notre dame – Page 8 – L'ensemble du jour

December 5, 2018 – Christmas at Hogwarts (OOTD #417)

Published on December 19, 2018December 19, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

There are plenty of buildings at Notre Dame that look like they could be a part of Hogwarts.

South Dining Hall is probably the most notable. Some of the arches of the Rock and certain dorms can lean that way too. It’s that collegiate gothic style of architecture — gotta love it, because it makes going to class in the buildings and living in the cockroach-infested rooms a little more bearable.

These pictures were taken in the math department’s building, a building which I never venture into, in part because I have no math classes, and in part because math is terrifying. I made sure to test out of college math for a reason — contrary to the Asian stereotype, I rather hate math.

I so hate it that for the majority of my time at Notre Dame, I’ve tried to completely avoid the math department building out of fear. That was, until last semester, when some friends convinced me to go inside for some pictures.

Turns out, the math building (or at least, half of it) is actually really beautiful and makes for great photos. In fact, I’ve gone to the ivy garden courtyard many times this year for photos because I love it so much.

This was the first time I ventured up to the second floor to look for photo locations, and as you can see, I was not disappointed. I think the second floor might be even more lovely and Hogwarts-like than the first. Don’t be too surprised if I wind up taking pictures again sometime soon.

I guess math really is magical?

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: thrifted (Goodwill)

Sweater: Abercrombie

Skirt: Forever21

December 4, 2018 – Pop Punk Christmas (OOTD #416)

Published on December 17, 2018December 17, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Is this punk? I’ve got my Docs on. That makes something punk, right?

Or at least, if it’s not punk, it’s pop punk — a slightly more mainstream and easily digestible version of the real thing. That’s a pretty accurate description of me. It’s also a description of my music taste.

I can’t believe it took me this long to think to pair my Docs with this dress. I mean, a dress purchased at a vintage shop in Shoreditch, the most hipster neighborhood of London, plus Doc Martins, the most British (though technically German) punk-looking shoes to exist? How did I not see the connection?

Anyway, I finally saw the connection with this outfit. And I threw on my vintage Christmas jacket purchased at last year’s Christmas sweater market for emphasis.

As much as I love this dress, it’s one of the most unflattering pieces in my closet to photograph. I have to be really careful of how I pose and at what angle I’m being shot at. These were the best pictures that I took, and being honest, they still don’t necessarily make me look the best. I mean, I’m a small, skinny person, and yet in photos, this dress makes me look like I have a beer belly.

I’m happy to let you see it though. The one thing I never edit in my photos is the actual shape of my features. Just goes to show that photos can make you look great — or not-so-great — at different times.

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Dress: Vintage (thrifted)

Shoes: Doc Marten

November 28, 2019 – Bowties Are Cool (OOTD #415)

Published on December 12, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

A long, long time ago, back in the Stone Age that was 2013, I tried to get into the Superwholock fandom.

I was really into Tumblr at the time, like many young teenage girls, and there was nothing hotter to me than Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock. And back then, you couldn’t look at anything Sherlock-related without also coming across content for Supernatural and Doctor Who; for some reason, the fandoms often overlapped.

And so, for a person who’s never really been interested in Supernatural or Doctor Who, I know a lot about their fandoms by extension/ And by “know a lot about their fandoms,” I mean I know some of the major catchphrases and references — notably the 11th Doctor’s quip, “Bowties are cool.”

2013 was the age of hipsters: hipsters with horn-rimmed glasses, oversized sweaters, and bow ties. I’m not yet sure if I’m proud to admit that I bought into the trend. Somewhere out there on the Internet are probably images of me with fake hipster glasses, an infinity scarf, and a Starbucks coffee. In five more years, it’ll be horribly dated, and in another ten, it’ll look classy and vintage.

Anyway, this outfit was my tribute to my brief Doctor Who phase and the “bowties are cool” meme. Should outfits be based around years-old memes? Maybe not. The last thing this blog needs is a Grumpy Cat or Rage Face outfit.

But Karamo Brown himself complimented my outfit, so maybe it wasn’t such a bad inspiration. He was here at Notre Dame giving a talk (a talk that I helped organize, I’ll mention), and afterwards, a few of us from student government got a brief meet-and-greet. Little did he know, my outfit was based on 2013 Matt Smith. I’m not sure if he would have been so complimentary had he know that.

Shirt: Banana Republic

Skirt: River Island

November 27, 2018 – Pacing (OOTD #414)

Published on December 11, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

I wore this sweater in a post from just a few days ago.

I normally try to avoid repeating pieces so soon like this — not that I think many people would notice, unless I said something, but it’s just not as fun to wear the same things over and over. Plus, I like to actually wear the clothes I buy. It’s wasteful just to let things sit in the closet.

In fairness, the actual amount of time between wears for this sweater was longer than this blog makes it seem. In truth, it was ten days in between wears — and Thanksgiving beak was a part of that time — though it was only four blogs.

If you’ll notice, I’m also getting caught up on blogs again. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing — good in that now my blogs should line up a little more with the actual calendar dates, but bad in that that puts more pressure on me to get content for my blogs more often.

