forever21 – Page 16 – L'ensemble du jour

October 28, 2017 – The Frozen Irish (OOTD #147)

Published on November 2, 2017October 6, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Get it? ‘Cause it was cold?

(I’m not funny, sorry.)

I was so hideously underdressed for this football game, like…wow. Never making that mistake again.

30 degrees Fahrenheit is much too cold to go without a coat for three and a half hours – even if you’re wearing two sweaters, a jacket, and a scarf, even if you’re crammed into a stadium with thousands and thousands of people, even if you wear a hat and pull your scarf over your mouth and nose and put on sunglasses to block the air.

The fact that I’m already acting like a miserable wimp about the weather and it’s only FALL makes me low-key terrified for the winter. Winter has always been my favorite season, but something tells me that one winter in Chicago may make me change my mind.

I was talking to one of my friend’s parents at a tailgate about how cold it was and they mentioned that one year, while they were at Notre Dame, they came back to campus after winter break to temperatures 40 BELOW. I didn’t even know such temperatures existed anywhere in the continental US. The coldest I’ve ever seen in 10 below, and when we had temperatures like that in Kentucky, they closed school.

In better news though, Notre Dame won the game! That’s always fun. It feels like that one time in my junior year of high school our basketball time won the state championship, but on a larger scale. I’ve never been a huge college football person, but I may be becoming one.

Notre Dame may take away my will to live the wintertime, but at least they have the kindness to replace it with an interest in collegiate sports.

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!

Sweater: Forever21

Jacket: Chaps

Pants: Banana Republic

Boots: LL Bean

October 27, 2017 – Warm Colors, Cold Person (OOTD #146)

Published on November 1, 2017 by lensembledujour2 Comments

If I wear wear colors, I’ll be warm, even if it’s cold out…right?

I wish. Rather, it was chilly and autumnal outside while I was doing these photos, and my thin orange swearer and burgundy scarf only helped so much.

I’m still getting used to how different the weather here in South Bend is compared to what I’m used to in Kentucky. The weather we’re getting right now in late October/early November is actually more like the weather we get in December in KY.

So basically, what I’m saying, is that it feels like Christmas and I’m ready for it to hurry itself up and get here.

Actually, on the contrary, I’m not one of those people that is really very interested in celebrating Christmas as early as possible. I’ve got a friend whose family puts up their Christmas tree on HALLOWEEN NIGHT – as in, they have trick-or-treaters coming to their house in their costumes as they put the ornaments on their tree and listen to Christmas music – and that to me is just too early.

I, personally, am a staunch believer that one should not celebrate Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. But when it is time to celebrate Christmas, I do it with intensity – I bust out the Christmas sweaters, the Christmas playlists, and the decorations, pretty much all at midnight on the day after Thanksgiving.

So what’s my point here? I like Christmas, quite a lot, and I’m definitely excited for it, but even though I’m excited, I don’t want it to start celebrating it for another month still. Halloween and Thanksgiving must be given their equal share of time before Christmas comes.

But when Christmas does come, you’d better be ready.

Dress: Forever21

Sweater: Target

Bonus: me being interrupted by a jogger

October 25, 2017 – Short Sleeve Sweater Weather (OOTD #144 )

Published on October 30, 2017October 30, 2017 by lensembledujour6 Comments

Short sleeve sweater – isn’t that kind of counterintuitive?

See, I’m wearing one here, and I don’t really know why. My body was warm, and my arms were freezing. A short sleeve sweater would be too warm to wear in the summer, when you typically wear short sleeve shirts, and yet too cold to wear in the winter, when you typically wear sweaters. How does this design even make sense?

One of the cool things about fashion is that it’s fairly close to pure design. Unlike, say, cars, where the designers have to work with the engineers to make their ideas practical for use, fashion designers have fewer restraints to work within. Sure, in the mall, the designs sold are more likely to conform to trends in order to sell, but head to a local boutique, and you’ll get something more unique, like a short sleeved sweater. It’s not practical, it’s not trendy, but it’s some designer’s vision, and that’s what makes it special.

Special, or maybe just difficult to wear. Welp, at any rate, I own it now, and, as with all of my clothes, I see it as my duty to wear it.

Thankfully, it went nicely with a new pair of trousers I got over fall break. Less thankfully, the trousers were made form a fairly thin material, so my legs were cold, my chest was warm, and arms were cold. It’s alright though – I looked fashionable, despite freezing half of the surface area of my body off.

Who needs arms and legs anyway? If Chuck Close manages, then so can I.

