Month: November 2018

November 9, 2018 – Swan Song of Autumn (OOTD #405)

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Looks like fall’s just about over now.

The day I wore this outfit, we got our first snowfall of the season. You can actually sort of see the flurries in the photo here.

It wasn’t enough snow to accumulate, but it was there and it was exciting. I love the snow; winter is my favorite season because of it. Even Notre Dame and the horrible amount of snow that we can get in January/February/March haven’t managed to make me dislike snow yet.

Not yet, at least. This is only my second winter here. I suppose there’s still a chance for me to become weary of the winter weather.

I love the transition from fall to winter, when you get beautiful leaves like this mixed with light snowfall. We never really got that in Kentucky — first off, we didn’t get nearly as much color in the autumn, and secondly, we also never got snow so early in the season. It’s exciting for me to see the combination here. Fall and winter are my two favorite seasons. Put them together, and I’m a happy person.

Happy finter, everybody.

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

Jacket: Chaps (thrifted)

Sweater: thrifted

Pants: unknown

November 8, 2019 – Très Petite (OOTD #404)

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Someone remind me to stop posing by touching my hair.

Seriously, four of my last nine Instagram posts include me posing by playing with my hair. It’s a little excessive, like, don’t I know anything else to do with my body?

I don’t even that much hair! Or that much body!

Fun fact: I always used to imagine I would grow up to be my parents’ heights. My mother’s like 5’9″ and my father’s nearly 6’0″ yet I stand at barely above 5 feet. What could possibly be the explanation?

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is it christmas yet

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Welp, I’m adopted. And I knew that as a kid, and I knew I looked different from my parents, but I didn’t know that that meant I wouldn’t still grow to be their heights. All the other kids used their parents’ heights as an indication of how tall they would grow, why couldn’t I do the same? I don’t think I ever imagined myself to be a tall adult but like…definitely a more average-sized one.

I stopped growing around fourth grade. I like to think I look a little older than a fourth grader now, but sometimes I’m not sure. Sometimes I don’t even feel mentally much older than a fourth grader either.

With finals coming around the corner, that might not be such a good thing.

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

Sweater: Ralph Lauren (thrifted)

Top: Some boutique in Nepal

Skirt: Abercrombie

November 6, 2018 – Pumpkin Spice (OOTD #403)

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When did pumpkin spice become a phenomena? When did it enter the public consciousness?

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i think it’s like? fall or something?

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I’m pretty sure I didn’t realize pumpkin spice was a thing until freshman year of high school. That was the first time I remember seeing white girls on Twitter raving about being excited for fall things — watching Hocus Pocus, wearing cozy sweaters, and drinking PSLs.

Did pumpkin spice as a favor exist before Starbucks popularized it in 2014? Since then, I feel like it’s almost become a meme — if you drink a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, you are irredeemably basic. Any street cred you had immediately disappears into the cinnamon whipped cream. You could be a 6’5″ football player in a motorcycle gang and a pumpkin spice latte renders you a 14 year old girl —  not that there’s anything wrong with 14 year old girls. It’s like kryptonite.

Anyway, I have no real reason for talking about pumpkin spice lattes. I was just trying to think of a blog title and a way I could tie it into this outfit. I just thought the color scheme was vaguely spicy. I haven’t even had a PSL yet this year.

I don’t even really like Starbucks’s sweet holiday drinks that much. I like coffee a lot, but I want my coffee to taste like coffee. The holiday drinks are too much like a dessert.

Here’s a question if anyone out there feels like doing some research? Have there been other flavor trends in history, like the pumpkin spice trend? I feel like you can’t go anywhere in the post-2014 world without finding pumpkin spice flavored treats — pumpkin spice ice cream, pumpkin spice candies, pumpkin spice cake. Has that ever happened before to the same degree with another flavor?

Personally, I’d be here for a cream flavor trend. Not vanilla, not sweet cream — just plain cream. It sounds lame, but it’s my favorite flavor for sweets, especially ice cream treats. I don’t like how sugary vanilla can be, so just a plain, smooth cream can actually be very refreshing, in my opinion.

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

Sweater: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Skirt: J. Crew (thrifted — Goodwill)

November 2, 2018 – Leaf Me Alone (OOTD #402)

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Look at those golden trees!  Look at them doing that!

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🍂

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But uh…don’t look at me standing outside in the middle of campus by myself taking pictures of my outfit with my phone.

I actually had several people walk past me as I took those photos. I never know what to do when that happens. Do I make eye contact? Do I just keep gong as if nothing happened?

The answer, or at least the one I’ve come to in my experience, is simply to stop what I’m doing and look at my phone. If it looks like I’m too distracted to realize that someone’s judging me, they’re clearly not judging me, right? Then I glance around to see if anyone else is coming through, and if not, I go back to taking pictures.

