Wear Bright Colours Over 50

& the WowOnWednesday Link-Up

Gail Hanlon from Is This Mutton in bright zesty colours and sun hat for summer

Dear friends. Summer weather arrived with a bang in London over the weekend, and as you would expect, with temperatures nudging past 30 celcius, we're now fretting about not being able to sleep.

I love the hot weather - bring it on! It's so liberating being able to dispense with cardigans and jackets. I can even tolerate the hot nights, as long as my cheap Amazon fan is whirring along to get me off to sleep.

Bright colours versus Neutrals?

I recently saw a discussion where it was claimed that bright colours are aging on older women. I have to disagree! Bright colours that flatter your skin tone will instantly make you look your best. And you will never be "invisible" in bright colours.

Neutrals are fine if they suit your colouring. But be wary of colours like black and navy, particularly close to your face. They rarely suit anyone except those with a particular type of cool and sultry colouring.

I've stopped wearing black completely because it looks staid when worn with bright colours. It drags them down.

How to Experiment with Brights

If the thought of wearing bright colours is a bit daunting, start by being tonal. Take a pair of your blue jeans and add a blouse or top in blue, adding a belt, scarf and jewelry in different but complementary blues.

For "bottoms" if you are reluctant to wear shades like white or cream, or bright colours, try neutral shades like French grey and keep your bright colours and patterns to your top half. Check out my tips for looking your best in skirts and trousers/pants.

Now I'm going to show you a few bright combinations.

Inspired by the June challenge over at the Kettlewell Colour Club on Facebook, I've created some outfits based on fruit salads.

On Friday, which for London was the start of the heatwave, J and I went into London for dinner to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary. Here my fruit salad is pink grapefruit and pineapple (a strange combination, but you never know, it might be delicious with the tart grapefruit and sweet pineapple).

Pink and yellow for summer worn by Is This Mutton blogger Gail Hanlon

I'm wearing coral jacquard crops by Robell, Sunshine blouse and Darcey top by Kettlewell, and sandals (old) by Vionic.

Meteorologically we're still in spring. Summer officially starts on the summer solstice, on June 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, and on December 21 or 22 in the Southern Hemisphere. It seems to have been a long time coming. Winter was unusually harsh with snow that lay for nearly for a week in normally very temperate London. May was mostly dismal. So I'm jumping with joy at the prospect of warm weather.

Dressing in fruit salad colours: Is This Mutton blogger Gail Hanlon in watermelon and pineapple

This combination is watermelon with banana. The colour of the Kettlewell top is actually called Watermelon. Pale yellow crops from Roman. Karley gold sandals from Vionic and lime belt from Kettlewell, both current.

One of my favourite summer colours is lime. I make an exotic fruit salad using papaya, mango, passion fruit and lime juice. It's particularly good at Christmas. This inspired a zingy combination of lime short tie wrap and Sara top in bright apricot, both Kettlewell; golden yellow crops from Roman and sandals from Vionic, old. The hat is new from John Lewis.

My final fruit salad has red apples, kiwi, banana and pineapple.

I'm wearing a striped t-shirt in tutti frutti from Kettlewell, lemon crops from Roman, sandals from Vionic as before and green vegan bag from John Lewis. A perfect casual outfit for shopping or sightseeing.

Over 60s blogger Gail Hanlon in tutti frutti coloured striped t-shirt, lemon crop trousers and gold sandals for summer

What are the colours you reach for in summer? Are they different to what you wear in winter? Do you happily embrace brighter colours in summer? Do tell in the comments.

Disclosure: Nothing was gifted for this post. Links are to help you with your shopping, they are not affiliate links. Is This Mutton is not monetized to give the best reading experience.

Sharing this post with: Weekday Wear at Away from the Blue, #AnythingGoes at My Random Musings, Rena at Fine Whatever, Turning Heads Tuesday at Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Confident Twosday at I Do Declaire, Style with a Smile at Stylesplash, Talent Sharing Tuesdays at Scribbling Boomer, Curated by Jennifer (Wednesdays), Chic & Stylish at Mummabstylish, Thursday Fashion Files at Doused in Pink, #Neverendingstyle at The Grey Brunette, Fancy Friday at Nancy's Fashion Style, Traffic Jam Weekend at Marsha in the Middle Senior Salon Pitstop at Esme Salon

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More Mutton this Week

Pop back tomorrow for the latest Tell Us About challenge. We're tackling Curiosity, the theme chosen by Michelle from Following My Muse. I can't wait to read all the different posts because they all look very different. The link-up will last a week so there's still time to join us with your take on Curiosity.

On Friday I'm back with the monthly books roundup and joining our friends in the northern hemisphere for #WhatsOnYourBookshelf. Some of the books are absolute corkers this month.

Wow On Wednesday Time

Bloggers can find new readers and readers can find new blogs in this weekly global link-up. I feature the 3 favourites each Wednesday on Instagram, and my five or six top picks at the weekend on Twitter and Facebook. Any posts that would interest women are welcome: fashion, beauty, home decor, gardening, books, travel, recipes. Each week there will be as Featured Favourite for Fashion, Beauty and Other Categories.