Sweater: The LOFT (which is admittedly not a local boutique – but my point still stands)

Trousers: Forever21

October 24, 2017 – On Trend (OOTD #143)

Published on October 29, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Look and me – grey hair cut into a lob, oversized cardigan, crop top, boyfriend jeans…just make me Instagram famous already; my ability to follow trends deserves it.

If that painfully millennial statement didn’t make you run away cringing, then congrats! Here’s your medal.

(In all actuality, I don’t consider myself a millennial – I believe I fall more under the definition of Generation Z, as I have been using the Internet since a young age, and it has almost always been a large component of my life. That’s the key component that distinguishes millennials from Generation Z, and it kind of peeves me to be lumped in with millennials…but that’s a rant for another blog).

Anyway, I am, admittedly, quite a fan of the Fall 2017 trends. It was no secret that Summer 2017 didn’t particularly impress me – firstly, because summer fashion never impresses me because it tends to rely upon pieces that are worn alone, rather than intelligent layering that winter and fall fashion revolves around, and secondly, because I felt like it had nothing new to offer. Off-the-shoulder tops and high-waisted denim shorts have been in style since Summer 2016; Summer 2017 just seemed like a re-hash of old trends we had seen before (and seen very recently).

But oversized sweaters combined with oversized pants – now that’s something that’s a little more unique. And also, way more comfortable than tight skinny jeans! It’s all very 90s, which is a decade that’s been trending for like, four years, making me think it’s possibly on its way out, but in the meantime, I’m enjoying it. I feel like skinny jeans have consistently been in-style since I was about 11 (I don’t believe I owned any other fit of jeans from 6th grade to senior year), so it’s refreshing to see something new.

I was just recently in a Forever21, which, to me, is the epitome of trendy fashion, and for the first time in a while, I actually liked a good deal of the things I saw. Forever21 clothes are all pretty cheap, meaning they’re really good at churning out pieces as soon as the Instagram influencers and fashion magazines declare something to be in style. They also tend to lean trashy and juvenile, but I saw less of that there than usual.

I’m optimistic for this winter’s fashion scene. I like the 60s and 90s influence we’re currently seeing, as I’m always here for vintage fashion, and I think it’s quite possible I could go a few months without complaining about the state of the fashion industry. Because you know, I, a teenager with no connections to the fashion industry and no educational background in fashion, am the de facto authority on what should and shouldn’t be trendy.

Sweater: Forever21

Top: H&M (thrifted)

Jeans: American Eagle

October 23, 2017 – Ketchup and Mustard (OOTD #142)

Published on October 27, 2017October 27, 2017 by lensembledujour2 Comments

I mean, those are kind of the colors I’m wearing in these photos, right?

Alternatively, I guess you could see them as USC colors, but they’re losers, so why would you want to see them like that?

In my opinion, actually, ketchup and mustard are kind of losers too. I don’t know, I’ve just never liked them together? They’re fine by themselves – macaroni is excellent with a touch of yellow mustard, and french fries wouldn’t be complete without ketchup. But together, I just get flashbacks of those tiny McDonalds cheeseburgers I used to get as a snack before karate practice as a kid, that I always sort-of disliked because I didn’t know how to request no condiments.

These two pieces – the fuzzy mustard sweater and the carpetbag ketchup skirt – are actually brand new. I got them over fall break when my mother and I went shopping at the mall for new clothes that I absolutely don’t need. In fairness, I did get rid of quite a lot of clothes before I went off to school, but admittedly, I do have more clothes than I need.

I think I do a fairly good job of wearing them all though. I think of all of my clothes with the same kind of low key fondness that I do for all of my stuffed animals – I like to think they like being worn, and that it’s my duty as their owner to wear them so they don’t become sad.

That’s probably a little weird, but the way I see it, some people humanize their cars, their plants, or their pets – I humanize my clothes. And in return, my clothes make me look good. What do plants do? Give you oxygen to breathe? Pfft.

Sweater: Forever21

Skirt: Forever21

October 21, 2017 – You Had a Bad Day (OOTD #141)

Published on October 26, 2017 by lensembledujour5 Comments

You’re taking one down…The Meilin of these photos did not have a fun day.

You might not have guessed that from the way I’m smiling here – I look rather cheery, don’t I? That’s because I was about to go eat a Five Guys burger and fries, and I love that restaurant. Saturday was also the last day of my cheat week, so that burger was going to be the last ones I’d have for a while.

I was also happy because I had just found a really cute place to take my OOTD photos, despite being far from home and not knowing where I was. Finding a good background for your OOTD photos is kind of a tossup when you’re on the road – sometimes, you can find some really nice restaurants with beautiful flowers and colorful exteriors, and sometimes, there’s nothing but the dirty brick wall of a Taco Bell. this time, I was lucky, as there was a spa with these really pretty lion decorations just around the corner from the restaurant we were stopping at.