Inevitably, someone else comes around again, and I have to put my photography on pause again.

That’s why I liked taking pictures in the art studios of Riley so much. Almost no one came around to bother me, and I never had to risk the awkward moment of a stranger coming by and wondering why I was taking pictures of myself at 1AM. But since I don’t have an art class this semester, my 24 hour card access was revoked, and I can’t just hang out at Riley late at night anymore.

Instead, I had to learn how to take pictures of myself outside, where there are many more strangers to happen upon me and judge me. Whenever I think I’ve gotten over myself, I remember how weird having a daily fashion blog can appear to people who don’t know me, and I feel awkward again.

Somehow, I’m still here though. I guess slight social anxiety hasn’t gotten the best of me yet.

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

Jacket: Thrifted

Dress: Vintage (thrifted)

October 31, 2018 – I Know What You Are (OOTD #401)

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Edward: Say it. Out loud. Say it!
Bella: Vampire.

I don’t remember quite what I thought about Twilight when I was 11 and I first read it — I don’t think I thought it was any kind of great literature, but I also don’t remember thinking it was as bad as people said. I didn’t really want a boyfriend who acted like Edward…maybe just one who looked like him. I also thought the vampire powers were cool.

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i was always more of a team edward person

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As someone cleverer than me once put it, everyone had a Twilight phase. You were either weirdly obsessed with it, or weirdly despised it to the point of obsession. Either way, you cared way more about it than you should have. 2008 was a simpler time.

Anyway, this Halloween, my friend Lan Anh and I decided to channel our inner 2008 vampire personalities for these outfits. We went to a cemetery and everything for our photos. It’s about as extra as I’ve ever gotten for an OOTD post.

But this outfit seemed to call for it. Plus, whenever I’m with Lan Anh, I know with confidence that I’ll get some good pictures. She doesn’t blog, but she likes to have a colorful, aesthetically-pleasing and up-to-date Instagram, so we’ll often go out and get pictures together.

Today, I wound up as her shorter but sparklier vampire counterpart. We didn’t plan out outfits to coordinate like this, but when we realized they did, we knew we needed to go out and get pictures together. I would have gotten photos by myself anyway, but I’m glad I had a friend with me. I’m mostly used to having a feed full of just photos of me at this point, but I like it when I can get others in it with me. Feels less lonely.

Plus, when you’re a million year-old vampire like me, you need as many other vampire friends as you can get. Why do you think Edward lives with the rest of the Cullen family?

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

Jacket: Anthropologie

Top: River Island

Skirt: Zara

Tights: Target (apparently Target is the source of all of my Halloween pieces!)

October 30, 2018 – Pre-Halloween (OOTD #400)

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The day? Halloween. The socks? Spooky.

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the day? halloween. the socks? spooky.

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I know I’m really behind with these OOTD posts (it being late November and I’m just now posting a blog for Halloween) but I’m hoping to get a little more caught up soon. I haven’t been taking pictures necessarily every day recently in anticipation of catching up, so hopefully, if I keep on posting blogs everyday, I’ll eventually get a little less behind.

Anyway, I know this is late, but happy Halloween! I have two Halloween-themed outfits for you: this one and tomorrow’s. Like last year’s Halloween outfits, the October 30 outfit is colorful and features the ghost socks and the October 31 outfit is black and sparkly. The black sparkly one will be tomorrow’s post.

I’ve had these socks for ages, since maybe 6th grade. I think my mother got them for me from Target. I didn’t wear them much back then because I thought they looked too childish, but now that I’m older, I realize that I was being stupid. These are lovely socks.

It’s not like I have a lot of other Halloween pieces to wear, anyway. Everyone has Christmas sweaters but no one has Halloween sweaters. Since I don’t really go out and get dressed up anymore, I’ve got to celebrate Halloween with some kind of festive fashion, even if I can’t do a costume and trick or treating anymore.

I really do miss trick or treating. Now, all anyone my age does is go out and party. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, but I wish we could party and trick or treat. I don’t miss the candy, but I miss going out and walking around at night and seeing all the decorations.

Notre Dame doesn’t decorate for Halloween. I guess I shouldn’t expect them to, but with all that gothic architecture…it’s definitely a missed opportunity. Can you imagine a giant spiderweb draped across Touchdown Jesus? Seriously Father Jenkins…get on that.

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

Jacket: Hollister

Top: Hot Topic

Skirt: Forever21

Socks: Target

October 29, 2018 – Mad Mod (OOTD #399)

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Up next in blog titles with Meilin: blog titles named after Teen Titans villains.

I got this dress as a part of my trip to Nepal. It’s one of the last purchases I made before I went home — but it actually wasn’t purchased in Nepal. It was actually purchased in Bucktown, Chicago.

