ootd – Page 28 – L'ensemble du jour

August 26, 2018 – Just Right (OOTD #356)

Published on September 12, 2018September 12, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

I never know when I buy clothes which pieces will get the most wear.

Apart from obvious staples, like leggings and jeans and plain tops that are worn on a weekly basis, a lot of my other clothes I buy without knowing how frequently I’ll be able to wear them. Obviously, I don’t buy things unless I know I will wear them for some reason eventually — no reason to go about acquiring clothes without purpose. But if I come to the conclusion that I like a piece, and that I will have the occasion to wear it, there’s no way for me to tell easily if I’ll feel inspired to wear it often or not. So I buy it knowing it will get use, but not knowing if that use will be frequent.

Some of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe, that I love for their artistic design, I actually don’t wear much. Take this jacket and this top for example — I haven’t worn an outfit with either one for months. Still, I love them and consider them among my favorites, so why don’t I wear them?

I guess it comes from the fear that if I wear something too much, I’ll come to be bored with it. Consequently, there ends up being a set of clothing that neither love nor hate that I nonetheless wear with great frequency — and that includes this plaid jacket.

I like this jacket, I really do. But I don’t love it — it’s kind of itchy, and it tends to get wrinkly easily. Regardless, I find that I often end up wearing it a lot (relative to other things in my wardrobe) because it falls perfectly into that “indifferent” category. I’m not afraid I’ll get tired of it by wearing it a lot, and I’m not put off from wearing it because I don’t actually like it much.

To reference the classic piece of literature, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it’s “just right.”

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 Potre Lame. 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: Thrift

Top: Express (thrift)

Jeans: Abercrombie

Boots: Ralph Lauren

August 23, 2018 – The Bend of the South (OOTD #355)

Published on September 11, 2018April 21, 2019 by lensembledujour7 Comments

Look at me, a proper Southern Bender!

Yeah, not really. I don’t even know what the proper term is for the people of South Bend; I think the Notre Dame students call them “townies” but I don’t know what the actual South Bend residents think of that. I interact with few South Bend residents on campus, so I’m really not sure of their take on the “townie” rhetoric.

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south bend, watch out — this absolute mad lad’s coming for your doorsteps so she can take pictures with them

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on Sep 6, 2018 at 12:34pm PDT

Regardless, you’ll be proud to hear — I made it back off campus again! A friend and I took an Uber to go to a Vietnamese market downtown. She specifically wanted some groceries, and I thought I’d go along just to walk around and see something other than the golden-tan brick of campus for a while.

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order in the court

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on Mar 16, 2019 at 7:44am PDT

It was a welcome breath of fresh air. Being on campus all the time, I live in the same space as I work, which means that I feel compelled, no matter what time of day it is, to keep working. There’s no physical divide between “home” and “school” — they’re the same. In other words, I’m basically at school, doing school things, 24/7. The brief moments when I can escape school and do something that’s not only distinct from school in practice, but also spatially separate from school, are my favorite.

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alley-oop

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on Nov 9, 2018 at 6:17am PST

Since we were downtown, my friend and I decided to walk around a little and take some pictures. She’s also pretty into maintaining an aesthetically pleasing Instagram feed, so we work well together when we take pictures. It helps as well that we’re similar in height and body type, so I don’t have to worry about her looming over me and taking a dreaded high-angle shot that makes me look even shorter than I already am.

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that’s groovy, man

A post shared by Meilin || L'ensemble du jour (@lensembledujour) on Oct 9, 2018 at 2:02pm PDT

As it turns out, South Bend has some cool locations for photos. It’s not as well-kept as Notre Dame’s buildings (excluding a few older ones, like Riley, that are just falling apart), but it’s a lot more diverse and interesting. I guess with economic depression, comes a lot of dilapidated buildings that fit an urban aesthetic well. Hooray for that?

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, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Top: Vintage (thrifted)

Skirt: Somewhere in Nepal

August 22, 2018 – Lake Pics Part Deux (OOTD #354)

Published on September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Sophomore day two, and I’m already busy doing stereotypical Notre Dame kid things like taking pictures with my friends by the lakes.

Notre Dame has several locations that lend themselves beautifully to great pictures — the Golden Dome, the basilica, and the lakes, just to name a few. That’s great and all, but these locations are so pretty that no one really takes pictures anywhere else. Last year, around graduation time, my Instagram feed was full of seniors in their caps and gowns taking pictures with the Dome.