Unfortunately, my day went rather downhill after my burger and fries. In these photos, I was in the process of heading back to school, and I was about a third of the way there. This first third simply involved sitting in a car, writing my Saturday Musings + Coffee post, and dreaming about how exciting the ND vs USC was going to be when I finally arrived on campus. More on that travesty later.

The last two thirds of the journey involved sitting on the Greyhound bus and waiting for it to pull into the South Bend airport. If you’ve never taken a Greyhound, let me tell you – they are uncomfortable, some of the people are sketchy, and it takes forever to get where you want to go. But they’re cheap and they get you there, and that’s ultimately what matters.

Finally, after having sat in my parents’ car, the bus, and an Uber for a combined length of about eight hours of travel, I finally made it back to campus. I lugged my two giant suitcases back to my dorm, touched up my makeup, and prepared to head out to the stadium.

BUT ALAS, it was not meant to be, for, as I was just about to go out the door, I realized that I couldn’t find the email with my tickets. I searched my Gmail, my computer’s email app, and my phone’s email app using every combination of the words “football” and “tickets” possible, but to no avail. After about 30 minutes of searching and bitterly listening to the cheers of the people who were actually there in the stadium, I gave up, and decided to spend my evening putting away the clothes I had packed.

Thankfully, a few days later, I was able to get my remaining tickets re-emailed to me from the ND tickets office, so I’ll still be able to go to the rest of the games this season. Still, I’m kinda bitter I missed this particular game – apparently it was a really good one.

Ah well, next time.

Jacket: Forever21

Sweater: American Eagle

Boots: LL Bean

Jeans: Hollister

October 19, 2017 – My Inner Emo Kid (OOTD #139)

Published on October 24, 2017 by lensembledujour9 Comments

How many times have I described myself as something of an emo kid, here on this blog?

Plenty, it seems. And the thing is, I’m not even a proper emo kid – not at least, in the sense that emo kids existed in the early 2000s. I don’t even know if the “emo” subculture exists anymore; I’m pretty sure they were replaced by hipsters as the predominant “alternative” crowd sometime around 2012-2013.

When emo kids were a thing – say, back in 2006 – I was just eight years old, and Hot Topic was the scariest store in the mall to me. It played loud music, had scary masks in the window at Halloween, and had dim lighting that made the entrance look more like the entrance to a dungeon than a clothing store.

It wasn’t until I was about 14 that I actually started listening to some of the music that they played in Hot Topic and experimenting with an “edgier” dark style. It started with Fall Out Boy and some black sweaters, eventually evolving into My Chemical Romance and leather jackets, and finally, Bring Me the Horizon and Doc Martens. I never had a full-on emo phase – no fringe haircuts, studded belts, or rawr XD text messages (at least, when I was 14…I probably experimented with a “rawr XD” or an “lol so randomz” message when I was 11) – but I did like to dress in all-black every once in a while.

The decision to dye my hair blonde when I was 17 actually came, in some part, from my love of My Chemical Romance music. I wanted to look like Gerard Way circa the Black Parade era (and also Elsa). I instead wound up with an orangey honey color – I didn’t wind up with truly white hair until about a year later, and even then, it was impossible to maintain, haha.

So impossible, that I decided the other day to chop it off. The ends were just looking too scraggly and awful – just have a look at my last blog with blonde hair if you don’t believe me. And since I was chopping it off, I figured I would go for another change while I was at it – dying it grey.

The dye I used, if you’re curious, is the Ion Semi-Permanent color in Titanium. It was quite easy, actually: all I did was whip up a 1:1 mixture of conditioner and dye and then paint it on my already bleached hair. I didn’t add any more bleach to my hair than what was already there, since I didn’t want to damage it further, so I’ve still got my black roots.

So, with my newly grey hair and my outfit that made me look like a Hot Topic model (well, a short Hot Topic model), I went out to a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant with my family to celebrate my birthday. In actuality, my birthday’s not until November 1, but since I’m going to be back at school by then, my family wanted to celebrate it early.

I’m not sure exactly what my grandmother thought about going to lunch with her grey-haired, Doc Martens-wearing teenage granddaughter, but I don’t think she minded too much. And if she did, well it’s because *whiny voice* she just doesn’t understand, right?

Dress: Forever21

Jacket: Forever21

Boots: Doc Marten

Also, if you’re curious about how my father’s and my pumpkin display from this year turned out, here it is!

October 14, 2017 – Looking Like a USC Fan (OOTD #136)

Published on October 20, 2017October 20, 2017 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Obviously, I’m not.

