November 8, 2019 – Très Petite (OOTD #404)

Someone remind me to stop posing by touching my hair.

Seriously, four of my last nine Instagram posts include me posing by playing with my hair. It’s a little excessive, like, don’t I know anything else to do with my body?

I don’t even that much hair! Or that much body!

Fun fact: I always used to imagine I would grow up to be my parents’ heights. My mother’s like 5’9″ and my father’s nearly 6’0″ yet I stand at barely above 5 feet. What could possibly be the explanation?

Welp, I’m adopted. And I knew that as a kid, and I knew I looked different from my parents, but I didn’t know that that meant I wouldn’t still grow to be their heights. All the other kids used their parents’ heights as an indication of how tall they would grow, why couldn’t I do the same? I don’t think I ever imagined myself to be a tall adult but like…definitely a more average-sized one.

I stopped growing around fourth grade. I like to think I look a little older than a fourth grader now, but sometimes I’m not sure. Sometimes I don’t even feel mentally much older than a fourth grader either.

With finals coming around the corner, that might not be such a good thing.

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

Sweater: Ralph Lauren (thrifted)

Top: Some boutique in Nepal

Skirt: Abercrombie

November 6, 2018 – Pumpkin Spice (OOTD #403)

When did pumpkin spice become a phenomena? When did it enter the public consciousness?

I’m pretty sure I didn’t realize pumpkin spice was a thing until freshman year of high school. That was the first time I remember seeing white girls on Twitter raving about being excited for fall things — watching Hocus Pocus, wearing cozy sweaters, and drinking PSLs.

Did pumpkin spice as a favor exist before Starbucks popularized it in 2014? Since then, I feel like it’s almost become a meme — if you drink a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, you are irredeemably basic. Any street cred you had immediately disappears into the cinnamon whipped cream. You could be a 6’5″ football player in a motorcycle gang and a pumpkin spice latte renders you a 14 year old girl —  not that there’s anything wrong with 14 year old girls. It’s like kryptonite.

Anyway, I have no real reason for talking about pumpkin spice lattes. I was just trying to think of a blog title and a way I could tie it into this outfit. I just thought the color scheme was vaguely spicy. I haven’t even had a PSL yet this year.

I don’t even really like Starbucks’s sweet holiday drinks that much. I like coffee a lot, but I want my coffee to taste like coffee. The holiday drinks are too much like a dessert.

Here’s a question if anyone out there feels like doing some research? Have there been other flavor trends in history, like the pumpkin spice trend? I feel like you can’t go anywhere in the post-2014 world without finding pumpkin spice flavored treats — pumpkin spice ice cream, pumpkin spice candies, pumpkin spice cake. Has that ever happened before to the same degree with another flavor?

Personally, I’d be here for a cream flavor trend. Not vanilla, not sweet cream — just plain cream. It sounds lame, but it’s my favorite flavor for sweets, especially ice cream treats. I don’t like how sugary vanilla can be, so just a plain, smooth cream can actually be very refreshing, in my opinion.

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

Sweater: Thrifted (Goodwill)

Skirt: J. Crew (thrifted — Goodwill)

November 2, 2018 – Leaf Me Alone (OOTD #402)

Look at those golden trees!  Look at them doing that!

But uh…don’t look at me standing outside in the middle of campus by myself taking pictures of my outfit with my phone.

I actually had several people walk past me as I took those photos. I never know what to do when that happens. Do I make eye contact? Do I just keep gong as if nothing happened?

The answer, or at least the one I’ve come to in my experience, is simply to stop what I’m doing and look at my phone. If it looks like I’m too distracted to realize that someone’s judging me, they’re clearly not judging me, right? Then I glance around to see if anyone else is coming through, and if not, I go back to taking pictures.

Inevitably, someone else comes around again, and I have to put my photography on pause again.

That’s why I liked taking pictures in the art studios of Riley so much. Almost no one came around to bother me, and I never had to risk the awkward moment of a stranger coming by and wondering why I was taking pictures of myself at 1AM. But since I don’t have an art class this semester, my 24 hour card access was revoked, and I can’t just hang out at Riley late at night anymore.