I wound up with a nine hour layover in O’Hare before I was allowed to fly back home to Kentucky. Initially, I was going to just wait it out in the airport, but after some advice from a friend, I decided to make something out of my nine hours and head out into the city for a few hours. While there, I came across a few vintage shops — my only weakness — and I bought this dress.

It actually came with a matching hat, but I haven’t come up with a way yet to wear it without looking super costume-like. Stay tuned to see if a green and yellow hat makes an appearance on this blog.

I am a big fan of the dress by itself, though. It’s vintage and 60’s-like — my two favorite adjectives to describe clothing. If you got rid of the racism and sexism and lack of WiFi, I would absolutely transport myself back to the 60s. I could start a ladies’ fashion journal instead of a blog.

By the time the early 2000’s rolled around, L’ensemble du jour would already be a huge name fashion news source. I’d get in on the big dotcom bubble of the late 90s, and I’d be set for life.

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

October 27, 2018 – An Apple A Day (OOTD #398)

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I have done so many apple-related things within the last month, I might as well just get myself a sponsorship from Apple.

That’s how it works, right? Apple sponsors people who like apples. I’ll take my brand new Macbook anytime now, thanks.

If you’ll remember, last year, I went out apple-picking with my dorm. The whole blog, I complained about how hot it was, and how the heat prevented me from fully enjoying myself. A trip to the apple orchard is supposed to be a nice way to go out and experience the fall weather, you know? If it’s 90 degrees out, it’s hard to experience fall weather.

Thankfully though, this year’s dorm trip to the apple orchard was much cooler and more fall-like. We went later in the year — late October versus late September — which meant the weather was so much nicer, but there were also fewer apples to pick. It was okay though. I don’t need apples. I just needed an enjoyable fall outing.

And this year’s trip was, thanks in part to the fact that I have more friends this year than I did at this time last. Last September, I remember I was still in the awkward phrase of trying to figure out who my friends were. I’d made some acquaintances, but I hadn’t really gotten close tot anyone. This year, I’ve kind-of found myself a stable friend group within my dorm and so I had them to hang out with during our trip. That always makes things more fun.

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

Jacket: Forever21

Sweater: Notre Dame bookstore

Boots: L.L. Bean

October 26, 2018 – Out and About (OOTD #397)

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Hey, kiddos. Have I told you yet about how much I like getting off campus?

No? Well get this fun fact — I savor every moment I spend that’s not on Notre Dame’s campus.

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toes? don’t need ‘em

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In this outfit, I got to go off campus for a few hours on a Friday afternoon to do some thrift shopping. Why thrift shopping? I’m actually not entirely sure. Myself, I love thrifting. But I wasn’t the one who suggested this outing.

And I don’t remember why the friends I went with decided to go thrifting. Maybe they just wanted to get off campus too. I guess it’s a common interest.

Anyway, I didn’t know when I got dressed that morning that I was going out after class, but I’m glad I dressed the way I did. It’s a very nice, “going out” sort of an outfit — fake hipster glasses and all.

Besides, what a missed opportunity it would have been had I gone out into South Bend without an outfit worth photographing! As a fashion blogger, I’m always on the lookout for good photo locations. On campus, my options are limited, especially since I like as much as possible to keep some variation in my OOTD posts. When I go out, even if it’s just to a neighborhood thrift shop, I like to get photos because it means I can have some content that’s different from my normal campus stuff.

The only thing I would have changed about these photos are the trees. My outfit is so fall-like; I wish my background matched that mood a little more. I was ready for fall, but these trees just weren’t yet. Inconsiderate of them, huh?

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

Jacket: thrifted

Dress: thrifted

October 23, 2018 – Tree Hugger (OOTD #396)

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I’m really liking this particular tree.

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make like a tree and go dormant

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It’s fall, and I gotta take advantage of all of the fall colors for my Instagram. Thankfully, Notre Dame is good for getting fall colors. I guess it’s that Midwestern air that makes things colder than it should be earlier than it should be.

Hence, all of the posts featuring trees lately.

It’s not like there’s a lot else to take pictures with, and these trees wouldn’t make a worthwhile background if not for their colors. No offense to trees.

I always wonder how those fashion bloggers who get beautiful, interestingly-composed shots every day do it. I mean, I’m sure living in a beautiful city like New York or Paris, where there’s a lot of interesting architecture to work with, helps. But it’s not like you can just go out every day to a new location to get your pictures. I don’t know, maybe when you have a million followers and being an Instagrammer is your whole life, you can afford to do that.

I guess all I need is an artistic photographer friend and a city with an unlimited supply of visually interesting backgrounds. And maybe a million followers on Instagram.

I’m on my way, though. I’m nearly to 10,000. Just got to multiply that number by 100. Seeing as it’s taken me nearly two years to make it to 10,000, I should have my million followers in 200 years!

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

Jacket: Zara

Top: Anthropologie

Jeans: Hollister