Like, I like the Dome, but I wish people were a little more creative with where they took their group pics, you know? Notre Dame’s got some really pretty photo locations apart from the ones everyone always uses — Lord knows I spent a massive amount of last year trying to scout them out. Stairwells, empty classrooms, and Riley Hall were my best friends.

Naturally, since I was just criticizing the Notre Dame student body’s lack of creativity when it comes to taking pictures, here I am with some stereotypical Notre Dame lake pics.

I mean, the lakes are a very nice photo location, and they tend to have some really beautiful light come late afternoon-early evening. I mean, just look at these. The golden hour lighting really shines through.

I did say that it was my goal to get some more interesting photo locations for my OOTD pics this year so that I don’t just keep reusing the exact same areas around South Quad, but I guess I have to make exception occasionally for the occasional Dome/lakes/Touchdown Jesus pic. Can’t have people forgetting what school I go to, right?

(Hint: it rhymes with Potre Lame)

Top: Thrifted

Pants: The LOFT

August 21, 2018 – Not My First Rodeo (OOTD #353)

Published on September 4, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Nope, it’s my second!

I present to you, my outfit from the first day of school this year. The dress is one of my current favorites in my wardrobe. Something about it gives me mailman vibes, I don’t know. I actually almost wore a newsboy with it, but then I think the mailman aesthetic would have been a little too strong — best to keep it subtle, yeah?

As the years go on, first day of school outfits are becoming less and less of an affair. I remember back in middle school how many hours I would obsess over getting the perfect outfit for the first day — likely just to never wear it again (I would still wear the pieces, but never in the same combination).

Not that no effort or thought went into this outfit, because they certainly did, but it’s just not the painstaking research project that a first day of school outfit used to be for me. And you know what? It’s probably for the best.

Everyone gets dressed up on the first day of school; it’s actually quite hard to stand out as nicely dressed when literally every other girl on campus is also nicely dressed. The real testament of a devotion to fashion is if you can keep dressing nicely halfway through the semester. When all the other students are rolling in with sweatshirts and yoga pants, it’s much easier to make a statement.

Not to be elitist though — I have definitely done the sweatshirt and yoga pants look. I once had to run bare-faced in just leggings and a pullover sweater to my 10:30 drawing class. It was so bad that I had to bring my cosmetics bag so that I could sneak to the bathroom during a break and put on makeup.

Here’s to hoping I’m able to maintain a track record of cute outfits and good makeup this year! Oh, and not fail my classes. That might be important too.

Dress: Vintage

Scarf: My mother’s closet

August 20, 2018 – A Tropical Paradise (OOTD #352)

Published on August 31, 2018April 21, 2019 by lensembledujour11 Comments

Haha, just kidding. This is South Bend. It’s about as far from a tropical paradise as it gets. So even though my dress looks vaguely as though it could fit in in a sunny beach setting, it’s not South Bend where I’m going to find it.

For one, for a solid 60% of the year, it’s below freezing, and there’s probably snow on the ground. And when it’s not below freezing — like now, in the summer — it’s probably miserably hot and humid.

Take this day for example! It was cloudy but hot, and the humidity made going outside more like going for a swim. And indeed, it did end up raining for quite a bit, so even if I never got a real swim in, by the time I came back inside, I looked like I had.

Anyway, I found a new location for photos at Notre Dame — the Rockne athletic center, also known as the Rock. Most students don’t really bother going anymore now that the new gym has been built in the Duncan Student Center, so I didn’t have to worry much about foot traffic getting in the way of my photo shoot. It also helps that it’s sort of out of the way at the very end of South Quad.

I’m going to be trying my best to get photos this year that aren’t just rehashes of the same locations that I used for all of my photos last year — the door of South Dining Hall, the arches of Howard, the steps of Bond. Hopefully, I may even get to do some photos in locations other than campus because hopefully, I’ll get off campus more often — now won’t that be wild!

Dress: Unknown (gifted by a friend)

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

Published on August 30, 2018April 21, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

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)

Published on August 29, 2018April 21, 2019 by lensembledujour2 Comments

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.

Sweater: thrifted

Top: thrifted

Shorts: Forever21

August 17, 2018 – Club Hes (OOTD #349)

Published on August 28, 2018August 12, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

Up next in Meilin’s collection of glamorous photo shoot locations: the thirteenth floor of Notre Dame’s Hesburgh Library!

