Category: Fashion

August 23, 2017 – Bringing Shoreditch to South Bend (OOTD #93)

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Can you believe it’s already been basically two months since I was in London?

Yep – on this day, two months ago, I was preparing myself for my trip and beginning to plan out what I wanted to do with Amanda. That all already feels so far away, though – like another lifetime.

In a way, it feels like I’ve passed through at least two separate lifetimes since I was in London. My time working at the hardware store over the summer was definitely a unique experience, and of course, Welcome Weekend at Notre Dame was another thing entirely. London, my summer job, Welcome Weekend – they literally only happened within about two months of each other, but I’m pretty sure I was a different person entirely during each era.

Now classes have begun, which feels like another existence in and of itself, completely separate from Welcome Weekend. I remember complaining a lot during Welcome Weekend about all the activities we had to do and all the forced socialization. Now I realize I should have been grateful for the time when it was just freshmen on campus whose only job was to mingle and get acclimated to life.

Because, of course, now I still have the job of mingling and getting acclimated to campus life, but with the added responsibility of being a semi-adult who attends six stress-indcucing classes.

So today, my second day of class, I decided to bring back a little bit of the London Meilin, the one who had a mean fake British accent and could use the Underground like a local. I bought this denim dress in a thrift shop in Shoreditch, which was probably one of my favorite days of the entire trip. And that’s saying something, given how London was perhaps some of my favorite days of my life.

For real though, just wearing my Shoreditch dress made me feel a little more relaxed and at home here at Notre Dame. I wasn’t quite able to transport myself back to London and the mentality I had there, but it helped.

One of these days, I’ll really have to make a point of taking a day trip into Chicago. South Bend is, if I’m honest, pretty lame as a city (even more so than Lexington), and I’m craving the urban vibe. I think there’s a way I can grab a shuttle into a train station, and then catch a train into the city. At some point when I’m not laden with homework (Will there ever be a point when I’m not laden with homework? Hopefully lol), I need to figure that out.

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, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Dress: Blitz (vintage)

Top: Free People

 

August 22, 2017 – Class Act (OOTD #92)

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Welp, I started classes today.

Here’s the good news – I made it to all of my classes! I didn’t trip over my feet! I got to talk to new people and made a new friend who was willing to take photos of my outfits! I went to bed at a decent time!

But here’s the bad news – my Chinese history class is intimidating! I have 70 pages of reading to do in my textbook within two days! I spent almost all of my spare time today doing homework and had no time to do anything else!

Here’s more good news though – I overall feel okay. I finished the 70 pages of reading, even though it took forever, and I think it’s manageable if I adjust my note-taking strategies a bit.

In the end, it was a positive day. I’m exhausted, and I’m trying my best not to think about how I have three more classes to get to tomorrow with even more work and likely more intense reading sessions, but that’s fine. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.

On another note, I really liked my outfit today! I’ve known for months that I wanted to do a sheer top with embroidered flower appliqués as my “first day of school” outfit, and I’m happy with how the concept turned out.

I actually saw this top for the first time in London in an Oxford St. Zara – and I didn’t buy it. Not for myself, at least; it went to my best friend, Jane. It just looked so much like her, and I couldn’t keep it for myself when it was clearly meant for her.

Luckily, there’s this amazing little app called Poshmark for buying secondhand clothes, and I was able to pick up a black version for myself even after I went back to the States. I paired it with another Zara skirt from Poshmark, this one which I bought a year ago for my first day of senior year. In the end, it made for an edgy, but still feminine, Zara-centric outfit that focused on my favorite color – black.

I love first day of school outfits, and I hate them at the same time. Everyone gets dressed a little nicer for the first day of school, so it’s a little harder to stand out, but at the same time, everyone is paying a little closer attention to appearances, so you want to look nice. Hopefully, I was able to make a good impression with my outfit today of a stylish, confident young woman, or, at the very least, someone who makes a conscious effort to look different.

Or maybe I just looked weird. Honestly, I’d be okay with that too.

