Tag: forever21

September 6, 2018 – Lucky the Leprechaun (OOTD #367)

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This just in: I’m going to be Notre Dame’s first female and first Asian leprechaun!

Ok, maybe not — but I kind of look like I could be here, no? All day I felt like I should’ve been step dancing and leading people on quests for pots of gold.

Honestly, I don’t know why it took me so long to think to pair this jacket and these pants. Lord knows I’ve had them both for long enough. I think I was concerned that they’d be too matchy-matchy, but as it turns out, they’re just the right amount of matching.

All day, when I didn’t feel like a leprechaun, I felt like some powerful boss lady-type character. Which ideally, I would feel like all the time, every day, but…you know. I’ll take what I can get.

If you noticed, these pictures were taken back in Como, a location I’ve often lauded for its beautiful afternoon lighting in the stairwell. It’s not a particularly dynamic background, but it is worth it every once in a while for the lighting. As long as I can dodge the afternoon traffic of students using the stairs to get to class, that is. There’s nothing worse than standing there, taking pictures of yourself in a classroom building just to have a student walk by trying to get to class. Like, who do they think they are, walking around like they have any right to go to class when an artist is at work?

It’s only two weeks now until fall break, which means it’s only two weeks until I’m halfway through my first semester of sophomore year. Not to be cliché, but I feel like it just started. I’ve been ridiculously busy, so the time seems to go too quickly. Maybe it’s the leprechaun magic.

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 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

Top: Free People

Pants: Banana Republic

September 4, 2018 – Finalities and Fatalities OOTD #365)

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Oh man, am I behind with the dates of these blogs.

One of these days, I’ll get caught up a reasonable amount on these blogs, and I’ll only have a week-long delay on them. One of these days, I’ll also have my life together enough to not post a blog at 11:30PM on a Thursday night, and instead post it at a reasonable time of the day.

As the kids say these days, “it be like that sometimes.”

My so-called “Hell Week” is finally over, and while my sleep schedule and general mental health definitely took a hit, I’m hoping that my GPA didn’t. Okay, I know it did but I’m hoping that the hit wasn’t too hard.

One of the most stressful aspects of a college course versus a high school one is that you often do not have any idea of what your grade will be until it’s posted after finals. With how much finals can be worth and with so few graded assessments over the course of a year, one failed exam can tank your grade for the whole semester. Which is lousy.

But I can’t do anything about the exams and papers I’ve handed now — they’re over, and all I can do is wait for my grades. If they’re bad, I’ll just have to try harder next time.

I got a nap for the first time in ages today, and it felt fabulous. Meanwhile, that means that I’ve got a lot of work to do now since I was unconscious all afternoon, but I think it was worth it. Typically, I’m of the belief that rest is for when the work is done, but it turns out that work is never done in college — so I guess I should either never rest, or come up with a new work-rest philosophy.

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 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!

Top: Forever21

Bralette: Aerie

Jeans: Hollister

August 27, 2018 – Neutral Staples (OOTD #358)

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A few blog posts ago, I mentioned a jacket that’s one of my most frequently worn pieces in my wardrobe.

Well, now I’m back with two more frequently worn pieces — this turtleneck and this skirt. But how could they not be frequently worn? They’re both basic staples for just about anyone’s wardrobe, and they go with just about anything.

Including each other! Believe it or not, but I’ve discovered that miraculously, two neutrals — camel and black — go together. I know, it’s hard to believe, but these two non-color colors surprisingly manage to not clash. I think I’m really on to something here.

You want to know what was not on to something though? Wearing a turtleneck in the late August heat. I thought I would be okay since I was wearing a skirt and so at least my legs would be cool, but I was wrong. It was very hot.

Things should be cooling off soon, though, and then it will be fall! Once the leaves begin to turn properly, I’ll start tagging my blogs with #fall again. Because if there’s anyone who’s going to tell you when it’s fall, it’s not a meteorologist, or an astronomer, but me and my fashion blog ,of course.

I mean, am I wrong? A solid 50% of what makes it fall is the commercial aspect — the pumpkin spice lattes, the Halloween decorations, the tailgates. The cooler temperatures and changing leaves are wonderful, but they’re even more wonderful if you can experience them in a cozy sweater. I guess our capitalist overlords have got us beat there — even the changing of the seasons marks an occasion to make us spend more money.

