There’s something about old songs that instantly lifts your mood, isn’t there? When it came to choosing this month’s Songful Style challenge song, I knew I wanted something upbeat, colourful and just plain fun. Life can feel heavy enough these days, so I decided to go with the absolute classic: Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations.
If you’ve somehow never heard it (where have you been?!), it’s one of those songs that immediately makes you want to dance around the kitchen singing into a hairbrush. Released in 1968, it became one of the band’s biggest hits and is still used in films, adverts and TV shows today because it’s impossible not to smile when it comes on. The mix of soul, pop and that wonderfully energetic brass section just screams happiness.
Even the official music video is a feast for the eyes with all the flowers, psychedelic colours and those gloriously retro fonts that perfectly capture the late 60s vibe. It’s cheerful chaos in the best possible way, and I instantly knew I wanted my outfit to reflect that same playful energy.
This challenge is hosted by myself, the lovely Shelbee on the Edge and Marsha in the Middle, who somehow always manage to inspire us all to step outside our comfort zones and get creative with fashion.
For my first idea, I became slightly obsessed with finding a pair of jeans covered in flowers. In my head, they were perfect for the challenge — fun, retro, quirky and very “Build Me Up Buttercup.” I’d actually been searching for a pair even before this month’s prompt appeared, so it felt like fate when I finally found some on Vinted.
Sadly, fate betrayed me a little.
The jeans arrived and they were one size too big. Not disastrously huge, but definitely more “slouching around the house” than “fashion challenge chic.” Not wanting to give up on the floral dream, I also ordered a couple of hoodies with similar flower power designs.
And yes… they were massively oversized too.
Honestly, I looked less like a stylish 60s-inspired fashion queen and more like I’d borrowed someone else’s laundry by mistake.
So it was back to the drawing board!
But then, to make things even more chaotic, I’ve also been feeling really unwell thanks to my period. And honestly, nobody really talks enough about just how rough that can get in midlife. One minute you’re absolutely fine and the next you’re dealing with exhaustion, cramps, bloating, headaches, hot flushes and feeling like your entire body has declared war on you. And on top of that, vomiting and extreme nausea!
By the time I realised I still needed to take my photos for the challenge, I’d completely left it too late and simply wasn’t feeling well enough to get dressed up and pose for outfit pictures outdoors. So instead, I decided to improvise and do something completely different — I asked ChatGPT to create some images of me instead!
And you know what? It was brilliant fun. Not quite the same as taking real outfit photos, of course, but it turned into a creative little experiment that perfectly matched the playful spirit of this month’s challenge. Although, in hindsight, I’d much rather take my own photos because… well, you’ll see why in a moment.
Some of the images were surprisingly good and genuinely looked like me, but others were complete disasters (the one with three arms!! lol)! I’ll show you the first batch it created before I gave it any outfit details at all (see above). That first dress was actually really cute, to be fair!
But after that, I decided to give it specifics based on the outfit I’d originally planned to wear: one of my favourite Halara skorts, a blue tee, my beloved colourful ASICS trainers and my bright green handbag. I wanted the whole look to feel joyful, colourful and energetic — the same feeling you get when listening to Build Me Up Buttercup and watching the wonderfully bright, flower-filled video.
If you missed my previous Songful Style post inspired by Zombie by The Cranberries, you can read it here: Zombie | Songful Style Challenge
Don’t forget to join in the link-up with your style posts, below, and please join us next month where we’ll be styling the very fun song, chosen my Marsha, Rock Me Amadeus!