Why do I make that sound like it’s obvious? Well, because Notre Dame is playing USC (as in Southern California, not South Carolina – as my father just recently informed me) tomorrow, and despite how little my pea brain knows about football, I do rather hope that ND succeeds.

You can bet that tomorrow I’ll be wearing blue and gold (and maybe some green?) rather than maroon and yellow.

In fact, I’m so passionate about Notre Dame’s success in this game that I’m going to be headed back to school on another Greyhound bus for another five hours of fun so that I can make it to the game. I’ll miss out on the tailgating and the pregame photos, but I don’t mind – I have yet to have a tailgating experience that’s I’d call “fun.” I guess I haven’t had enough alcohol yet.

I am definitely excited for the game though. I hope I make it on time – my bus gets into South Bend at 6:15, and the game starts at 7:30. It’ll be an interesting hour and fifteen minutes, trying to get from the South Bend airport to my dorm room to drop off my bags to the stadium to find my friends, but the alternative was to have arrived a day earlier, and I was not about to sleep in my crappy dorm room bunk bed for any extra days than I had to.

Sleeping in my bed has been the greatest part about being home. Eating a crap ton of junk food and my mother’s cooking and not exercising at all has been lovely too. Having my parents to drive me around places (since I’m not allowed to have a car on campus) was also great – it meant I could go to craft fairs like this one I’m so cheerily posing in front of in these photos.

I’m going to miss home. Thankfully, this time, it’s only four weeks of school before I get to be home again for Thanksgiving. I can already taste the turkey.

Sweater: Forever21

Pants: the LOFT

October 13, 2017 – Friday the 13th (OOTD #135)

Published on October 19, 2017October 19, 2017 by lensembledujour3 Comments

**spOoKy vibes**

It’s not even a spooky outfit here – I left my glittery spider tights and my ghost socks at home – but it was a spooky day.

What made it spooky, you ask? I took a Greyhound from South Bend to Dayton, Ohio, and that was quite creepy. Not necessarily the worst experience of my life, but um…far from great.

I’m no stranger to public transport, but I’m no connoisseur either – I am, you’ll remember, from Kentucky, and we don’t exactly have any subways or trains here. Plenty of horses, but sadly, you can’t just hop onto one of those and ride off to the mall.

Thus, pretty much all of the transport you do in KY is by car, which, for me, a car-less individual who is a pretty lousy driver at any rate, is far from ideal. I do believe Lexington has a public bus system, but I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s actually used it.

The entirety of my experience riding public buses comes from the school bus, which I suffered on regularly from age 11 to age 17, a bus or two from North Jersey into NYC, and a tour bus in Beijing. A Greyhound was an entirely new experience for me – all I’d heard about them came from Billy Joel’s lyric “taking a Greyhound / on the Hudson River Line” in “New York State of Mind,” and the La La Land lyric “I left him at a Greyhound station / west of Santa Fe” from “Another Day of Sun.”

And how was the experience? Ehhhh…it might have been better if the driver weren’t the rudest person I’d met in my life (though I can’t blame him, a job as a Greyhound driver must suck), and if I’d not sat next to an extremely obese woman for the first leg of the journey (though I can’t blame her either, it’s not her fault I chose to sit next her), but all in all – it was alright. I napped. I watched Treehouse of Horror episodes. I looked at memes on Twitter. It was pretty dull and the only sketchy thing that happened was that one time that the bus driver threatened to kick this one guy off the bus for…reasons? I don’t really know actually; I was pretty engrossed in Treehouse of Horror VI.

Jacket sweater shrug thing: Forever21

Top: H&M

Bralette: Aerie

Jeans; Abercrombie

October 12, 2017 – Photos Taken Seconds Before Disaster (OOTD #134)

Published on October 17, 2017February 14, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Number 12 will shock you!

Actually, I don’t think I even have 12 photos for this blog. It was a fairly simple day in terms of fashion photography. You want to know why?

Look back at that first photo again. Notice anything strange about it? Like, a cracked door, perhaps?

Yes, once again, in the middle of my OOTD photo shoot, someone came along and hit me with a door. This time, I heard the door beginning to open before it was too late, so I was able to jump out of the way, but it was awkward nonetheless. The person exiting the building always gives me this look of utter confusion when they see me, a kind of ‘’why were you leaning against this door I was trying to use? Why does that person have a camera?’’

That’s part of the reason why I always wear my sunglasses when I’m doing my photos – that way, I don’t have to make eye contact with the people who are confused and or judging me for staging a fashion show in the middle of public property. And if I don’t have to make eye contact, then they’re not there! #hatershades

That strategy works with all other problems as well – a messy room, undone homework, split ends – if I don’t look at them, they don’t exist. It’s the adult version of Peek-a-Boo.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life here at Notre Dame.