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 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!

Turtleneck: Forever21

Skirt: Zara

August 19, 2018 – Sophomore Superiority (OOTD #351)

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And so life at Notre Dame continues.

The freshman are all here, so campus is beginning to feel a bit more lively — though still not quite like home. I don’t know, there’s something about a bunch of teenagers in matching t-shirts being herded around by Welcome Weekend ambassadors that just prevents campus from really feeling normal yet. I feel like I’m at summer camp, but I’m not a camper, and I’m not a camp counselor — just someone who happens to be there at the same time.

I’ve spent my last few days here just chilling and catching up on my blog-writing, and honestly, it’s been really nice. Notre Dame’s a totally different beast when I’m not stressing out about schoolwork or football games or dorm parties. While I’m excited for football season to begin and for my friends to all get here, I’m also glad I have this time to relax.

It’s also kind-of nice to watch all the freshman running around from one Welcome Weekend activity to another, and be able to acknowledge with satisfaction how glad I am that that’s not me. If you read any of my Welcome Weekend blogs from last year, you’ll know — I wasn’t really a fan of the whole experience. They do their best to make it fun and as not-scary as possible, but it’s nonetheless an overwhelming experience.

It’s fine though, because I’ll never really have to do it again. This may sound silly, but it was with triumph that I wore this simple outfit — just a dress with a jacket — because it set me apart from all the freshmen in their matching dorm shirts suffering through Welcome Weekend. There’s uh…nothing like realizing how bad other people have it to make you feel better about yourself.

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 in Kentucky. 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

Dress: Forever21

August 18, 2018 – Not Quite An Ivy League (OOTD #350)

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Day 374: the locals are getting suspicious. I believe they’re beginning to realize that i am not, in fact, a piece of ivy.

There’s nothing like sitting yourself down in a patch of ivy in the math building’s courtyard for the sake of your fashion blog. Thankfully, there were no classes going on, so I was at little risk of getting “caught” taking photos by myself, but it was still a little awkward, nonetheless.

If there’s anything this blog has taught me, it’s how to ignore how awkward it feels taking pictures in public. Here’s my secret: I just don’t think about it.

I know, that’s horrible advice — just don’t be nervous, and you won’t have anxiety! Just don’t be sad, and you won’t have depression! In this case, though, and probably this case only, it works for me. If I can ignore how uncomfortable I feel by focusing on acting like I’m confident and self-assured taking photos in public, I find that my actual anxiety lowers as a result.

But in general, what I like best is taking photos away from the curious (sometimes judgmental) glances of strangers. That’s why this ivy garden worked so well. It was just me and the plants, and as you know, I love me some plants. 

In an ideal world, humanity would have somehow developed a technology to make plants sentient, and I’d just have the plants take pictures for me instead of people. I guess if the plants were sentient then they could still be judgmental…I guess this plan’s a bit flawed.

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 in Kentucky. 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

Top: thrifted

Shorts: Forever21

July 29, 2018 – Flowers, Always and Always (OOTD #338)

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I’m pretty sure that’s an Oscar Wilde quote — don’t quote me on that, though.

One of the most enjoyable bits of going out with my family is trying to find the best locations for photos — it’s great because my dad actually enjoys photography, and I enjoy taking pictures of myself for this blog. Unlike when I’m out with friends, and I feel a little awkward asking for them to constantly take pictures of me, my dad’s a pretty nonjudgmental dude, or at least he acts like it, so there’s no awkwardness.

With the discomfort of asking for photos out of the way, I’m free to fully enjoy hunting for good locations and lighting. I think my dad enjoys it too.

On this day, we happened upon a lovely garden, which we agreed would make for an excellent fashion photography background. I’m a sucker for plants, as you probably know by now.

I’m personally not as into outdoor plants as I am their indoor counterparts — there’s just something about the unique circumstance of indoor plants, that they exist inside despite not occurring there naturally, that fascinates me. I can appreciate a good outdoor garden though, especially if it’s colorful like this one.