Instead, I had to learn how to take pictures of myself outside, where there are many more strangers to happen upon me and judge me. Whenever I think I’ve gotten over myself, I remember how weird having a daily fashion blog can appear to people who don’t know me, and I feel awkward again.

Somehow, I’m still here though. I guess slight social anxiety hasn’t gotten the best of me yet.

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

Jacket: Thrifted

Dress: Vintage (thrifted)

October 31, 2018 – I Know What You Are (OOTD #401)

Edward: Say it. Out loud. Say it!
Bella: Vampire.

I don’t remember quite what I thought about Twilight when I was 11 and I first read it — I don’t think I thought it was any kind of great literature, but I also don’t remember thinking it was as bad as people said. I didn’t really want a boyfriend who acted like Edward…maybe just one who looked like him. I also thought the vampire powers were cool.

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i was always more of a team edward person

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As someone cleverer than me once put it, everyone had a Twilight phase. You were either weirdly obsessed with it, or weirdly despised it to the point of obsession. Either way, you cared way more about it than you should have. 2008 was a simpler time.

Anyway, this Halloween, my friend Lan Anh and I decided to channel our inner 2008 vampire personalities for these outfits. We went to a cemetery and everything for our photos. It’s about as extra as I’ve ever gotten for an OOTD post.

But this outfit seemed to call for it. Plus, whenever I’m with Lan Anh, I know with confidence that I’ll get some good pictures. She doesn’t blog, but she likes to have a colorful, aesthetically-pleasing and up-to-date Instagram, so we’ll often go out and get pictures together.

Today, I wound up as her shorter but sparklier vampire counterpart. We didn’t plan out outfits to coordinate like this, but when we realized they did, we knew we needed to go out and get pictures together. I would have gotten photos by myself anyway, but I’m glad I had a friend with me. I’m mostly used to having a feed full of just photos of me at this point, but I like it when I can get others in it with me. Feels less lonely.

Plus, when you’re a million year-old vampire like me, you need as many other vampire friends as you can get. Why do you think Edward lives with the rest of the Cullen family?

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

Jacket: Anthropologie

Top: River Island

Skirt: Zara

Tights: Target (apparently Target is the source of all of my Halloween pieces!)

October 29, 2018 – Mad Mod (OOTD #399)

Up next in blog titles with Meilin: blog titles named after Teen Titans villains.

I got this dress as a part of my trip to Nepal. It’s one of the last purchases I made before I went home — but it actually wasn’t purchased in Nepal. It was actually purchased in Bucktown, Chicago.

I wound up with a nine hour layover in O’Hare before I was allowed to fly back home to Kentucky. Initially, I was going to just wait it out in the airport, but after some advice from a friend, I decided to make something out of my nine hours and head out into the city for a few hours. While there, I came across a few vintage shops — my only weakness — and I bought this dress.

It actually came with a matching hat, but I haven’t come up with a way yet to wear it without looking super costume-like. Stay tuned to see if a green and yellow hat makes an appearance on this blog.

I am a big fan of the dress by itself, though. It’s vintage and 60’s-like — my two favorite adjectives to describe clothing. If you got rid of the racism and sexism and lack of WiFi, I would absolutely transport myself back to the 60s. I could start a ladies’ fashion journal instead of a blog.

By the time the early 2000’s rolled around, L’ensemble du jour would already be a huge name fashion news source. I’d get in on the big dotcom bubble of the late 90s, and I’d be set for 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 PinterestInstagramFacebookBloglovinTwitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

October 26, 2018 – Out and About (OOTD #397)

Hey, kiddos. Have I told you yet about how much I like getting off campus?

No? Well get this fun fact — I savor every moment I spend that’s not on Notre Dame’s campus.

In this outfit, I got to go off campus for a few hours on a Friday afternoon to do some thrift shopping. Why thrift shopping? I’m actually not entirely sure. Myself, I love thrifting. But I wasn’t the one who suggested this outing.

And I don’t remember why the friends I went with decided to go thrifting. Maybe they just wanted to get off campus too. I guess it’s a common interest.

