September 2017 – Page 2 – L'ensemble du jour

September 13, 2017 – My Pants Story (OOTD #111)

Published on September 19, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Pardon the tragically late post today – I just woke up from a three-hour nap.

I knew I needed one, but I definitely didn’t intend for it to go on so long. I had pulled a late night the night before, so I had every intent of taking an hour-long snooze after classes let up. Then one hour rolled into two…and two into three…you get the picture.

I guess I should’ve set an alarm, but it’s okay – for once in my time here in college, I’m not super bogged down with homework. I mean, I am, but less so than I have been for weeks. I fee like this is probably some kind of “calm before the storm” experience…but I don’t know what kind of storm to expect or when to expect it.

Good thing I have this totally not flimsy scarf to protect me!

Wednesday’s outfit was one of those ones that I did not plan out the night before, and outfits like that tend to be hit-or-miss. This one, I feel, is a hit. It might be a little top-heavy with all the red, but I don’t think it’s too bad. There’s also the fact that I’m wearing my most flattering pair of jeans – I think these high-waisted dark-wash skinnies have the ability to make anything I wear instantly more chic, whether it actually is or not.

There in high school, I was more of leggings kind of a person, but now in college, I think I may just transition back into a jeans person for the first time in years. Perhaps the first time ever, actually – I hated to wear jeans as a kid, growing up. I thought they were stiff and never breathed well, so I had a phase from about 1st grade to 3rd grade where I refused to wear jeans. In fact, I basically refused to wear anything that wasn’t a skort from the Children’s Place.

Then, in middle school, the leggings-as-pants trend kicked in, but it was against my school’s dress code – you weren’t even allowed to wear yoga pants, not even the bootcut ones. At that point, I started wearing skinny jeans from Hollister and Abercrombie, and while they sort-of fell out of use in high school when I realized the joys of leggings, I mostly haven’t looked back.

And, I think I may have arrived at the inception of a new era of Meilin’s pants-wearing history – the revival of the jean. The fact is, jeans always look classier than leggings, and they’ve gotten to the point now with all the spandex in them that they’re almost as comfortable as leggings. Basically, jeggings have taken over the market – though I doubt anyone would call them that. Whenever I think of “jeggings” I usually have war flashbacks to a pair of Justice “jeggings” I had in fifth grade that didn’t even have real pockets, just printed-on ones. I do believe that’s what they call a crime aganist fashion.

Anyway, I should never be allowed to take three-hour naps in the middle of the afternoon. I just used “inception of a new era of Meilin’s pants-wearing history” in a sentence. Something tells me none of my professors would be impressed.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life here at Notre Dame. Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Scarf: Stolen from my mother’s closet (Mom, if you’re reading this, I demand $1,000 paid in cash or you’re never seeing it again)

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt: H&M

Jeans: Hollister

September 12, 2017 – False Step (OOTD #110)

Published on September 18, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

You know, looking back at these photos, I’m not sure what I think of the shoes with the top.

Maybe it’s the pictures. I swear, in person, the yellow of the boots went much better with the yellow in the shirt. Or at least, I thought it did. Maybe I just walked around all day looking awkward and mismatched. I’m sure everyone stared and thought I was a freak – in fact, I should probably just drop out of school now, since I don’t see any way I could possibly recover from this terrible faux pas.

Luckily, most of my photos from Tuesday didn’t show my feet, so we don’t have to worry about that too much.

Anyway, things here in South Bend have slowly been beginning to feel more and more like autumn – and I’m very happy about that. I passed a batch of trees with a few orange leaves on them today, and I was so excited I had to post it to my Snapchat story. That’s real test of a millennial’s enthusiasm – did it make into onto their story?

I hope there’s somewhere on campus or nearby that I can get a pumpkin. I don’t think autumn exists without pumpkins, and I fully intend to decorate my dorm with as many of them as I can fit. I don’t even feel the need to carve them (here at Notre Dame, at least – I’ll definitely carve one when I go home to Kentucky for fall break); I just like their presence. They’re like the big round orange patron saints of the October-November season.

My birthday actually falls in the fall (ba-dum tshhh), so I have a particular affinity for the season. My favorite season, though, is definitely winter – but maybe that’s just because I’m used to mild Kentucky winters. Will I still enjoy winter after I’ve experienced my first one in South Bend, which ranks among the snowiest towns in the US?

I feel like I will, but maybe I’m being overly optimistic. I hear that in the parts of the Midwest, like Chicago, the snow never melts in the winter – it just gets dirty and turns to slush and then freezes into a grey ice that is then covered by a new layer of snow.

But personally, I feel like that’s preferable to the general lack of snow that Kentucky has. I’ve never even experienced a white Christmas before – what a depraved, unfortunate creature I must be.

