers.

When you’re balancing a vivid colour with a more neutral one, it’s important that either the textures of those neutral colours are different or there is a variation in the tone (or both as we’ve done here). For example, mum’s shirt is white linen but her trousers are a cotton/linen mix in cream. My shirt is made from linen in the colour stone and my cardigan (around my waist but would certainly work with the outfit) is biscuit in cashmere. The subtle difference between the gradient of neutral hues means that the overall contrast of bold to neutral is not too harsh.

I should also mention that although mum’s neckscarf matches beautifully with the jacket, there are other colours in the pattern of the scarf which act as a ‘disruptor’ and prevent the outfit from looking too ‘matchy, matchy’. I like the green sunglasses and raspberry bag for this purpose too.

And on to my second point…. both our looks are elevated by interesting shaped trousers. I’ve said this before but one of the most successful ways of keeping your outfit looking modern and cool is to make sure that your trousers/jeans have a contemporary cut. As a result, the hard work is done for you - the other elements of your outfit will slot into place around them.

N.B. just for reference, Mum is almost 5.8” and I am almost 5.6”.

My culottes are incredibly comfortable. They’re so wide that you could be forgiven for thinking that they are a skirt. For this reason, they would look very elegant in the evening, maybe with a pair of pointed kitten heels and a silk blouse. You might want to tuck your top in, in which case you would need a belt as the culottes have an elasticated waist. Something like this would look very chic, as would this.