Month: July 2019

April 8, 2019 – Arts and Crafts (OOTD #490)

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I don’t know what this room is.

Sometimes, I wind up wandering around classroom buildings at night. Normally, it’s because I happened to be in the building before night fell, and then by the time it starts to get dark and empty, I just decide to hang around. Maybe it’s too cold outside to justify walking all the way back to my dorm. Maybe I know my roommates will be around, and I just want some silence to do some work.

Regardless of what the reason is for me being there, once the building in question clears, I like to wander around. There’s no one to tell me I can’t and no one to judge me when I try to open a locked door.

Sometimes, I bump into weird rooms like this. Like…what is this? An elementary school art studio?

You can’t see everything here, but this was a truly bizarre room. It had standard classroom fare — tables, chairs, computers. It also had slightly unconventional classroom fare — bean bags and white boards on wheels. Then, it had really unconventional classroom fare —  like enough Play-Dough, Post-It notes, and Legos to supply an army.

And I have no idea what they’re for! It’s not like it’s a classroom meant for aspiring elementary school teachers, it’s not an art studio, and it’s not even for engineers who are trying to think creatively with Play-Dough and Legos. It’s just…there.

I’m not convinced I didn’t stumble into the Room of Requirement. It gave me what I required, right? I got a place to take some pictures, which is all I really want in 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.

Jacket: AMIClubwear

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Turtleneck: Free People

April 7, 2019 – The Dark Side (OOTD #489)

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Today’s look brought to you: The Galactic Empire.

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Alternatively, it might have been brought to you by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Or the Catholic Church. Or really, anywhere where people wear long black robes.

The last time I wore this jacket was actually a whole year ago. It’s a difficult one to wear without seeming too Darth Vader-y — I love how long and flowy it is, but that can also make it a little over-the-top. In fact, I think the last time I wore it (the time a year ago) was actually a little too over-the-top.

This outfit is over-the-top too, but I think it’s an okay kind of over-the-top. I think the key was finding something really simple to pair with it — the jacket is so voluminous that it can’t handle having much going on underneath it. This simple black dress ended up being the perfect choice.

I guess it’s still possible that in a year, I’ll think this outfit was ridiculous too, and that I’ll be writing an all new blog about a new way that I’ve decided to wear this jacket that’s even better. For now though, I like this outfit — and all of its Galactic Empire vibes.

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: AMIClubwear

Dress: Kohl’s

April 6, 2019 – A 50s Dinner Party (OOTD #488)

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Sometimes, it’s the little things that motivate you to get dressed up.

In this case, it was the fact that my hair was still curly following a school dance the previous night. Because my hair is bleached, I don’t have to wash it every day — in fact it gets dried out if I wash it every day. So when I curl it, the curls can actually last a few days.

So when I woke upon April 6, hair still curly from the night before, I felt a little fancier than usual. Rather than just throw on a sweater and leggings like I normally might on a weekend where I have a lot of homework to do, I decided to put on a dress and pearls. Very 1950s Southern dinner party.

I don’t often dip into my Southern heritage for fashion inspiration when I’m at school in the Midwest. Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines aren’t exactly crowd-pleasers here the same way they are at home in Kentucky. That’s not even to say that I’m really into the Southern prep look when I’m home in Kentucky — I just like to have a diversity of aesthetics to work with.

And in fact, one of the things I like best is to switch up the aesthetic in unexpected and unusual ways. Sometimes, that means dressing like a 1950s housewife. Sometimes, that means dressing like a Catholic bishop.

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.

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer (Thrifted, Clothes Mentor)

Coat: Thrifted (Goodwill)

April 5, 2019 – Qipao Kapow (OOTD #487)

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Guess I’ve already given up on my Seinfeld-themed blog titles.

This will be a short post, as it’s actually a second outfit from a day that I’ve already posted about. If you want to read that post (please do!) go ahead and click here.

As it turns out, school dances don’t end with senior prom in high school. They keep going after you enter university, except people care a whole lot less and you don’t have to spend two months trying to find a dress because you have so many left over from high school that you can just wear one of those again.

You also don’t have to spend two months trying to find a date, or a friend group to take pictures with, or someone with a car who can drive you (who’s not your parents)…like I said, the whole thing is a lot less of a big deal than it was in high school. Plus, you can drink alcohol, which is basically the only thing that can make crawling out of your dorm room in shoes that pinch worth your time.

For this dance, my spring formal with my dorm, I opted to wear this blue Chinese qipao –a dress that you might recognize if you were a follower of my blog way back in 2017 when I first started writing here. It’s what I wore on a dinner cruise during my senior trip to New York City way back in 2017. That was literally just my ninth blog post — and almost exactly two years ago.

Here’s a pic from when I wore this qipao in New York two years ago, and is it just me, or do I basically look the same? I don’t know I was expecting when I compared the photos, but I was hoping to find that I’d become a lot prettier and more mature-looking in two years. I guess not.