My favorite part I think were these hanging basket flowers that were set up against a fence, creating something of a wall of flowers. I’m going to have to keep that in mind for something to try once I have a house of my own.

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 in Kentucky. 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!

Top: Anthropologie

Skirt: Forever21

July 15, 2018 – Dans le jardin des rêves (OOTD #331)

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I sure hope that French is correct.

Welp, the conference is now over, and I’m on my own in Kathmandu. Or rather, not entirely on my own — I’m with another Notre Dame student who had attended the conference — but we’re relatively alone.

I did London by myself last summer, which was no problem at all. It’s London, it’s not terribly different from the US, and in some ways, it’s even easier to navigate. The Underground is truly a marvel. Kathmandu, on the other hand, is nothing like the US, and quite impossible to navigate.

There are practically no street names. There are no addresses. There are no signs, or traffic lights, or subway systems. You can go on TripAdvisor and look up the biggest tourist attractions, and then ask a taxi to take you there, but it’s not a very good city for independent exploration — you may never be able to make it make back to your hotel!

Anyway, after a long, stiflingly hot taxi ride from Dhulikhel to Kathmandu, dropping off people at the airport and at their various hotels on the way, Allie (the other ND student with me) and I went to our BnB.

Allow me, really quickly, to say, that if you’re in Kathmandu and looking for a relatively inexpensive BnB within walking distance of the tourist district Thamel, Cocina Mitho Chha is an excellent choice. As a social enterprise, it uses its funds to maximize improvements in the social sphere — in this case, by educating underprivileged young people in hospitality skills that will allow them to get jobs in the hotel industry. The food was great, the service was great, its mission is admirable — overall, a lovely experience.

After getting settled in, we decided to go check out something called the Garden of Dreams, which was about a twenty minute walk away from our BnB. That’s where these photos are from. It was a really beautiful, and quiet spot, a nice respite from the chaos of Kathmandu.

Otherwise, we allowed ourselves to have a pretty relaxing day, not rushing around and not pushing ourselves. We did some shopping, had dinner at a bar where they showed the World Cup, and basically just tried to recover, mentally and physically, from the intensity of the conference we’d just spent the last two weeks devoting ourselves to. Or rather, we tried to relax, as much as we could, in an insane and hectic city like Kathmandu.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Top: Forever21

Pants: American Eagle

June 30, 2018 – Calm Before The Storm (OOTD #317)

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Here I am, my first full day in Nepal!

This was the day that most of the students attending the Madrasa Discourses conference were to be arriving, meaning I was finally not completely alone at the lodge! My two roommates arrived, one of whom is a Notre Dame student I was vaguely familiar with before Nepal, and one of whom is a Pakistani woman in a full niqab (who arrived at like, 1 AM in the morning, the poor thing).

In all, there are about 20ish Pakistani students, 20ish Indians, 7 South Africans, and 7 American students from Notre Dame. Since there was no programming today, those of us who arrived in the afternoon (or like me, the previous night), simply hung out, chatted, and took meals together to socialize and kill time.

An American student, a Pakistani-German student, and I were all feeling energetic enough to go for a short hike after lunch, so we decided to venture down the mountain of Dhulikel. We heard there was a village at the bottom, but little did we know, that village was probably a solid two miles away. Two miles isn’t bad when you’re jogging on flat terrain, but walking down a steep mountain is another thing. We didn’t even make it a quarter of the way before giving up and turning around, sweaty and exhausted. Meanwhile, several local Nepali people walked by, steady-footed and swift, to put us all to shame. At least we got a pretty view of the area as we went down.

I wanted to get some sleep after our walk, but I knew it would be best for me if I stayed up all day and didn’t sleep until the night. The jet lag was hitting me like a truck at that point, and even though I desperately wanted to take a nap, I resisted.

That night though, I of course had very little luck actually sleeping. I got about three hours before my Pakistani roommate showed up, and after that, I really wasn’t able to sleep anymore. My body kind of hates itself for the nine hours and forty-five minute time difference, so I guess I can’t blame it.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Top: Abercrombie

Pants: Forever21

Scarf: My mother’s closet

June 29, 2018 – Welcome to Nepal (OOTD #316)

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Here I am in Nepal, finally!

