Tag: vintage

June 20, 2019 – Lost and Found (OOTD #520)

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This was not where I was supposed to wind up.

I was supposed to go on a tour of Italian Parliament with a group of Notre Dame students. We’d been learning about Italian politics as a part of our “cultural enrichment” activities, and the culmination of that lesson was supposed to be to see the actual seat of Italian politics.

Well, like I said, I was supposed to. Turns out, my phone bill reset on June 20, and I forgot to pay for another month of data and service. Naturally, my SIM card contract was in Italian, so it’s not like I could actually read it to know this information. It took me days to finally find someone at Vodafone who spoke English and could explain to me that the reason I suddenly couldn’t use my phone was that I hadn’t paid for another month of data.

Naturally, my Parliament tour was supposed to take place during this time when I had no service. And naturally, when I left my house, I forgot that my phone was in an unusable state, and so I headed to the Metro in the general direction of Parliament, thinking I could just use Google Maps to get me to Parliament after I got off at Piazza di Spagna.

Nope. After a few unsuccessful attempts to find a place with Wifi where I could download a map and hopefully then still make it on time for my tour, I decided to give up. I was too late, and besides, I still hadn’t figured out what direction to walk in.

So what does one do when their plans to visit Parliament are ruined?

My answer was a pity McDonalds trip. McDonalds in other countries are magical places; they’re a little slice of American culture lifted straight out of the US and deposited in a foreign land. They have free public toilets, free Wifi, and often, outlets to charge your phone — which, if you’ve been to Europe before, you know are all rare finds. They’re the real US Embassies.

But before I bought my pity milkshake and fries, I stopped into a church that happened to be open. I’ve discussed this already, but Rome is littered with old, beautiful churches — so many that honestly, they all kind of run together in my memory. It really is the Catholic Disneyworld.

Even if I sometimes tire of seeing old European churches, that doesn’t mean I won’t still pop my head in for a moment. Just like McDonalds, they can be a great way to get a way from the craziness of the city for a respite. Churches (small ones, that is — not the big tourist ones) are normally quiet, dark, and cool, which can be a lifesaver in the summer heat. They have benches to rest your feet, and in the majority of cases, they’re free to enter and you’re welcome to stay for as long as you need. Unless you’re there during mass, there’s no pressure to pray or read the Bible or talk to a priest, and a good church wouldn’t treat you any differently for not being a follower of their particular denomination or religion.

It’s the perfect place to wander into if you’re like me, and you just need somewhere cool to sit after trying unsuccessfully for an hour to get your phone to work and to find Parliament. That’s the nice thing about churches. They’re open if you need them.

(As a side note: an astute observer may notice that I edited out the cross behind me for my Instagram post. That has nothing to do with religious censorship or a desire to distance myself from religion; rather, I felt self-conscious posting a picture of myself in a church with such a somber expression right next to a cross. It looked prayerful, like a penitent nun, and I was afraid that people might misconstrue the image as an attempt to glorify myself as some kind of righteous, devout cleric. I’m not, and I don’t pretend to be. I don’t need a “God Help the Outcasts” moment. I’m just a person who wandered into a church and thought it was pretty — that’s all. To avoid any potential for people to misinterpret the meaning of the picture, I decided to just edit out the cross, as the most definitive piece of religious symbolism in the scene. Make of that what you will.)

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life in Europe this summer. 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: Vintage (thrift, Brick Lane Market)

Jacket: Thrift (Clothes Mentor)

June 9, 2019 – Go Green (OOTD #515)

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Wow, have I told you how much I like plants?

I mean, I only kept a small greenhouse in my dorm room both years at Notre Dame, attended a botany class for fun my fall semester of sophomore year, and stole a spider plant from the art building because I thought I could propagate it into a new plant (spoiler alert: I did, and it’s doing fabulously).

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bugging out 🦋

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For real, plants are just such an important lifestyle choice for me. Some people like to cook, some people like to work out, some people like to read Bible verses every night before they go to bed — I like to take care of indoor plants. They’re like children or pets, but without the emotional responsibility.

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does this staircase make me look taller

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Though, if I’m honest, I do form something of a bond with my plants. I don’t name them like some of my friends do, but I become intimately familiar with their likes and dislikes. This one likes full sun. This one likes the shade. This one needs to be watered with coffee every week in order to keep its acidity levels up. Each plant is its own individual scientific experiment; over time, I’ve learned to methodically alter one independent variable at a time in order to yield the best results.

In the absence of science lab classes now that I’m a full-time humanities major, it’s the only practice of the scientific method I really have left in my daily life. It reminds me of when I was a kid and science classes were fun, before a string of lousy science teachers in high school discouraged me from continuing to pursue the practice.

If I’m ever at a point in my life where things aren’t working out and I need a drastic change, though, I would still consider one field in scientific research: botany. I would absolutely consider dropping everything I’ve studied in history and politics and international relations and completely shift gears to get my PhD in botany. Maybe some years down the road, if I’m tired and burnt out on law and ready to become one of those adults who switches careers in their middle ages, I’ll do it.

On one condition — I think I’d want to work and do research in a botanical garden, like this one in Copenhagen. I could spend hours in the greenhouses there — and Anna and I did. Honestly, I think it was one of my favorite things that I saw in all of Europe this summer, and I got to see a lot of cool stuff. There are botanical gardens everywhere; I don’t think there was anything special about this one in Copenhagen that made it different from ones in other cities. The fact that it was still one of my favorite things that I saw (and honestly, maybe my absolute favorite thing from all of Copenhagen) really goes to show how much I adore looking at plants.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life in Europe this summer. 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: Vintage (thrift — Brick Lane Market)

Jacket: Thrift (Clothes Mentor)

 

March 28, 2019 – Welcome to the Sixties (OOTD #484)

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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 26, 2019 – Work (OOTD #482)

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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).