Anyway, I didn’t know when I got dressed that morning that I was going out after class, but I’m glad I dressed the way I did. It’s a very nice, “going out” sort of an outfit — fake hipster glasses and all.

Besides, what a missed opportunity it would have been had I gone out into South Bend without an outfit worth photographing! As a fashion blogger, I’m always on the lookout for good photo locations. On campus, my options are limited, especially since I like as much as possible to keep some variation in my OOTD posts. When I go out, even if it’s just to a neighborhood thrift shop, I like to get photos because it means I can have some content that’s different from my normal campus stuff.

The only thing I would have changed about these photos are the trees. My outfit is so fall-like; I wish my background matched that mood a little more. I was ready for fall, but these trees just weren’t yet. Inconsiderate of them, huh?

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

Jacket: thrifted

Dress: thrifted

October 22, 2018 – Schooled (OOTD #395)

After a pleasant, but tragically short, fall break, it was back to school.

No worries though, I’ll be back home again for Thanksgiving: the most underrated holiday.

You don’t know how many people I know who like to skip from celebrating Halloween straight to celebrating Christmas, forgetting Thanksgiving in between. How do you forget Thanksgiving? I get that it’s not as exciting as getting dressed up and trick-or-treating, and it’s not as exciting as decorating a tree and exchanging gifts, but you get food. Why would you forget food?

I’ve found that for me, what helps me get into the mood for holiday best is music. Why is Christmas such a big deal? Christmas music!

With the exception of the Adam Sandler turkey song (which remains the only bit by Adam Sandler that I find funny), I don’t feel like there are any Thanksgiving songs. Someone needs to get on that. Maybe if we had Thanksgiving songs, we’d like Thanksgiving more.

The second half of fall semester always feels shorter than the first, which means the worst part of the semester is over now for me. I just have to make it through a month before Thanksgiving, and then, after I’ve returned from that break, three weeks before Christmas.

Let’s get this bread, kiddos.

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

Jacket: Chaps (thrifted)

Sweater: The LOFT

Skirt: Abercrombie

October 18, 2018 – Autumnal (OOTD #394)

And here comes my annual Boyd Orchard trip blog.

Every year, my dad and I go out to this particular farm in Central KY to pick pumpkins and do stereotypical American fall things. It’s always a great opportunity for photos — in part, because the location lends itself well to a fall Instagram aesthetic, and in part, because my dad’s there, and he always takes great photos.

This year, we also got my mother and dog to come along! It was a true family outing. The only member of the gang missing was my cat, Mushu.

(That’s my mother’s hand in the photo)

These photos turned out even better than last year’s, in my opinion. Last year, I got some good pictures, but my hair was the worst looking that I think it’s ever been. It was right before I decided to cut it and dye it grey (for the first time), and it was in a truly sorry state. A year and a half of bleaching it blonde did not leave my ends very intact-looking.

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i’ve been spotted

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This year, I was smart enough to get my fall break haircut in before I went out for my orchard adventure. Check out those intact hair strands.

We didn’t end up picking any pumpkins this time because we didn’t think we’d get the time to carve them, but we did get plenty of apples. We also did the hayride, got apple cider, caramel apples, took photos in the pumpkin patch (even if there were none left to pick) — all of the fall things.

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you’re the 🍎 of my 👁

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It’s little outings like this that I really miss when I’m stuck at school. I miss the outside world, even if it’s just a farm with some produce. Notre Dame is a great little compact world, but campus feels small without pumpkins or apple trees. All we’ve got are sycamores and oaks and the occasional ginkgo. Shoutout to my botany class for teaching me that.

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some quality fall moodboard content

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

Jacket: Forever21

Sweater:thrifted

Pants: The LOFT

October 14, 2018 – The Marvelous Ms. Meilin (OOTD #392)

I’ve been watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime, and let me say — it’s got a great visual style.

Actually, by “I’ve been watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” I mean, I’ve seen the first episode. I’m not very good at actually watching television shows. I usually tend to begin them and then never find the time to continue them, even if I enjoy the first episode. 