Sweater-jacket thing: Francesca’s

Top: H&M

Choker: Francesca’s

September 11, 2017 – Petal to the Metal (OOTD #109)

Published on September 17, 2017 by lensembledujour8 Comments

(Is…is that pun an acceptable title? I debated about it for a while and I ultimately went for it because I couldn’t think of anything else…but I’m still not sure. After you’re done reading this blog, you’ll have to leave me a comment below to say if you got it or not.)

I think I’ve found my new favorite photo location on campus.

In these shots, I’m right outside South Dining Hall, which is perhaps the only not golden-beige brick building on campus – instead, it’s made of exotic reddish-brown brick. As I’m sure you know, red bricks are extremely rare – I don’t know if I’m ever even seen a red brick before in my life. So obviously, SDH is the greatest photo location in the world, case-closed.

Okay, so the brick is hardly worth getting excited about (well, maybe it is, as it’s the only red brick building I’ve seen here – though I never thought I’d say typical red brick was exciting…), what’s really nice here is the landscaping.

Check out those beautiful red flowers. Gaze in awe of their non-golden-beige-brick-ness.

For real though, what Notre Dame lacks in their buildings’ exterior color, they make up for in some really nice flowers and plants. If you ask me, that doesn’t entirely make up for how everything here is basically the same color…but it helps.

Unfortunately, flowers don’t last forever, and they – and the bursts of color they provide – will be gone in a few months. Hopefully, we’ll get some nice autumn leaves though, and from there, we’ll get some more color. Maybe?

In the meantime, expect more photos of me next to flowers.

Jacket: Evan Picone (thrifted)

Skirt: J. Crew (thrifted)

Shirt: Banana Republic

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Homework Day

Published on September 16, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Sadly, unlike last week, when I was able to chill on the 7th floor of the library by myself, I have found that neither “chilling” nor “having the library to myself” is possible today.

Why? Because it’s my first weekend here in two weeks without a home football game, and while I am not stressed out about trying to carve a whole 4 hours (for real, football games are time-consuming) out of my day to go stand in a stadium all smushed up next to students I don’t know, I am stressed about homework. Plus, since there’s no game, the usually empty library is now…well, busy‘s not the word, but it’s got a little more bustle to it than I would like.

If I’m going to be honest, though, the lack of a football game is kind of a relief. I was looking forward to it all week – I thought it was going to be so nice and relaxing without all the commotion of a thousand visitors who all come to tailgate and end up waking you up at 9 in the morning by blasting “Wagon Wheel” from their portable speaker that they’ve set up on the lawn below your window.

And I was right. It is relaxing…in a way. At least, it would be relaxing if I didn’t have so much homework to do. These last few nights, I’ve been working on projects that I’ve been putting off since the start of school – which has been a very good thing – but it means I’ve fallen a bit behind in my reading. It also doesn’t help that I took a nap Friday afternoon.

Luckily, though, it’s a very nice day, so I took the opportunity to sit outside at one of the café tables near Au Bon Pain in the library. It’s not quite as quiet, but it’s also not nearly as stuffy. And I don’t feel badly about myself when I have to sneeze and all the hardcore studiers look at me like they want me excommunicated from the Catholic church.

(Little do they know…they cannot excommunicate me if I’m not even Catholic in the first place…mwahahahaha)

Anyway, I’ve probably already taken more time than I should have to write up this blog post, so I’ll let you go. Enjoy these photos of my Starbucks cup.

Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com.

September 9, 2017 – One Point (OOTD #108)

Published on September 15, 2017October 6, 2019 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Since these blogs are on like, a week delay, I guess you already know – we lost to Georgia by one point.

It’s fine, like, I don’t even mind. I hadn’t even necessarily expected us to win. It hurt I guess, since we were winning there, up until the final quarter…but it’s fine. I don’t get invested in football.

It was a little unfortunate, though, because I have a friend at UGA, and I told her with conviction that the Irish were going to win. Of course, when that didn’t happen, she took every opportunity to rub it in my face….but it’s fine.

Anyway! My outfit: I didn’t crawl out of my my cave until about 5:00 in the evening because I had so much work to do, so I didn’t have a ton of time to get ready. In the end, I went for m’y ND football jersey (which I’ve worn on two separate occasions already during the time I’ve had this blog), and my new ND baseball hat. And if you’re wondering, yes, I did have pants on – they were running shorts that were covered by the jersey.

In the end, I didn’t have much time for tailgating, but I didn’t mind. I had tried the whole tailgating scene the last home game, and it just wasn’t my style. Maybe it was because I don’t have any family who tailgates here, but mostly, “tailgating” for me just involved walking around and looking at the people tailgating.

As for the homework I was doing that took so long, I didn’t even have that much work, actually – I was just really enjoying having the entire 7th floor of the library to myself. I spread out all my crap over the table, opened a bag of potato chips without being embarrassed, and sneezed loudly and as frequently as I wanted. It was heaven.

