outfit of the day – Page 38 – L'ensemble du jour

March 27, 2018 – Vernal Yearnings (OOTD #255)

Published on April 8, 2018April 8, 2018 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Hey look! You can finally properly see the detail on this shirt!

I’ve worn this blouse before, but unfortunately, last time, the print wasn’t visible in the photographs. The outfit was still cute and all, but I think the line drawing detail really makes this shirt pop, so I’m glad I finally get to show it off.

I can’t wait until the spring flowers finally bloom here at Notre Dame because maybe then, I’ll actually have some colorful backgrounds to use that aren’t walls or doors or paint cabinets . Back in late summer, the flowers were truly lovely — so hopefully come spring (WHENEVER THAT FINALLY ARRIVES HERE IN THE FROZEN TUNDRA OF THE MIDWEST), they’ll be even lovelier.

I seriously can’t believe nothing has bloomed yet here. I expected to have to deal with a harsher winter than I had ever experienced in Kentucky when I moved north, but I didn’t expect tor the winter to last so stupidly long. It’s draining, honestly. I love the cold, but too much of a good thing isn’t good. I just wanna see the sun again.

I have seen a few buds here and there though, and the tulips and daffodils are beginning to sprout. Maybe the flowers are coming in the next few weeks.

Or at least, I hope they come in the next few weeks because I’ve only got a few more weeks left of school! I calculated it the other day, and I’m pretty sure I only have 3.5 more weeks of class, and 5 more weeks until the end of the semester (one week of finals and half a week of reading days making up the difference.) With the pace things have been going though, I’m afraid I’m going to be packing up to go home and there will still be snow on the ground.

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!

Shirt: H&M

Jeans: American Eagle

March 26, 2018 – Neon Pink (OOTD #254)

Published on April 6, 2018 by lensembledujour5 Comments

Favorite hobby: writing these blogs under my notes class during boring lectures.

In my Philo class, there’s very little to do in class, especially when my professor gets going on a tangent. He’s an intelligent guy, but he likes to hear himself talk, and I don’t really.

It’s great, because I get to appear like I’m engaged and taking close notes, when in actuality, I’m only half paying attention and instead getting some other (still important) work done.

I’ve been developing a really nasty cold lately, which I’m kind of bitter about because I thought for certain I was done with being sick for this school year. I pretty much avoided falling ill all winter, and I figured that meant that I had successfully dodged the bullet. I was mistaken, as my cough and stuffy nose prove.

I was also wrong about thinking the winter was over — it’s never over in South Bend. Here we are in April (well, I’m writing and publishing this in April. The outfit here is from March), and just yesterday, it snowed. I love the snow, but I’m over it.

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!

Dress: Hollister

Jacket: Vintage (thrift)

March 25, 2018 – Runway Ramblings (OOTD #253)

Published on April 5, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

I really need to get better at not cutting off the tips of my feet when I take my own photos.

Or like, maybe I should just get better at asking people to take a few moments out of their lives and take photos for me. That would certainly be a lot easier than hiding out in the art building late at night waiting for it to clear out so I can set up my phone on a table and use my Apple Watch’s remote feature to take the pictures myself.

To be honest, I’m kind of surprised that I’ve managed to keep this blog going (almost) every day while I’ve been at school. I think it’s good I started it back in late high school and developed it over the summer; it almost certainly would not have been something I would have started out of pure personal interest while in college. It’s kind of hard to find the time to write sometimes, even now that I’ve been doing this for a year and and know (sorta) what I’m doing.

But it’s really rewarding to get a nice comment on a blog or get paid for a collaboration with a brand, so the motivation is still always there. I don’t think it’s really my dream or whatever to ever become one of those famous bloggers who turn this into a full-time career, but it’s cool to see that even as a relatively small fashion blog, there are still benefits I can take advantage of.

It’s also nice of course to get to talk about my love of fasion and share it with others. In some alternate universe, I think I went into fashion merchandising or design. It was always something that interested me, but I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find decent work because of how competitive the field is. Maybe one day, when I’m a rich retired lady (so like, in 10 years, right?), I’ll take some sewing classes. Project Runway, here I come!

(Have I already made that point about wanting to take sewing classes as a retired old lady? It can be hard to remember everything I’ve ever written about on this blog)

Anyway, time for me to get back to schoolwork. Err…maybe more like to get started on it. I can’t go back to something I haven’t touched yet.

Jacket: H&M

Sweater: thrifted

Pants: The LOFT

March 22, 2018 – Untitled (OOTD #252)

Published on April 4, 2018April 8, 2018 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

I allllllllmost didn’t post this outfit as a blog.

I only have four photos, and one isn’t even very good, so it almost didn’t really feel worth it to post it as a full blog, you know?

I decided to go for it anyway though, because I really like this jacket. It reminds me of the most expensive item in my wardrobe, a similarly architectural jacket, except that I doubt this one is worth hundreds of dollars. Interestingly, though, I bought it at the same thrift shop from back home as I bought the super expensive one — coincidence?