Anyway, I really ought to be getting to bed – want to get a decent amount of sleep for classes and all. 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, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Top: Zara

Skirt: Zara

Bralette: Aerie

August 21, 2017 – Total Eclipse of the Heart (OOTD #91)

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Once upon a time there was light in my life…now there’s only light in the dark…

Fun fact – I actually became familiar with this song through Glee. It’s one of the only songs where I believe the Glee version is better than the original (no offense Bonnie Tyler – it’s just a little too 80s for me), and I probably know more of the lyrics than I would care to admit.

So Monday was eclipse day! Here in South Bend, I think we wound up getting about 89% totality, which, unfortunately, was a little less impressive than the 98% that I believe Lexington was supposed to get. Guess I should have stayed at home, huh?

Honestly, the eclipse as I experienced it was a little…how do I put this – lackluster? Disappointing? Sad? I’m not sure if I expected the heavens to open up and the angels to begin singing, but I did sort of expect a little darkness, maybe? I think it normally gets darker when a cloud covers the sun than when this eclipse happened though, lol.

I brought along my eclipse glasses that I purchased the glorious Home Depot before I left Lexington and sat out on the lawn with some girls from my dorm, munching on grapes, watching the people, and preparing myself for some kind of epic, earth shattering experience.

Unfortunately, it never came. At the point closest to totality, it did get a little shadowy-er over the quad, but honestly, if you had not told me that there was an eclipse going on, I might not have known.

But that’s okay! I got to hang out with some friends and chill, so that was pretty dope. For whatever reason, no one bothered to tell me that I didn’t need to be wearing my eclipse glasses in this photo though, so…maybe not that dope.

Overall, it was just a really relaxed day. Okay, perhaps I should rephrase that – it was really relaxed in comparison to the other Welcome Weekend days. I had some actual free time today to sit around and do homework, and I haven’t had any moments like that yet. Dare I say doing homework was almost nice?

Yeah…I don’t dare. Homework is never nice – it would be blasphemy to say so. 😏

I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Vest: Altar’d State

Shirt: H&M

Shorts: PacSun

August 20, 2017 – The Blog Post Of Posing With My Hand On My Sunglasses (OOTD #90)

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Look, posing for photos is hard.

The best poses are dynamic, but dynamic poses draw attention, which is not always what I want, especially when I’m doing my best to fly under the radar at my new school and not make too much a fool of myself. That’s why I wound up with a ton of photos with my hand on my sunglasses today – it’s a simple pose isn’t embarrassing. I’m already a freshman, which is just about the dorkiest thing to be; I don’t also want to be a dorky freshman posing dramatically for photos in front of my class buildings.

But I can’t help it – the buildings here at Notre Dame are so pretty. I want to pose with all of them and take photos, strange though that may be. Maybe things will change once I’ve gone inside some of these buildings and begin to associate them with the stresses of school, but for now, I’m still in awe of the beauty of this place.

Today was the day my parents – all the parents, really – left. I love those guys, and I’m unspeakably appreciative of all they’ve done for me, so it was far from easy to say goodbye. I did though, and so did they, with very minimal fanfare involved. That was the best way, I think – prolonging things would have served no purpose.

On another note, with my parents went their photography skills and non-judgmental nature, so for a few hours there, I had absolutely no means of doing my pictures for my blog post. Thankfully, one of my three roommates has been cool enough to agree to do my OOTD photos for now, at least until I can hunt down someone else who’s willing to do it consistently and long-term.

Also thankfully, this awesome roommate has some pretty  sweet camera skills – and an iPhone 7 that takes those cool portraits with the blurry backgrounds. I’ve always wanted to do those things!

But for real, I can’t keep bothering my roommate to take pictures of me everyday – she’s busy and I’m sure she doesn’t want to be bothered to do work for my blog when I’m not paying her. I’m considering now buying a tripod and a remote and trying to do photos on my own? I’ve heard of some fashion bloggers who do that.

Do you have any suggestions for what I should do about taking my pictures? Are any of you fashion bloggers who take their own photos – and if so, what’s your technique? I’ll take any advice you can give me!

I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Blouse: ASOS

Sweater: Unknown (thrifted)

Skirt: Forever21

August 19, 2017 – How To Wear A Generic T-Shirt That Your Dorm Makes You Wear (OOTD #89)

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Notre Dame, day 2.

