the ultimate red leather jacket

It’s rare that a single item receives a dedicated blog post these days, unless I made it, in which case I can write 900 words about a jumper. Often feels like there’s no real point, right? That said, this particular new wardrobe edition feels deserving of a little blog airtime, so here we are. Blog, meet my new red leather jacket.

A couple of weeks ago I was kindly invited to an event with British brand Lakeland Leather at their Bowness store, a town I’ve visited many times. Most blogger events are in cities so was lovely to be invited to one in a prettier location, and the drive through the Lakes on a sunny day isnâ€™t exactly a chore. I have many fond memories of being a little kid in my mum’s MINI, driving through the Lake District with the roof down singing along to Pat Benatar, and I rather enjoyed reliving those times down the country lanes behind the wheel myself this time. Haven’t managed to acquire a MINI convertible (yet), but Pat Benatar I can do. Bloody good job nobody could hear my rendition though.

Since the sun was a’shining I pottered around in Bowness for a while beforehand, learned about the Lakeland brand and leather story from members of their team, chatted to the lovely ladies whoâ€™d been invited along. It can often seem like the blogger/Instagrammer/influencer/whatever you want to call it world is very city-centric (or even just London-centric, let’s be honest) so I welcomed the opportunity to meet women sharing their style and lives scattered around the North West.

Of course I then proceeded to try on almost every jacket in the shop. This red one caught my eye first though and no matter how many others I tried on, the red always came back favourite, so the decision wasnâ€™t exactly difficult in the end. This gal loves her red, what can I say. It might not seem like the most practical colour choice, but my reasons were A) I get loads of wear out of my bright pink jacket so red would probably be similar, B) I wanted a jacket for all year round, not a black one that looks wintery, and C) youâ€™ll usually find me wearing blue and white so red goes just nicely. Once the Sun comes out I suddenly start wearing all the colour, and I don’t fancy retreating to black and brown outerwear on the days when the weather didn’t get the memo. Interestingly of the 8 women who came along, nobody chose a black jacket â€“ nice to see they didnâ€™t invite a boring bunch of people! Lakeland bring out different colours each season but always include a red, and I can see why.

jacket: Lakeland Leather (gifted) | top: Moves by Minimum (gifted) | shoes: Veja | skirt: Acynetic at TK Maxx

Also, I’d forgotten just how much I adore this spotty little blouse from Moves by Minimum, which I’ve since found in the sale at ASOS if you fancy one yourself. I can’t for the life of me remember the technical term for the fabric but it’s what I would describe as ‘boingy’, so is ideal for bagging out over jeans and skirts as it doesn’t flop over and keeps a nice shape. Paired with The Best Fitting Skirt Ever (a TK Maxx gem) and my go-to Veja trainers, I rather like the whole combination.