It’s a little frustrating, because I get more views on LEDJ when I publish new content every day. But publishing new content every day is hard — I don’t wear cute clothes every day, and even if I do, I don’t always have an easy way to photograph them. Publishing blogs every day while also taking photos every day leads to blogs of lower quality — something I’ve definitely been guilty of before — and I don’t want to do that again if I can help it.

I guess that’s a reality that every Internet content creator deals with — of course you’ll get more views when you’re churning out new content. But since I’m still such a small Internet presence that I don’t really get much readership at all if I’m not posting, so I try to post every day.

I think that’s just something I’ll have to learn to deal with though. As I’ve learned, forcing myself to post and photograph my outfits literally every day is bad not just for the quality fo content I put on this blog, but also for my enjoyment of the writing process. This is still just a hobby after all.

Any other bloggers out there with how to pace oneself with how often to upload content? I’ve been doing the daily blog thing for so long, it would feel unnatural to stray from that — but I think maybe it’s getting to be time to find a regular upload schedule that’s not quite so chaque jour, as it were. I want to still post often, but avoid the burnout of a daily schedule. Thoughts?

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. 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!

Matching bra and underwear set: TomboyX

Sweater: Forever21

Jeans: Abercrombie

November 17, 2018 – Très Froide (OOTD #410)

Published on December 6, 2018August 12, 2019 by lensembledujour1 Comment

The upside of winter fashion photography: lots of layers.

The downside: you often have to go coatless, and it’s damn cold out.

This is particularly unfortunate when you’ve decided to go with a cropped sweater. I mean, I guess I’m at fault here for choosing the cropped sweater even though I knew how cold it would be, but…it just worked really well with the carpetbag skirt.

I’m still a little bitter — I’d dressed like this today because I was supposed to be meeting someone for coffee, but they weren’t able to make it at the last second. I wasn’t so disappointed about not getting out for coffee, because I just ended up going alone, but I looked all cute for nothing.

That’s not true — I looked cute for myself, and that’s what’s important. I would be lying a little though if I tried to say that I only dress for myself. I dress primarily for myself, but the fact of the matter is that your fashion choices affect how others perceive you, and that perception is often something worth manipulating if you can.

Whatever though — today I dressed for myself. And for this blog, which, as much as I hope someone out there gets enjoyment out of writing, is also for me. I like writing here. At the end of the day, if I didn’t like writing, I wouldn’t still be at this a year and a half later.

Sweater: Forever21

Skirt: Forever21

November 15, 2018 – Neckwear (OOTD #409)

Published on December 5, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Hey look. I have a scarf on. Am I French yet?

My first exposure to the world of scarves for fashion and not just warmth was Hannah Montana. I remember she used to wear these sequin-covered, long, skinny scarves that she’d wrap around her neck or tie like a necktie. Honestly, they looked more like long stingy pieces of yarn tied around her neck than an actual scarf.

But I thought they were the coolest things ever — I even bought a green sequin-covered one to match the one she wore on the cover of her debut album.

Hannah Montana was quite possibly my first fashion icon, not including my mother, whose taste I’ve always admired. My mother, however, never dressed quite as sparkly as Hannah Montana did — and I wound up being quite a fan of sparkles, though not quite so much now as I was when I was in third grade.

(Actually, as I write this, I am wearing a Christmas sweater with rhinestones on it, so clearly, the sparkles interest has not died down.)

My usernames for a lot of accounts when I was younger actually used to be sparkles-related: for example, pinkglitter or crystalchic. Who knows, maybe you happened upon me in a Webkinz or Howrse chatroom back in 2008. I was there quite a lot.

But for real, I’d be open to an early-2000s fashion resurgence. I always liked the flared jeans and Abercrombie cardigans. I probably even still have some of the ones I had in middle school, and they probably still fit. They’re authentic vintage at this point.

I think I may even still have my old sparkly green Hannah Montana scarf somewhere. Maybe I’ll put together a Hannah Montana-inspired outfit one day for this blog — everything comes back in style eventually. Maybe it’s 2006’s time.

Sweater: Forever21

Pants: Thrifted (Salvation Army)

Scarf: My Uncle Tim, who gave it to my grandmother for Christmas, who then gave it to me

November 14, 2018 – Darker Days (OOTD #408)

Published on December 4, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Really not a fan of this whole time change thing.

I know I’m not the only one to say this, but really — what’s the point of daylight savings anymore? Contrary to Thomas Jefferson’s vision, we are not a nation of independent farmers, and we haven’t been for well over a hundred years. I’m open to the idea that there are many professions out there still that rely upon the sun to determine their hours, but their numbers are comparatively few to what they used to be. I feel like we could scrap daylight savings and still function pretty well as a society.

I like the extra hour of sleep that I get in November, but I don’t like how dark it gets and so early. I took a nap today at 5pm, and when I woke up at 7:30pm, it was pitch black. It made me wonder if I’d accidentally slept for too long and it was now like, midnight.

