Tag: notre dame

April 9, 2019 – Architectural (OOTD #491)

Published on by lensembledujourLeave a comment

In other news, we’re back to straight hair after four days of having it curly. I guess nothing lasts forever.

I don’t know how I feel about this blouse. I love the design — it’s architectural (which is funny because I also happen to be standing in front of the old architecture building here) and unique, and very much unlike your typical H&M find. What gets me though is the weird line drawing face. Like…why?

In one sense, I actually really like how weird it is. Nothing about the blouse’s design calls for half of a lady’s face to cover my left boob, and yet there she is. You’d think the blouse already has enough going on with the off-the-shoulder, structured-yet-billowy thing it has going on. There’s no reason to add a print; prints are for simpler designs.

But like I said. I actually kind-of enjoy how cheeky and bizarre it is from a design standpoint. I actually got it at H&M for super cheap, maybe $6, thinking that it probably wouldn’t get much wear but that I was okay with that for the price. In reality, though, it’s gotten way more weartime (get it? like airtime) than I ever thought it would — in fact, I can think of at least three outfits (here and here and here) from the last year that featured this top.

I think this blog’s interpretation of the blouse is my favorite of the four, though. I’d never thought to pair a jacket with it before because I thought it would detract from the blouse’s design, but as it turns out, it’s quite friendly to layering. I’m thinking I’ll try a bralette under it next. Let me know in the comments if you have any suggestions!

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: Forever21

Blouse: H&M

Skirt: Express (thrifted, Goodwill)

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

Published on by lensembledujourLeave a comment

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)

Published on by lensembledujourLeave a comment

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

View this post on Instagram

turn to page 394

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on

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)

Published on by lensembledujour1 Comment

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)

Published on by lensembledujour2 Comments

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)

Published on by lensembledujour2 Comments

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)

Published on by lensembledujour1 Comment

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)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

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

 

 

March 27, 2019 – Pink and Red (OOTD #483)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

A few years ago, I never would have tried to mix pink and red.

It’s one of those color combinations that can go really horribly wrong if you don’t do it well — think a bad homemade Valentine’s card crafted by a seven year-old. It has a tendency to look overly-girly and juvenile.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned over the last two years of keeping a fashion blog and trying to come up with new and creative outfits each day, it’s that rules are ridiculous and meant to be broken. Or rather, they’re decent guidelines, but they shouldn’t be held to all of the time.

Just like my recent realization that I can wear yellow despite being Asian and believing for years that yellow would never work with my skin tone, I’ve also realized that I can do whatever I want with what I wear. You shouldn’t wear black and brown together? Watch me. You can’t have a round face and get a pixie cut? Sounds fake. 

It doesn’t always work though — there’s been a handful of fashion choices that I’ve made and then published blogs on that I realize now were mistakes. So um…don’t always follow the rules kids, but sometimes do.

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

Sweater: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Top: FreePeople

Trousers: J. Crew

March 26, 2019 – Work (OOTD #482)

Published on by lensembledujour1 Comment

I like this outfit a lot.

Granted, I like most of the outfits I wear — hence having this silly little blog and posting about the outfits I wear on a semi-regular basis (emphasis on the semi). There are outfits that I wear that I don’t particularly like, that I either don’t post about or do post about and regret it later (hint: basically anything from spring semester freshman year).

View this post on Instagram

instagram vs reality

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on

Sometimes, though, I put together an outfit and it just really clicks. Some times, it might not be anything I’d really put a lot of thought into; other times, it might be an idea that I’d been tossing around in my head for weeks. At any rate, I put it on in the morning, and it just works. 

I don’t like to use the word “work” in the America’s Next Top Model, RuPaul’s Drag Race sense — like, oh, I’m really working this outfit. It just sounds silly and narcissistic to me. But if there were an outfit that I thought I worked — and not just that the outfit worked on me, but that I worked the outfit — I guess this would be one of them.

I think maybe this had to do with the fact that this was one of the warmest days we’d been graced with in South Bend for quite some time — even though we were in the post-spring break stretch, it had still been pretty chilly.  The actual sun came out for a few hours in the afternoon and honored us with her presence. I don’t think she’d visited our cornfield patch of the Midwest in weeks.

And by warm, I mean, I still had to wear a hat, coat, and long socks. It wasn’t warm as in “spring’s here;” it was warm as in “winter’s still here and isn’t leaving for another month but at least it’s not -40 windchill anymore.” We really don’t even get to experience real spring but for a week or two at the very end of the semester (and so honestly, why do we even call it “spring semester?” Spring in South Bend is fake), so this is about as “spring” as it gets.

Happy spring, everyone!

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

Dress: Vintage (some boutique in Chicago)

Hat: Amazon.com |NYFASHION101 French Style Lightweight Casual Classic Solid Color Wool Beret