lelarose – L'ensemble du jour

September 9, 2019 – Brooking It (OOTD #560)

Published on October 29, 2019October 30, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

First days of anything are scary.

It’s strange: in one sense, you generally don’t have much to do at all, and you’re certainly not given any responsibilities that you’re able to screw up. But it feels like you are. It feels like someone’s waiting to catch you in a mistake, so they can tell you that just kidding, they don’t actually want you to work there after all. Is that just my imposter syndrome showing?

In actuality, though, my first day at Brookings was fairly uneventful. I didn’t get fired, regardless of what my anxiety kept trying to warn me, so I count that as a win.

I spent most of the day in orientation, which I mostly don’t remember, save for random bits of trivia that won’t help me in my actual work. How to compile a literature review or compose a policy memo? I’m clueless. If you need to know where the emergency backpacks are located or where to go in the event of a fire, though, I got you.

Eventually, though, once all of the orientations are over, I’d like to learn what it like working in research on a daily basis. I’ve done short-term or semester-long research projects for my various classes, but I have never devoted myself to a single, in-depth project for such a lengthy duration. I’ve been considering academia as a potential career path, and so the opportunity to intern at a think tank will be an exciting prospect to see what political research looks like in practice.

Additionally, I’d like to get comfortable working in a professional environment and gain the respect of my coworkers. I’ve worked some short internships before, but usually just for the summer and usually for only a few days a week. I’ve never made this kind of time commitment to an internship before, and I’m looking forward to getting to know people and establishing a regular routine. I hope I’ll be able to help the people at the Brookings Institution in a legitimate and worthwhile way — also not to get fired.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life this semester in Washington, DC. 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: J. Crew (thrifted, Goodwill)

Jacket: Lelarose (thrifted, Clothes Mentor)

September 5, 2018 – Business Casual (OOTD #366)

Published on September 28, 2018September 30, 2018 by lensembledujour4 Comments

Guess what college student isn’t going to wind up scrambling for a summer job at the last second this year?

This girl! Hopefully!

Rather than getting caught in a late-April panic with the sudden realization that I have no prospects for summer employment again, I figured I’d be proactive and head to the Fall career fair at Notre Dame.

Granted, most companies there had no use for me, a history and peace studies major — they wanted engineers, or businesspeople, or even researchers — but like, it was good to walk around anyway. I spoke to a few organizations that seemed interesting, and there are now a few internships that I’m definitely looking at applying for.

It was also useful in that it cemented for me the reality that if I don’t go into law, politics, or government, my major isn’t really that desirable to anyone. Which I already knew, but like, going to the career fair definitely made it clear if it wasn’t already.

In other news, this outfit is made up of two of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe: this jacket, the so-called Most Expensive Item in My Wardrobe, and this dress, my favorite purchase from my Shoreditch, London trip.

So even if no one will ever hire me and I wind up going into consulting like every other humanities major who can’t find a job with their degree, I’ll look nice doing it.

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: Lela Rose (thrifted)

Dress: Vintage, Brick Lane Market in Shoreditch (thrifted)

October 5, 2017 – The Most Expensive Item in My Wardrobe (OOTD #129)

Published on October 11, 2017 by lensembledujour15 Comments

I’m a little bitter here because in half of these shots, my hair is covering up the lovely bow detailing on my jacket. Ah well, if you’re really dying to see this jacket in more detail, check out this post from a few months ago when I wore it last.

This jacket has an interesting story to it – I bought it from a local thrift shop for about $30, which, compared to the rest of the prices at this particular store, is kind-of high. Still, I absolutely fell in love with it, and $30 is hardly extortionate, so I was willing to pay extra for it. I loved the way the large bow detail was incorporated into the collar in an intelligent way; it struck me as something that was created with artistry and not just salability in mind.

Anyway, I liked it so much that I decided to look up the brand online after I purchased it, figuring that, if this jacket was so unique, surely there would be other things for sale by Lela Rose that were of similar quality and design.

Welp…I was right. There were definitely plenty of things made by Lela Rose that were of great quality and intelligent design – and also very high price. Lela Rose, apparently, is a legit designer – legit enough that her pieces sell for over a thousand dollars each on her website. For just a simple polyester sweater, you’re going to pay $800.

I have no idea what the retail price of this particular jacket was, but I assume it was quite a bit more than $30. Apparently, the $30 they were asking for it was not at all an unreasonable price – it was an absolute steal.

Which makes me think – whomever sold this jacket to a thrift shop probably did not get much for it at all, not even close to what they must have paid for it. I would feel badly for them, but their mistake ended up benefiting me…so…thanks, I guess?

Sorry for the short post today, but I’m in the midst of midterms, so I really ought to get back to work.

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!

Jacket: Lela Rose

Jeans: Abercrombie

Top: Free People

May 18, 2017 – I Probably Wear Too Much Black

Published on May 18, 2017May 18, 2017 by lensembledujour3 Comments

I feel like it was just yesterday I was writing a blog yapping about how I was kind of stupid for wearing all black in mid-May, but apparently, I didn’t learn my lesson, because here I am again.

I just can’t help it! Black is such a cool and confident color. Plus, it’s one of the only colors that you can even wear all by itself, monotone, without looking stupid.

Today I was significantly less hot though, as I had my arms and legs bare. Hooray for my school’s lax dress code that lets me wear practical clothing in the summer!

The focus of today’s outfit is definitely the jacket. Can you believe I actually got this at a thrift shop? I adore thrift shops – there was once a time in my life, back when I was a self-entitled, snot-nosed middle schooler, when I believed I was much above second-hand clothes, but those days are long gone. I’m a poor high school/college kid now, and there’s no room for pride when you want cool clothes but you have no money!

Back to the jacket though – I’m not familiar with the brand myself, but I would definitely buy from them again. It’s such a fabulous concept – the structure of the large bow and the architectural collar definitely makes it something you’re not just going to happen upon at your local Forever21. Unique clothes that you can tell a designer put genuine thought behind are my favorite.

As for a bottom, I definitely didn’t want to upstage my wonderful swing jacket, but I still knew I needed something that wasn’t totally basic to compliment it. Luckily, I had the perfect piece already in mind – this layered Zara skirt, which also came to me second-hand. I bought it off of a vendor on Poshmark for an outfit for the second day of this school year, and I have not regretted it. I wear it so much because it’s a basic black skirt that goes with everything, yet its clever design makes it so much more interesting than that. In this outfit, I found that it perfectly accompanied my jacket, peeking just underneath it to add to the architectural flair.

Also, today was my last full day of school. I kinda expected it to be bittersweet, but mostly, it was just boring, since a lot of my friends have just been skipping. Tomorrow, it’s all over though! At least until graduation, one week later.