Additionally, I volunteer at the homeless shelter in the evenings, and I take the bus to get there. Before the time change, I had no problem walking to the stop after my shift ended at 6pm, but now that it’s dark so early, I feel a little less safe walking through that part of town at night.

Perhaps the worst offense to me, though, is how the time difference affects my ability to get OOTD pics in the evening. I used to rely upon getting dinner with friends at 6pm on Mondays and Wednesdays as my opportunity to ask someone to get pictures for me. Up until daylight savings, this worked perfectly for me. Now though, I wind up with dark pics like this — not bad, per se, especially with editing, but not really what I’m going for either. I’m a fashion blog, I want people to see my clothes. It’s difficult to do that when the only light in a photo is a street lamp and my iPhone flash.

Is #firstworldproblems still a thing? If it’s not, it should be. It’s consistently relevant to my life.

Top: Forever21

Skirt: The LOFT

Hat: Target

November 13, 2018 – Christmasy (OOTD #407)

Published on December 3, 2018August 14, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

You can tell it’s nearly Christmas because the bookstore has been decorated.

It’s admittedly kind of hard to get into any sort of Christmas spirit while school and finals are going on. I don’t know if that ever changes, or, if like Halloween, Christmas is never as exciting as an adult as it was as a kid. I hope it gets to be exciting again eventually.

In truth, it is exciting for me still — the excitement has to wait until after finals are over now, though. For me, that day will be December 14, 2018 — 11 days from the time of writing this blog and a month from the time these photos were taken.

I’m actually not going to be home for Christmas this year, and while I’m very grateful to be going on the trips I’m going on to Qatar and to France, I’m sad I won’t be around to be with my family during the holidays. When Notre Dame offers me funding, though to travel, I can’t turn it down. Travel is expensive — there’s now way I could do it on my own so when I have the opportunity to go on my school’s money….

I’ll still have fun, but my winter break won’t be as relaxing as normal. That’s okay, though. Last winter break ended up getting boring, so hopefully, this time I’ll have a good balance.

I’ll actually end up spending Christmas Eve in an airport, and my Christmas Day in a classroom in Qatar. It’s far from traditional, and it’ll be my first time away from my family for the holidays, but it should still be a fun experience.

Will I be able to keep up with blogging? I sure hope so. I don’t consider myself a travel blogger because of how infrequently I travel, but when I do get to go somewhere exotic like London or Kathmandu, I like to get as much content as possible for LEDJ. Consider it my Christmas gift to you guys.

Pants: The LOFT

Top: Amazon (of all places!)

November 12, 2018 – Layers Upon Layers (OOTD #406)

Published on December 1, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

As Shrek once wisely said, “I’ve got layers like an onion.”

Shrek was referring to his identity as an ogre in that scene, but I’m referring to my clothes. I don’t think I’m an ogre…or ogreish?

Those of you who have been around for a long time might remember that I’ve used the “like an onion” quote before to describe an outfit with layers. I was back on OOTD #55 at the time, and Shrek memes were still relatively fresh. Now, I’m significantly less original, not to mention less culturally relevant or funny.

I really like this outfit, though. It wasn’t my idea, however. A friend forwarded me something on Pinterest with a turtleneck layered under a striped button-down to ask what I thought of the style. I was a big fan — so much so that I decided to copy it.

To add to the look, I paired the turtleneck/button-down combo with my ripped black skinny jeans with fishnets layered underneath. Hence, the title — layers upon layers.

The lighting is darker here than I would like, so you can’t really see the fishnet texture in every photo, unfortunately. I just really didn’t have any time to get pictures before after it got dark on this day.

It was a Monday, and on Mondays, I’m usually busy until 6:30pm. With daylight savings, it’s now solidly dark by 6:30pm, which is unfortunate for me trying to get pictures of my outfit in decent lighting. I tried to make up for it by going inside of a building and getting pictures with the artificial lighting, but it just doesn’t compare to natural.

Oh, well. It’s a cute outfit anyway, and it shines on its own, no light required.

Turtleneck: The LOFT (thrifted)

Button-down: Abercrombie

Jeans: Hot Topic

Belt: Not Gucci, unfortunately

November 9, 2018 – Swan Song of Autumn (OOTD #405)

Published on November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Looks like fall’s just about over now.

The day I wore this outfit, we got our first snowfall of the season. You can actually sort of see the flurries in the photo here.

It wasn’t enough snow to accumulate, but it was there and it was exciting. I love the snow; winter is my favorite season because of it. Even Notre Dame and the horrible amount of snow that we can get in January/February/March haven’t managed to make me dislike snow yet.

Not yet, at least. This is only my second winter here. I suppose there’s still a chance for me to become weary of the winter weather.

I love the transition from fall to winter, when you get beautiful leaves like this mixed with light snowfall. We never really got that in Kentucky — first off, we didn’t get nearly as much color in the autumn, and secondly, we also never got snow so early in the season. It’s exciting for me to see the combination here. Fall and winter are my two favorite seasons. Put them together, and I’m a happy person.