Now that my parents are gone and they’ve stranded me in the middle of a Northern Indiana cornfield (gotta love South Bend), my photo locations are more limited. Gone are the days of going to downtown everyday for lunch — even though I only got to do it for two days while my parents were here helping me to move in, I’m going to miss it.

I’ve not quite gotten into the habit of asking my friends to take pictures for me, and besides, a lot of them haven’t moved in yet or otherwise are busy with Welcome Weekend activities or band camp. Since I was on my own, I figured I’d go off to the library and do some work and take some pictures.

I have a mixed relationship with the library. I have some fond memories of going my first semester last year and finding some much-needed solitude and quiet in the upper floors, but I also have some downright miserable memories of feeling isolated and alone late at night. One of the weirdest things is taking a desk somewhere in the upper floors where you can’t see a window, and then emerging in the evening to find that the sun has gone down and everyone’s gone to bed. Time kind of stops from floors seven and up.

Very rarely do I ever get the entire floor of the library to myself. Typically, if I’m in Hesburgh Library — also known as Club Hes — and I’m by myself, it means that it’s some inhumanely late hour of the night, and I may or may not only be there so late because I accidentally took a nap at my desk at some point. But since very few people had moved in yet, and because even those who have had no reason to be studying in the library, I got a coveted window seat all to myself.

So naturally, I put it to good use — as a perfect location for some well-lit selfies.

I think I got some actual work done as well, but it was mostly just photography. That’s work too, right? Sort-of?

Top: thrifted

Pants: American Eagle

Scarf: American Eagle

August 16, 2018 – Stereotypical College Partygoer (OOTD #348)

Published on August 27, 2018April 21, 2019 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Welp, I caved and I did it: I bought a denim skirt.

While I don’t know if I can link you to a specific example, I know I have written about my disdain for the denim skirt trend before. It’s nothing against the denim skirt as a concept — in fact, I love the look of a denim miniskirt, and the first few times I saw someone wear one last year when the trend had just picked up steam, I was a huge fan. But that’s the problem — the trend picked up steam, and a lot of it. Too much of it.

It could also be the fact that I live on a college campus, and I’m surrounded by a bunch of 20-somehting females who want something cute (read: sexy) but simple to wear when they’re going out to parties. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; people can do what they want while wearing what they want. I just get tired of seeing the same outfits over and over again.

Here’s how to make an outfit for going out in if you’re a Notre Dame girl: combine a denim skirt, an off-the-shoulder top (a tube top if you’re feeling spicy), a lot of highlighter, and mix with a few Mike’s Hard Lemonades. As a standalone concept, that’s not bad — but every single ND girl seems to wear a similar thing every Friday/Saturday night.

Anyway, I finally caved though and bought myself a denim skirt. While I kind-of resent its overuse as a party staple, like I said, I do like it as a standalone piece. I found it at a local Salvation Army, and for the price, I couldn’t resist. My hope is that I’ll be able to wear it in a more creative way than just with an Urban Outfitters tube top…but we’ll see. No promises — I am a Notre Dame girl after all, and the peer pressure may be too much to resist.

Skirt: Thrifted

Top: H&M

Jacket: Hollister (fun fact: I got this on Black Friday all the way back when I was in middle school, and it still fits!)

August 15, 2018 – A Bit Chilli (OOTD #347)

Published on August 26, 2018April 21, 2019 by lensembledujour3 Comments

My South Bend adventures continue.

My stuff is pretty much all moved in now, which is a relief. Several of my roommates have yet to finish moving in though, which means there’s still stuff strewn about everywhere. Something tells me that that shall be the perpetual state of the room. I guess that’s what happens when you force six college-aged students to live together in a small space.

I’ve been doing really well with making my bed in the morning, though, so I consider myself well-accomplished.

To salute my final dinner with my parents until they visit in September, we ate at the fine establishment, Chili’s. Maybe it’s something about its romanticization in The Office, or something about how I ate at one in the Detroit airport before being bumped to first class on my flight to London, but Chili’s is my favorite of the sit-down restaurant chains. In a battle of Chili’s, Olive Garden, TGI Friday’s, and Applebee’s, Chili’s will always have my business. #notsponsored.

As it turns out, Chili’s also had a decent color scheme that goes along with my outfit. My hope, of course, is that you didn’t recognize the red and green brick as related to Chili’s until I said something, but I guess a lot of my readers are pretty used to me using restaurants as backgrounds for fashion photography. And empty classrooms, and libraries, and bathrooms…