With The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel though, I think I may actually continue  watching. Not only was the plot interesting, but like I said, the 1950s aesthetic was really gorgeous. 

I’m a sucker for historical fashion (being a history major, and all), and I’m always happy to incorporate some vintage pieces into my wardrobe. Case in point: this outfit.

I don’t know what era this dress actually comes from, but I could imagine it as something from the 50s. I know it’s not — it’s Don von Furstenburg, who didn’t come to popularity until the mid-70s — but with my coat, I feel like it evokes a late-50s vibe anyway. 

IMG_7758.jpg

Speaking of vintage, this coat is also practically vintage, at least in terms of my ownership of it. It’s probably the piece in my wardrobe that’s been in my possession the longest. If I remember correctly, I’ve had it since third grade — and even then, I bought it used off of a friend’s older sister. Who knows how old it really is.

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just some colorFALL leaves

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It was too big for me for several years, and by the time I grew into it, I’d stopped growing altogether. Hence, I still keep it in my wardrobe for days like these when it just really ties together an outfit. It doesn’t happen often, but when I do need it, I’m grateful that I have 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 PinterestInstagramFacebookBloglovinTwitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Dress: Diane Von Furstenberg (vintage)

Coat: Rothschild (thrifted) 

October 10, 2018 – The Longest Day (OOTD #389)

I don’t normally tend to discuss my daily life in these blogs because there’s not a lot to talk about, but I’m going to do so for this day because I remember just how long it was.

In fact, I even remember what day of the week this was — it was a Wednesday. How often can you look back on a photograph that was taken a month ago and immediately place where it fell in the week? Not often. That’s how memorable this particular day was.

If I remember correctly, I had about three assignments due on this particular Wednesday before fall break, and one exam. Come Tuesday at midnight (er, I guess technically Wednesday at midnight), none of these assignments were done.

What was due? A paper for my theology class, a first draft of my study abroad essays, and my final project for my botany class, not to mention the looming exam for Russian literature, the class which I was doing the most poorly in.

I’m no stranger to staying up late to do work, but I legitimately wondered how I was going to get all of these stuff done. None of these tasks would have been particularly difficult to get done on their own, but put altogether, and with the added challenge of a time crunch — it wasn’t a fun night.

So flash forward to about 8AM Wednesday morning. I’ve gotten about a 2 hour nap from around 2-4AM, and I’ve been working ever since. My theology paper is done, my study abroad essays are done enough, all that’s left of my botany project is to cut out some pictures and glue them into my notebook, and I haven’t even touched my Russian lit studying. But that’s too bad, because I have a meeting in an hour at 9AM with the dean of my college to get approval for study abroad, and I need to look presentable.

I make it through my meeting with my dean alive, though I have to resist the urge to let out a primal scream when he asks how my day’s been going. I have about an hour before French begins to finish pasting all of my pictures into my botany notebook, and from there I’m in class nonstop until 3:15.

My Russian literature exam goes okay — not great, but not tragically either. I manage to turn in my botany project on time, and I hand in my theology paper when I get to class. By some miracle, I don’t fall asleep in theology, even though all we have to do for class is to watch a documentary.

These photos were taken shortly after I got out of theology and the busy part of my day ended. Do I look tired? I definitely was. After I got out of class, I just kind of sat by myself at the top of the steps in the pottery studio (for context, my theology class takes place in the haunted art building) and took a moment to breathe. It was raining out, which I could see through the sky roof, and that was nice.

The point of all of this? Midterms suck. Even more than finals suck. With finals at least, class ends, clubs stop meeting, and you have several days where campus is just sort of dead while everyone cries to themselves and prepare for the GPA crash. With midterms, nothing stops, but you still have exams and projects all due at once. Take it from me and my dirty hair and tired eyes in these photos: it’s lousy.

Thankfully, though, midterms are finally over. Writing from my current standpoint, nearly a month after October 10 happened, I can’t believe I somehow managed to make it through. Only five more rounds of midterms to go before I graduate.

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

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer (thrifted)

Jacket: Thrifted