I suppose I’m still just waiting on my growth spurt. And my glow-up. And just bscailly when I start looking like an adult woman instead of a twelve year-old boy.

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.

Dress: Some sketchy Chinese website online like five years ago

April 5, 2019 – The Coat (OOTD #486)

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Should I just start titling my blogs as though they’re Seinfeld episodes?

You know, in the format of “The [noun].” It would make my life so much easier. You’ve read how much I like formulas for creating outfits on the fly — maybe a formula for blog titles would help too.

This coat has slowly become one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe. I’ve actually had it for several years — I can’t necessarily pinpoint when I purchased it at Forever21, but I was definitely still in high school. When I first bought it, I assumed it would only be worn for fashion and not really for warmth, but in the frozen cornfields of Northern Indiana, suddenly everything has to be worn for warmth.

What I’ve found I love most about it is how versatile it is — just like my normal camel-colored winter coat which you’ve probably seen featured in a lot of recent OOTD posts, it goes with a lot. For something that I throw on top of whatever I’m wearing in order to protect against the chilly South Bend winds, it’s crucial that it go with whatever I’m already wearing. I can’t choose my outfit based on what coat I’m going to wear that day (with some exceptions); I choose my coat based on what outfit I’ve already put together.

Camel, as it turns out, is a very versatile color and one that I like to wear a lot. Like I said, my go-to warm winter coat is camel-colored, and black/navy and camel is one of my favorite color combinations. It’s a neutral, but one that stands out in a crowd full of black and grey and navy. It’s the perfect color for a coat that you have to wear a lot — it stands out without upstaging the outfit itself.

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.

Coat: Forever21

Turtleneck: Amazon

Dress: Fossil (thrifted, Clothes Mentor)

Scarf: A street vendor in Kathmandu, Nepal

April 1, 2019 – I A-Door You (OOTD #485)

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You get it? Because I’m standing in front of a door?

Okay, so it’s an obvious pun, and not even a funny one at that. We can’t all be comedic geniuses all of the time — or even some of the time. There are only so many door-related jokes in the world, and only so many brain cells in my head that can be devoted to thinking about them.

Well, there are only so many brain cells in my head to begin with (I’m thinking maybe five total), so I gotta conserve energy.

Speaking of conservation (check out that transition), it’s important to conserve heat in the awkward space between winter and spring in South Bend. Spring doesn’t really begin until late-April, meaning that late-March to mid-April can range in temperature from 5 degrees to 70 degrees, depending on the time of day and how the lake effect is feeling.

It’s hard to know how to dress during this period — will it be warm and sunny? Cold and miserable? Will it snow three feet or will the tulip shoots start poking out from the frozen soil for the first time?

My solution is to dress in layers — this outfit, for example, consists of a heavy turtleneck sweater layered over a spaghetti-strap sundress, with thigh high tights and thigh high boots. In the morning, I paired it with my wool winter coat. By afternoon, when the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds for a whole 20 minutes, I was down to just the dress with the boots and tights. By evening, when these photos were taken, I had the turtleneck back on.

Aren’t I a-door-able?

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.

Dress: Forever21

Sweater: Thrifted (Goodwill)

March 28, 2019 – Welcome to the Sixties (OOTD #484)

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Hey, remember when these blogs actually somewhat aligned with the real calendar date? Me neither.

So I’ve sort-of fallen behind. I hope you (and by you, I mean all three regular readers I suppose I have) don’t mind. I do actually really like to have a little bit of space in between the actual day the blog is supposed to be about and the date of that blog’s publication, but  three months is a little ridiculous; even I can admit that.

Regarding March 28’s outfit, though — it’s one of my favorites from March. I mean, I like the majority of my outfits — hence bothering to keep a fashion blog at all — but I’m particularly proud of this one.

Ever since I bought this retro disco dress at a vintage shop in Chicago, I’ve struggled to figure out how to wear it in new and interesting ways. It’s a great dress, don’t get me wrong — I love how blatantly 60s it is, it’s practically something I could have purchased at a Halloween shop with a Brigitte Bardot wig. However, that also poses problems — how do I wear it without looking like I purchased it at a Halloween shop?

It’s not exactly a dress I can throw a denim jacket over. It’s a deceptively simple dress; there’s very little to its design, but because of its bold pattern that immediately dates it to the 1960s, I have to be careful with how I accessorize it. Anything that seems more modern than the 60s, such as a denim jacket, would look silly when paired with it.

I thought this sweater was a good compromise. It’s got something of a vintage vibe to it as well, no?

I love this sweater — I honestly probably wear it way too much. For a cheap Forever21 purchase, it’s certainly lasted me a long time. It also happens to be my new favorite color to wear — yellow. Seems like a double-win for me.

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

Dress: A vintage shop in Chicago

Sweater: Forever21