I wore this jacket specifically for an interview I had at 9AM, and, considering I was accepted into the program I was interviewing for, I guess it worked out! While it’s not a paid job (that I’m still searching for), it is a almost-entirely grant-funded trip to Nepal to observe and aid in a research project, so I’m super excited.

You can bet that I’ll be posting a lot about my adventures in Nepal (assuming I have time), so stay tuned for that. Maybe I’ll actually be able to keep up with a regular schedule, unlike what happened to me in London, where one week in, I stopped posting at all.

Speaking of London, can you believe it’s been almost one whole year since I started L’ensemble du jour? I need to check my stats for the exact date, but I’m pretty sure I began this whole project sometime in mid-to-late April of 2017. I should do something special for the one year-anniversary. Any ideas? Leave me a comment below!

Jacket: thrifted

Shirt: Free People

Pants: The LOFT

March 21, 2018 – Insert Joke About Being Hot Here (OOTD #251)

Published on April 3, 2018April 4, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Meilin’s adventures in exploring the art building at night continue!

At this point, I’m just heading out to Riley every night that I don’t get my pictures done earlier in the day — in fact, I’ll probably do the same today, as I didn’t get my pictures done at lunch like usual on Tuesday. It’s basically my second home.

The longer I spend in Riley, the more I come across unusual settings that make for interesting backgrounds, like this yellow paint cabinet. I loved both the bright color, and the “Flammable” text printed on it — figured it would make for some funny Instagram captions.

The summer job/internship search is in full swing, just as it was in April of last year. If you look back far enough in the archives of this blog, you’ll see my discussions of interviewing and trying to get hired last summer. You’ll also see that the job I ended up working last summer was really not any fun and a terrible fit for me, so I’m trying to avoid that by getting on the whole application thing earlier.

Honestly though, I’m realizing I probably could have been even earlier. Getting a job is hard, especially when you’re just an unexperienced college kid like me who can only work for a few months.

Worst case scenario, I’m sure I can get a part time job maybe at a local restaurant. It’s not really what I want to do, and it doesn’t really contribute at all to my resume, but it makes money, and that’s what’s important. I’m jealous though of my friends who are able to study abroad or work academically or professionally-relevant unpaid internships over the summer.

Anyway, pray for me, wish me luck, whatever you want to do to send me some good will as I try to procure some summer employment.

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Shirt: Thrifted

Jeans: Abercrombie

Boots: Ralph Lauren

March 20, 2018 – Happy Easter (OOTD #250)

Published on April 1, 2018 by lensembledujour5 Comments

What? You mean to tell me that Easter didn’t fall on March 20 this year?

Yeah — so I’ve discussed this before, but I have my daily blogs on a bit of a delay, so as to never wind up having nothing to post just in case I decide not to take OOTD photos one day or in case I don’t get to take photos until late in the day. The issue with that, of course, is that when holidays roll around, I’m never able to post the blog from that particular holiday on the actual day of the holiday.

I guess I could plan my outfits in a way that it looks like I’m celebrating the holiday earlier in the week, and then posting that blog on the actual holiday, but to be honest, that’s too much work for something I don’t really think is worth it.

Anyway, so today (the day I’m posting this blog) is Easter, but the outfit I’m posting is from March. Luckily, this outfit looks pretty festive and spring-like, so I guess it works for an Easter outfit.

The building I’m standing next to is the law school building, which I have interestingly never been into, even though I’m thinking of maybe one day trying to go into law (though I’m not really sure why — talking in front of people is scary). It’s just one of those places where I don’t really feel like I belong in, since I have no classes or anything there, y’know?

It’s my goal to make it into all of Notre Dame’s buildings at some point by the time I’m done here, including the dorms. I’m not really sure how I’m going to manage that, considering I never go to parties and have few friends outside of my dorm. I’m going to figure it out somehow…probably. Maybe.

Anyway, happy Easter! I hope you get to spend the day celebrating somehow with friends and family, and if you’re at The Most Catholic School On Earth ™ like me, I hope you enjoy eating meat and breaking the Lenten fasting thing, even if, like me, you haven’t really kept it anyway. I did swear off dining hall french fries, though, which has done well for my weight. Good for me, I guess?

Sweater: Altar’d State

Shirt: Forever21

Skirt: Rue21

Tights: The LOFT

March 19, 2018 – It’s Still Not Spring (OOTD #249)

Published on March 31, 2018 by lensembledujour7 Comments

I’m still operating here until the assumption that if I dress like it’s spring, eventually it’ll come.

You can’t even tell me my logic is wrong, here. Eventually, spring will come. Will my fashion cause it to arrive any sooner? Maybe not, but it’ll come all the same, and it’ll be exciting.

I’m particularly interested to see what campus will be like with all of the flowers in bloom. I haven’t been on Notre Dame’s campus in the springtime since I first visited way back in my junior year of high school, and from what I remember, it’s very pretty. I think that’s part of the reason why I came here.