Welcome Weekend is a strange experience – it’s almost like a summer camp. Everyone walks around in packs, led by older and wiser mentors who direct you where to go, no one really has any friends so it’s a constant stream of “Hi, my name is ___ and I’m from ____”, and, in the case of Notre Dame, you are even forced to wear matching t-shirts with your dorm name.

So my dorm got this pretty generic baby blue design with bright yellow accents – by no definition ugly, but by no definition very interesting. It reminds me of those Simply Southern shirts that all the preppy girls in my high school would wear with leggings and Hunter boots. In one sense, it’s very nice because it allows you to find people from your dorm no matter what event you’re at, but in another, well, it’s kind of hard to stand out in terms of fashion.

But I like to try, so this is my attempt at making my ND dorm room t-shirt into a more interesting outfit than just a t-shirt and shorts (which is what pretty much everyone went for). I began with the t-shirt and shorts template, but then I added my absolute favorite jacket – this tan utility coat with a ton of pockets – over top and a Notre Dame baseball on my head.

In particular, I liked the way the tan of the jacket picked up the gold in the hat – I’m going to have to remember this combo for game days when I need something school spirit-y and still fashionable to wear. One of my roommates apparently already has all of her tailgating outfits picked out, while meanwhile, I’m still struggling to figure out wha I’m going to wear tomorrow.

My parents were still around for this day, but not for much longer. I’m definitely going to miss them – and their photography skills. I really hate to bother people about taking pictures of me (it comes off as super narcissistic, right?), but I think I’m just going to have to go for it. I love this blog and I don’t want to give it up (heck, I’m writing this one at 2:30 in the morning, after I finished all my homework and the welcome activities for the day), but there’s no way for me to get decent quality OOTD photos without a photographer.

For real – why isn’t there? It’s the 21st century and we still have to rely upon other people to take photos of us like animals. I need like, a remote-controlled drone that I can set up to follow me around and snap pictures of my outfit.

If that existed it, I would give it inventor all of my money. And then demand that he or she invent a way to solve the world’s second most pressing problem – coffee grinds in the bottom of your cup and Leggos that you step on in the middle of the night.

I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt: Notre Dame

Hat: Notre Dame

Shorts: Abercrombie

August 18, 2017- First Day at ND (OOTD #88)

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Today I did what was, just a few days ago, practically unthinkable to me – moved into my college dorm room.

This was probably the bit I was most excited for in the whole beginning college ordeal. I’ve (or should I say, my parents) been buying things in preparation for this day for weeks. Granted, I’ve got some friends who have been preparing for months, and good for them, but I’m more of a “fly by the seat of your pants”  and “live in a state of denial whenever a big change is approaching” type of girl, so my excitement didn’t have that much time to fester.

But it did anyway, and every time I looked at my handprinted Indian bedding it festered (there’s your Scrabble word of the day) a little more. That’s really what got me through the ugly packing process followed by the 6 hour car drive up to South Bend on Thursday.

I’m not sure how I feel about this whole living situation at Notre Dame – I’m in a two-room quad, meaning there’s a little tiny back bedroom, where our four beds and four wardrobes sit, and then a much larger social space, with our desks and not much else. I actually don’t mind the space part, since I’ve managed to fit pretty much all the clothes I’d been wanting to bring (it’s still only about half of my full wardrobe), I’m just a little apprehensive about living with 3 other girls.

People exhaust me, and I need time by myself every day in order to restore my energy. How is that going to happen in this quad? I’m sure there will be plenty of secluded places for going off and studying in peace, but I really need a quiet, safe place where I can rest. I’m sure it’ll all turn out okay, the question is just when.

Another key issue: who’s going to take my OOTD photos now that I’m here? Fingers crossed that one of my roommates will be chill with it. Otherwise….maybe it’s time to invest in a tripod? Or make friends with an actual photographer? 😂

We’ll see. Hopefully it’s not long before I can connect with the artsy kids and we can mull over our own pretentious, artistic endeavors together.