The game on the other hand, was not heaven. It was a lot of fun, yes, but of course, we lost. Not even the cheeseburger I ate afterwards could make me feel better.And now, we have a few weeks until the next game. Personally, I’m grateful – I’ve had quite enough of Notre Dame’s football culture for a while. My last few weekends have been absolutely exhausting, and I’m looking forward to actually being able to relax for once on Saturday.

Ah, who am I kidding? I never get to relax. What college student ever relaxes?

Shirt: Notre Dame bookstore

September 8, 2017 – I Think They Call This A Pop Of Color (OOTD #107)

Published on September 14, 2017September 14, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

I don’t usually even like wearing color.

I mean, look at my blog posts – it’s pretty much a sea of neutrals. Black is probably my favorite, followed by camel, grey, white, and navy. Though I’m probably never going to be one of those people who can create a minimalist capsule wardrobe out of only neutrals, I must admit – they do look pretty chic.

Unfortunately for the part of me that wants to rock the all-black everyday emo look, or the part that wants to look like a chic Parisian whose wardrobe only knows the occasional hint of red, I still come from the South. And the women in the South rather like their color.

Just look at the quintessential Southern brand, Lilly Pulitzer. It’s nothing but color. Is black ever a major component of her patterns? Does she even know that black is?

So every once in a while, I have to give into my Southern roots and go for some kind of color vomit outfit. And what better day to do that than a rainy day, when the rest of the world is grey? Talk about a pop of color.

This rain coat is one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe, even though it’s not 100% my style. I just get so many compliments when I wear it; I can’t help keeping it around even if I personally find it a little too bright for my comfort. I’ve actually had for years, since I was in 7th grade or something ridiculous like that. If I remember correctly, I think it came from the children’s section of Target; I was with my parents, and we were just about to check out, when I glanced it out of the corner of my eye. I just had to have it.

It may be one of the oldest pieces in my wardrobe, but it just never seems to stop getting attention, and it has yet to go out of style.

The rain hat and boots are newer additions to my wardrobe. I’ve been dreaming of owning a yellow rain ensemble – yellow raincoat, rain boots, and hat – for ages, and I’ve finally managed to gather each piece. I have yet to wear them all together though; that’s for another rainy day.

No worries, though. Living in South Bend, rainy days should hardly be a scarcity.

Coat: Target

Skirt: Forever21

Boots: Ralph Lauren

Shirt: Free People

September 7, 2017 – This Outfit Is A Shameless Ripoff (OOTD #106)

Published on September 13, 2017September 13, 2017 by lensembledujour6 Comments

Originality is hard, and sometimes, it just doesn’t work out.

Not everything you do can always be a brilliant, unique, creative concept – sometimes, you have to go with the trends. There’s nothing wrong at all with being trendy; if you want to set trends, in fact, I think you have to follow them first.

This outfit though, was less about following trends, and more about following someone else. I don’t even know who it was – some girl I saw walking across campus. She had on a really cute outfit consisting of a navy blouse and a camel-colored suede skirt, and lo and behold…what do I decide to wear the next day?

In my defense, the tights were 100% my own idea. And I 100% did it because I thought they added to the fashion of the outfit, not just because I hadn’t shaved recently.

It’s a surprise to me that I hadn’t already thought to pair these two pieces, considering how much I love the camel-black (or navy) color combination, and how much I love this suede skirt and this breezy blouse. Actually this was only the second time I wore this shirt at all (the first time, being on the plane ride over to London, actually), which is odd, because like I said, I really like it.

It’s funny how that works, isn’t it? My favorite pieces are not necessarily my most oft worn pieces. It’s like I want to save them, keep them secret until I have a really stellar outfit to show them off in. It’s almost like I’m afraid my love for them would wear off if I wore them too often; like listening to a song you like too many times until it eventually gets annoying.

Anyway.

So, random girl walking across campus whom I just happened to spot, kudos to you for thinking of this outfit before me. Because, you know, I’m positive she was the first person in the history of time to ever pair a navy blouse and a tan skirt.

*insert philosophical discussion about how nothing is original anymore – including philosophical discussion about how nothing is original*

Top: Anthropologie

Skirt: Abercrombie

September 6, 2017 – Topknots and Tan (OOTD #105)

Published on September 12, 2017February 14, 2018 by lensembledujour5 Comments

I owe this hairstyle to my dear friend, Jane.

A long, long time ago, when I was just a little 13 year-old who could use a flat iron but couldn’t French braid her hair to save her life, Jane taught me the way of the topknot.

I don’t even know exactly where Jane learned to do the hairstyle – given the time period, it was probably a copy of Seventeen borrowed from the local library, or maybe a YouTube video from macbarbie07. At any rate, she learned it – the way you twist your hair onto your head, leaving a tuft of it poofed around your crown for volume, then pin it in place with as many bobby pins as possible – and then she taught the ancient art to me.