Another reason why I came was because I thought the Catholic identity was really cool — even though I’m not Catholic myself. As an outsider, I always thought the various prayers and chants were cool in a mystical, kind of creepy way, but now that I’m used to them, the appeal is wearing off.

I’m particularly tired of these meatless Fridays and the fasting leading up to Easter. While I appreciate the meaning behind it and the dedication involved, I like meat (and just like, food in general) too much to really care to participate in it myself. That’s made particularly difficult when the dining halls are barely open and when they are, they serve bread and soup.

Basically, I’m just really excited for Easter and the end of Lenten season. Catch me stuffing myself with food and chocolate eggs.

Blouse: Francesca’s

Pants: thrifted (they’re actually old riding pants! Fun fact)

March 17, 2018 – Living On The Edge (OOTD #248)

Published on March 29, 2018 by lensembledujour6 Comments

Never thought “living on the edge” would take me to the edge of a building, but here we are.

#yolo, am I right?

I’m just kidding. Don’t put yourself in danger just for good pictures, kiddos. Safety first — don’t do it for the Gram.

On Saturday, the last day of my spring break, my friend Amanda and I went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant as our last hurrah before we both went back to school for another month.

Before we ate, though, we decided to hunt down a particular parking garage downtown that offers some really beautiful views of the city. We thought we’d just drive up, snap some photos, and be off to dinner within 20 minutes.

Not so much. Part of the issue was that it was St. Patrick’s Day (I know, I’m not wearing green — pinch me), and a lot of the streets were blocked off for the parade. Neither of us having any sense of direction, we ended up driving around in circles for quite some time just trying to orient ourselves.

And you know what? We never find the parking garage.

We glimpsed it from a distance a few times, but we never managed to actually figure out where in the city it was. I think the street it was on was closed, and we couldn’t figure out how to make it there there via other roads.

After driving to the top of several other parking garages and not finding the view we were looking for, we decided to stop by an opening “window” in one of them near an upper floor and take some photos anyway. It wasn’t quite the big, open view of the city we were hoping for, but it sufficed.

Sweater: Hollister (thrifted)

Top: Zara

Jeans: Hollister

March 16, 2018 – Plant of the Day (OOTD #247)

Published on March 28, 2018 by lensembledujour8 Comments

Guys, look at that! It’s a flower!

I’ve been on a gardening kick recently, perhaps started off by the start of spring and the vegetation that it brings. Or rather, the vegetation it’s supposed to bring — I haven’t really seen any plant growth yet, especially back in South Bend where there’s still snow on the ground.

There’s been a little bit of plant growth going on in Lexington though, owing to the fact it’s significantly warmer here usually. Look at these yellow daffodils that were growing in a little bed by the mall! I was so excited to see them.

One of these days, I need to show you all the plants I’m keeping in my dorm. I have a cactus, some succulents, and some little sprouts that I’ve been trying to grow from seeds. I’m becoming a plant lady.

I was never really into plants as a kid, admittedly. I grew bean sprouts from seeds with my preschool class like every other kid did, but they couldn’t talk to me and they didn’t move, so I had no interest.

I’m glad I’m finally getting into house plants, though — there’s a lot to learn and appreciate about them. I’m admittedly not an expert, and I will grant that my African violet is looking quite sad (I think it’s got some mold, but I don’t know how to get rid of it), but I’m trying to learn. It’s a nice little hobby.

On a side note, still looking for suggestions for what color to dye my hair next! Leave me a comment if you have an idea.

Jacket: H&M

Shirt: Forever21

Shoes: Target

March 15, 2018 – Springtime Cerulean (OOTD #246)

Published on March 27, 2018March 27, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Guys look! I found some wall art in Lexington!

I’ve mentioned this many, many times but I find wall art to make for some for the best backgrounds for fashion photography. Shots like these here just support that thinking for me — all of the pretty archways at Notre Dame can’t compete with some colorful walls.

On a side note, these are some of the tightest, most uncomfortable jeans I own — though thankfully, you can’t tell that here. Seriously, I could barely bend my knees. Granted, I’ve had these jeans since like, middle school, so it’s honestly a miracle that I could even get them over my hips still. Think it’s time to give them to Goodwill.

I’m beginning to break out some of my spring clothes now, even though it still doesn’t really look or feel like spring in Kentucky or Indiana yet. Maybe my white jeans, bright colors, and polka dots can convince the sun to come out a little more?

Pretty please?

I’m also considering dyeing my hair a different color for the new season. The purple’s fading at this point and I’m presently with a kind of strange, lavender-tan mixture, so now’s as good a time as ever to do another semi-permanent color.

Leave me a comment below if you’ve got any suggestions for new hair colors! I’m not looking to use any more bleach, so I can’t do blonde (at least for now) but I’m open to other ideas for color to go on top of the bleached ends I presently have.