On another note, it was perhaps a bad decision to wear a long white coat on an 80 degree day when you and your parents are hauling boxes across campus and up three flights of stairs, but I can’t help it – I just really want to look nice while I’m here. It’s not even so much the fact that it’s my first day on campus and I want to impress people; on the contrary, I feel like the first week of school is a terrible time to bust out your nicest outfits, since everyone’s distracted by the first day of school stuff. Plus, they’re probably a little nicer dressed than usual too. so it’s more difficult to stand out.

#PrayforMei – Lord knows I need it.

I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Jacket: Vintage

Skirt: H&M

Bralette: Aerie

August 15, 2017 – See You Kentucky, It’s Been Weird (OOTD #87)

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But it’s been a good weird…I think?

It’s hard to believe it, but before long, I’ll be beginning classes at Notre Dame. By August 18, I’ll be in South Bend, IN, by August 19, I’ll be moved into my dorm, and by August 22,  I’ll be starting my first class.

Not to be cliché (but I am being cliché, and that’s totally fine with me here), but I feel like the time between the start of senior year and now has just flown by. How does that work – time seeming to move so quickly in retrospect but pass so slowly as it’s happening?

It’s hard to imagine myself as a college student, living in a dorm room with 3 other people, sharing a bathroom with like 15, and a campus with 10,000. So I’m not going to – not yet. There will be time for me to worry about my classes and my rooming situation and making friends, but now is the time for denial.

So nope, I’m not really leaving Kentucky, and these balloons aren’t really for my going away, and I didn’t wear this outfit because I wanted to look nice for going out to get ice cream with Amanda and Zach for the last time. It’s just a normal summer day in Lexington – hanging out with friends, being a little festive, and being extra fashionable.

For real though, I do rather like this outfit – I think the delicate white lace top looks particularly nice with the white wrap skirt and my white hair. Maybe I’m biased, being both the creator and the wearer of the outfit, but I like to think I’m honest with myself regarding how I look. I know when an ensemble looks good, and I know when it doesn’t, and I try not to act like things are any different.

The balloons, of course, add a nice touch. My mother brought them home “for me” – actually, she got them for a picnic she’s having at work, but I decided to pretend they were mine. Surprisingly, it’s not easy posing with balloons in photos, as any even slight breeze means they’re floating in front of your face or off in some other awkward location. I’m glad they were there though – added a nice pop of color to the shots.

Welp, guess that’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next blog post, when I’ll definitely still be living in Lexington, and I’ll definitely still be with all my friends, and I’ll definitely still be enjoying a lazy summer! Nothing out of the ordinary going on here!

I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Top: Altar’d State

Skirt: Pitaya

 

August 14, 2017 – Walgreens Photos (OOTD #86)

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There are two relevancies of the title “Walgreens photos” to this blog post – 1) I had some photos to print at Walgreens for a little project that I’ll show off a little later, and 2) I literally took my OOTD photos outside of Walgreens.

Is Walgreens a glamorous photo location? Well, no. It’s no Shoreditch or abandoned school building, and you’re more likely than at Shoreditch or an abandoned school building to good weird glances from people who don’t know why you’re posing for photos in front of a drugstore.

But what does Walgreens have? Well, a pretty dope two-toned wall that complemented my sweater well and a praying mantis.

Here’s the thing about taking photos for a fashion blog – you don’t want your background to overwhelm your outfit. That’s really the important part here; cool backgrounds are neat and all but you can’t let them distract from the “fashion” bit of your fashion blog. The best backgrounds make your outfit pop, such as the red in the Walgreens wall that pulls from the orange in my sweater, and aren’t so busy that they overwhelm you. Grass and trees tend to do this, especially if you’re wearing a cool color like green.

Am I saying that I should be the center of attention for my photos?

Well…yeah? I guess.

But not all the time! I often like to include pictures of my friends here – like this praying mantis I found chilling on the wall next to me. This dude was absolutely huge, probably the size of my fist. He didn’t seem to mind me standing near him, and even posed for a photo or two.

Speaking of friends, the reason why I went to Walgreens in the first place was to have some photos of my friends printed for a little photo board I wanted to put together for my dorm room. I put a photo below – I think it turned out really well! My hope is that I’ll be able to add more photos of my new friends that I make in college.So I guess that’s it for today! I’ll see you in the next one. 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!