Since then, the topknot has always been in rotation in my hairstyle catalogue. In particular, I find it useful for days when my hair is a few days old – too dirty to be left down but not dirty enough to warrant a shower. The only time it doesn’t work is when my roots have grown in several inches…but nothing really works with my hair then.

But what about the other part of this blog’s title – the “tan?” Actually, I probably wouldn’t have even called it “tan” but for the need for alliteration; personally, I consider it more of a camel.

A while back, I wrote a blog post dedicated solely to my love of camel – especially when paired with black – likening the color combination to a luxury sedan. My thoughts have not changed since then. Camel and black is still probably my favorite color palette – though I may have to rethink my use of it now that I’m here at Notre Dame, where I think just about every building is the same golden beige color.

Too much of a good thing isn’t good, right?

Jacket: Hollister

Sweater: Forever21

September 5, 2017 – Now Accepting Donations For A Tripod (OOTD #104)

Published on September 11, 2017 by lensembledujour1 Comment

I’m totally kidding about that title, by the way – unless my parents are reading this. I will gladly take money from you guys 🙂

But for real, I guess it’s time for me to finally shell out the money (and by “shell out the money,” I mean “pay the whole $20 for something cheap from Amazon because no way am I spending the money for an actually nice $100+ item”) for a tripod.

On Tuesday evening, I found myself coming home late again. But unlike last time when something similar happened, when I was able to ask a friend who was also coming home late to help me out, this time, it was so late that I didn’t feel like I could ask anyone to do my pictures for me. Regardless, it was already plenty dark out anyway, so the photos wouldn’t have even been that great.

What to do?

I could have just skipped out on doing photos for that day at all. And I almost did – I figured could always just wear the same outfit again some other day, pretend it was the first time I’d worn those green pants with that top, and then actually have decent photos to share. The issue with that, though, is that it kind-of takes away from the whole purpose of this blog for me, which is to document each unique outfit I wear.

With that philosophy in mind, I decided it was better to have terrible photos taken using my camera sitting on top of some books in the 2nd floor study lounge. Fabulous, right?

I did my best to edit the lighting so the color wasn’t so distorted, but there’s only so much you can do with fluorescents in a 100 year-old building. That’s why I was thinking a tripod might be a good idea – at least then, I could do some outdoor photos using my camera’s timer. Anything but indoor lighting.

It’s too bad, because this shirt is really quite exquisite and deserves better treatment than these orange-toned photos. I got it for only 10 pounds in a little boutique in Waltham Abbey in London because it’s missing a button in the back, but I absolutely love it regardless. The green pants really accent the rainbow pompoms nicely without upstaging them.

Ah well, I guess that’s just how the ball bounces. The rainbow pom-pom shirt will get a chance to shine in some nice photos in another nice outfit one of these days.

Shirt: Some little boutique in Waltham Abbey

Pants: The LOFT

Terrible orange lighting: Howard Hall

September 4, 2017 – All Beige Everything (OOTD #103)

Published on September 10, 2017 by lensembledujour3 Comments

I’m not even wearing all beige in this outfit, lol.

Look, I love the buildings here at Notre Dame – they’re beautiful, architectural, and outright works of art – but my goodness, why are they all the same color?

I’m pretty sure everything here is this same golden beige tone. And it’s very pretty, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes, a girl just wants to pose next to something that looks like a unicorn vomited on it, you know? Something like what you’d find in Shoreditch or even in the Louisville Highlands – something that’s bright, vibrant, and not beige.

(Don’t think I’m ever going to stop comparing places to Shoreditch – that place was freaking amazing and unforgettable).

For real, I’m trying to think of any buildings that aren’t either golden beige, white, or brick-colored here, and I’m drawing a blank. I guess there’s the Golden Dome, which is at the very least shiny (though gold is still a neutral), but I have no idea how to get up there. Can you even get up there?

There are a lot of buildings that I don’t know how to access here, actually. I don’t even now how to get onto the roof of my own residence hall. I feel like that ought to be my goal for my four years here – figure out how on earth to navigate all of the buildings. In particular, I want to make it to the upper floors of the basilica (are there upper floors to the basilica? There have to be – look at how tall those spires are), the inside of the main building (though I’m going to have to find a way in other than the front stairs – otherwise, I won’t graduate in four years), and the fourth floor of LaFun (I know there is one because I’ve seen the staircase…but the directories all say that there are only three floors…)

Anyway, I’ve definitely still got plenty to learn. I haven’t even made it off campus into the “city” of South Bend. “City” in quotation marks because let’s be honest…South Bend isn’t a city. I used to complain about Lexington being small and boring. Lexington is New York City compared to South Bend.