It took a little under 30 hours of total travel time, but I finally made it here to Dhulikel, Nepal, just outside of Kathmandu.

The majority of my travel story can be found here, in the Saturday Musings post published on that day, but allow me to fill you in on the rest of the journey.

So after running through the disgustingly poorly organized O’Hare airport in order to catch my flight to Abu Dhabi, I had 17 hours sitting in a tiny, cramped aisle seat thousands of feet above the ground. It was quite different from my experience flying first class all the way to London.  

On the way, I attempted to get some reading done for the conference I was to be attending, but I only made it about halfway through before I started nodding off, It’s not that the content wasn’t interesting — the articles were over feminism, theology, philosophy — but there was too much to try to get through in one sitting. 17 hours was definitely enough time to have gotten it done had I had the motivation but…I lacked the motivation.

After watching Moana and Beauty and the Beast (the mediocre live action version) on the entertainment system, slipping in and out of sleep for hours, and eating one of the most disgusting turkey sandwiches I’ve had in my entire life, I made it to Abu Dhabi.

I only had about two hours in Abu Dhabi before I had to fly the remaining five hours to Kathmandu, so sadly, I didn’t have the time to do anything but walk through the airport and wait for my plane. Had I had more time, perhaps I would have tried to see the city a little — it’s not like I expect to be in the UAE again any time soon.

Once I made it to Kathmandu, all that was left was to get my visa, make it through customs, exchange money, go through airport security for the 20th time, claim my baggage, and then find the taxi that was waiting for me to take me to the hotel. Simple, right?

Actually, I guess it was just about as simple as I could have asked for it to have been. The only hitch I really experienced before I made it to Dhulikel was way overtipping the cabbie, but if that’s the worst that happened to me, then I suppose I wasn’t in too bad a shape.

Driving though Kathmandu alone at night was perhaps the scariest thing of the entire trip — I’ve been bad traffic before in China, but it had been a long time and I was not at all prepared for Kathmandu driving. Are there lanes? Are there speed limits? Are there lights or laws or licenses?

When I finally arrived at the hotel, I didn’t have the energy for much more than eating a small meal and then crawling slowly to my room. 30 hours of travel I guess will do that to you.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Top: Forever21

Pants: Abercrombie

June 26, 2018 – Sock Story (OOTD #313)

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Check out these cool socks.

I actually got them against my mother’s wishes (what a rebel, I know) — she thought they were ugly and had no stylistic purpose, but I thoroughly disagreed. It was an impulse buy, one of those things that just sit in bins by the checkout counter in order to lure you into spending a few extra dollars. but as impulse buys go, I think it was a good one.

The couple of times I’ve worn these socks, they always manage to tie the outfit together in ways I would not expect. They’re really quite magical.

Imagine, if you can, this outfit without the red socks. Or don’t, and just take my word when I say that the outfit wasn’t really working without them.

So I was standing there in my room, skirt, top, and jacket already on, and I wasn’t feeling it. The proportions were off, the vibe wasn’t right, and I knew I needed to add something to tie everything together. After briefly considering a necklace, thigh-high socks, or tights, I thought I would try my red ankle socks.

And obviously, given the title of this blog and all of the photos you’ve seen thus far, it worked! The red socks turned an otherwise “off” outfit into something I believe is actually quite fashionable. Funny, sometimes, how something as small as some socks can really tie an entire outfit together.

There’s more to the story about this outfit, though — this was worn two days before I left for Nepal, and I really wanted to wear something distinctively fun, something that I couldn’t wear in the more conservative context of the Islamic theology conference I’ll be attending. There, I’ll be restricted to wearing loose-fitting and more professional clothes, which is fine and all, but I really wanted to wear something a little more exciting before I had to start wearing button-downs and culottes everyday.

I don’t know, but I feel like this carpetbag-pattered skirt, band tee, and velvet socks achieved that goal. Hopefully it’ll tide me over until I return to the US and I can be fun again.

Besides, these are my “rebel” socks, that I got despite what my mother advised. What could be more fun than 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 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!

Top: Hot Topic

Jacket: thrifted

Skirt: Forever21

Socks: DSW