Dress: Unknown (thrifted)

Sweater: Target

August 11, 2017 – Team Edward FTW (OOTD #85)

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Finally got my scraggly bleach-damaged ends snipped off.

I love getting my hair cut – I really ought to have it done more often. It’s amazing what a difference it can make, lightening up the weight of your hair and making it look more healthy, even when it’s in as sad of a state as mine.

Today’s outfit was rather simple: just a blazer, a shirt and a pair of leggings. It’s made more interesting though by the billowy sleeves of the shirt, which pop out from under the jacket and add some extra drama. It was a lazy day for me in terms of fashion, since I had to go to work early in the morning I opted for comfort over style, but I found that I was still able to add a little detail like that to keep from being too boring.

After work, I had to rush home to entertain some friends for the evening. I arrived at 5:00 to begin cooking and told them to arrive to arrive at 5:30, banking on the fact that they’d arrive around 5:45 since they’re teenagers and we’re a perpetually late bunch (I know I am).

And thankfully, they were! I mean, normally tardiness is a little annoying, but I knew I was going to be late with cooking dinner anyway, so it was better that they were late too. Yay for poor time management skills?

We’d selected three movies for the evening – School of Rock, Twilight, and The Brave Little Toaster – and we made it through all but the last. It was particularly amusing because Zach had never seen Twilight while Amanda apparently used to watch it once a week as a kid, making for an interesting experience of Zach looking confused and Amanda spouting out random trivia about each scene.

In the end though, we all agreed – Team Edward FTW. Not that it really matters anymore, since the Twilight phenomenon is thankfully a thing of the past, but Jacob’s character is just so much less developed, especially in the first move. Edward’s hardly Mr. Personality either, but he’s a superpowered vampire with My Chemical Romance levels of self-hatred, so that earns him some points. Plus, Robert Pattinson’s cuter.

Wait…why am I even going on about Twilight in 2017?

I’ll see you in the next one! 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!

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt: The LOFT

August 9, 2017 – “Don’t Play Near Train Tracks,” They Said (OOTD #84)

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I swear, I’m not dabbing in this photo – goodness knows I’m not cool enough for that – I’m just tripping on the train tracks.

My friend, Amanda and I went on a final trip to our favorite restaurant, The Local Taco, before we head off to college, and afterwards, we couldn’t think of anything to do. We drove around for a while listening to 2012 throwback songs (“Bottoms Up” by Trey Songz is still such a bop, by the way) before finally deciding to go for a walk at a nearby nature preserve.

Interestingly, the place where we went, McConnell Springs, was actually the location of both of our senior portrait sessions. It’s such a beautiful place –  not too many trees as to be distracting, and a paved path that was easy to walk –  meaning we both went into photography mode, scouting out the best locations and the best lighting for taking mainly mediocre and occasionally very nice pictures of each other.

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I rather like those friends who are cool with taking lots of photos together. Maybe it was the way I was raised – as a kid, I remember my dad often carrying a camera along whenever we went places – but I love being able to capture memories and events with the click of a button.

For a while there, I was pretty self-conscious of taking photos out in public; in fact, when Snapchat was first getting started, I was dismissive of the whole concept because it relied upon taking selfies while out and about. Taking a selfie in public? To 14 year-old me, there was no greater social faux pas, and no greater display of narcissism.

But I’m over that now – after all, I do have fashion blog, and where would I be if it weren’t for the public displays of narcissism that I put on every day taking my OOTD photos?

Anyway, along our little nature walk, we encountered some trees, a cave, and a graffiti-covered wall that made for good photo spots, but by far, our best photos were taken along a set of train tracks.

Being on what I assume was a still used train route, I was a little nervous taking photos there. Granted, there was plenty of room for us to get out of the way should a train come rolling by, but “don’t play near the train tracks” was, for whatever reason, a lesson that was as heavily stressed in my formative years as “don’t take candy from strangers” and “don’t walk out into traffic” – despite the fact that I lived nowhere near any trains.

I always get a little nervous near them, but I think the cool shots we got were worth my panicked glances every time I heard a sound in the distance. But hey, what’s life without the constant anxiety of death to keep you on your toes?

I’ll see you in the next one! 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!

Top: Free People

Shorts: Abercrombie