Style Icon: Margaret Thatcher

I'm currently sitting in the Eurostar Business Lounge in St. Pancras, facing a newspaper stand literally full of photos of the lady that's currently on everyone's lips. I think it's nearly impossible to ask yourself 'who is Margaret Thatcher?' without getting a prompt, informed reply these days.

Irrespective of her arguable political choices, the former British Priminister is considered to have been of considerable influence in a number of different fields. I'll obviously limit myself on observing her style choices, especially since I know there was a great deal of effort put into the way she looked. If you watch The Iron Lady, a brilliant movie starring Meryl Streep as the first woman Priminister in Britain, you'll understand how her entourage needed to make sure that Mrs. Thatcher 'looked and sounded' like the Priminister she was.

The first outfit which caught my eye was this combination of a blue pleated midi-skirt paired with a matching blazer and a light patterned blouse. I have to admit I've always shied away from putting two same coloured pieces together, yet there's no use denying the final look makes sense. I chose to mirror Mrs. Thatcher's elegant yet comfortable black kitten heels not only to be as faithful to the original as possible, but also due to my eternal love for them. If you want to make the outfit look less granny, you can opt for a shorter pleated skirt.

This photo is in black and white so I couldn't really play with the colour scheme this time. Instead I decided to explore the way a pussybow blouse was layered beneath a basic yet nicely silhouetted peacoat. I noticed that I find myself wondering how I can wear a plain peacoat in a more interesting manner and I think I finally found a good option. The hanging bow detail can be used to align different colours, contrast different patterns as well as putting two textures against each other. The idea is very simple yet the possibilities it gives are numerous.

Finally, I also wanted to include a set with a blazer and pencil skirt 'suit'. I refrained from working on another all blue outfit so I decided to use the silhouette as my main point of inspiration. The key to achieving this look is wearing two garments that are relatively quite long in a matching colour. In my set, I chose to add a plaid blazer that is largely based on blue with a simple, clean-cut blue pencil skirt. Margaret Thatcher wore pearls very often and I think their elegance complemented her style perfectly. So I went ahead and added some here as well.

I'm off to Brussels in a couple of minutes and I decided I'm going to vlog my stay there. You should subscribe to my YouTube channel to make sure you don't miss it when I upload it!