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instagram vs reality

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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

March 23, 2019 – Branding (OOTD #479)

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I’ve discussed this before, but color can be rather hard to come by at Notre Dame.

Our buildings are pretty much all the same tan-gold brick — which is still very pretty and really gives the campus a sense of cohesion, however, it makes for rather dull backgrounds in fashion photography. Most of the year, the scenery is pretty colorless too — especially in the winter, when campus is covered in snow 65% of the time.

And naturally, the majority of classroom buildings are on the plain side as well. That’s not a huge complaint of mine — I don’t need a rainbow mural adorning every single wall — but when it comes to trying to find interesting and diverse backgrounds for my blog pictures, it can sometimes be a challenge. I’ve used everything from bathroom walls to stairwells to

And now, a new background enters the scene — this large colored poster from the student government office.

The student government office has turned into one of my favorite places to study on campus because I can usually guarantee that it’ll be empty. When there are no meetings in session, the space normally sits vacant — making it a great place to set up shop and get work done. There’s even free coffee from the Keurig.

There’s also this poster, which I’ve been eyeing for quite some time to use as a background for an OOTD post. My only hesitation has been just how student government-centric it is — my blog isn’t an advertising space for other organizations (unless they’re paying me, and even so, that’s usually reserved for Instagram posts), and I don’t really like to feature logos prominently unless it’s something specific to fashion.

But it was cute and colorful, and I thought — why not? I’m not against Notre Dame’s student government, and I am technically a part of it (albeit a very small one). It’s a small price to pay in order to get a colorful background in early spring at Notre Dame on my Instagram feed for once.

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: Vintage (thrifted)

Dress: Thrifted

March 21, 2019 – Empty Buildings (OOTD #477)

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I’ve got a fascination with abandoned buildings.

As many people do — I’m not trying to claim that that’s a unique feature of mine. I love following urban exploration photographers on Instagram and subreddits like r/AbandonedPorn.

In reality, though, I’ve visited very few abandoned places in my life, mostly out of the concern for the legality of trespassing and the potential of meeting unfriendly junkies. I went to my old elementary school once with a friend, but that’s it. I’d like to actually visit some of these cool places I see online, but I also don’t want to die/get arrested, you know?

As it turns out, though, Notre Dame has (at least for now) an abandoned building of its own. Or rather, it’s not really very abandoned — it’s in a pretty central location on campus and it’ll likely be repurposed and functioning again by the start of the next academic year. I suppose empty is the better word.

It’s the old architecture building, which, since the beginning of the spring term 2019, has been out of commission. They recently opened up a brand new architecture building (which I literally visited for the first time just a few days prior), and so the old one has been sitting empty for a month or two. I think they’re in the process of moving some office buildings in, but at the time of me taking these pictures, it was pretty much vacant.

Honestly, I’d love to see it turned into a new building for the art and design students. I’ve discussed the dilapidated art building extensively here, and while I do believe the state of dilapidation adds to the charm, Notre Dame could really use to offer its studio art students a nicer space. The design building, West Lake Hall, is honestly worse. It’s way off at the edge of campus, and most people believe it’s a maintenance building for storing lawn mowers. Not really a good image for the design department.

You’d think that the old architecture building, which is already set up with studio spaces, would be an excellent place to move the A/AH/D (art, art history, and design) department, but I guess Notre Dame has other plans.

Anyway, Father Jenkins — or anyone in ND administration — if you happen to be reading this, you know what my ideas are.

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: Vintage (thrifted, Brick Lane Market)

Jacket: Thrifted (Goodwill)

March 9, 2019 – A Slytherin in Cincinnati (OOTD #468)

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A big shout out to Cincinnati for being grey and rainy the day I wanted to take pictures of its skyline.

I don’t go into Cincinnati much, despite the fact that it’s the closest (major?) city to me in Lexington, beside Louisville. I actually go into Louisville way more, as my grandmother lives there and it’s where I grew up. Cincinnati is just a place that sort-of exists on the edge of my consciousness, one of those places I recognize exists but I hardly ever think about it.

One of my best friends, Jane, actually lives in Cincinnati, though, so it’s slowly becoming more relevant to me. I stopped by her apartment to visit last winter after I came home from Qatar/France, though unfortunately, I was too sick to really do anything. All I really felt well enough to do when I visited her last was lay in bed and sleep, so I wanted to make it up to her with another short visit.

As it turned out, on my way back to Lexington from Notre Dame, my flight went through Cincinnati. Instead of just driving home after I got in, my parents and I decided to meet my friend for lunch.

I still want to go back and visit Jane properly again sometime so we can actually spend more than an hour together while I’m not spaced out on cold medicine. Maybe I’ll visit her this summer, if I’m able to make space between my various travel experiences — and if I’m not too exhausted in the space between my various travel experiences.

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!

Hat and Scarf: Harry Potter store

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted, Foxhouse Vintage)

Sweater: American Eagle

Jeans: Abercrombie (thrifted)

 

February 16, 2019 – Galentine’s Day (OOTD #456)

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I’m glad Galentine’s Day has become a thing.

In case you’re unaware, Galentine’s Day is the trend where instead of (or in addition to!) a traditional date with a significant other, you go out with your friends. The cynic in me sees is as just another way for restaurants to get us to spend money on Valentine’s Day. The optimist in me appreciates that Valentine’s Day is now becoming more inclusive for people who aren’t in relationships.

So the weekend after Valentine’s Day, my friends and I all piled into a car and headed out to a brunch place. Going out to eat when you’re a poor college student is always such an event, at least for those us who live in the middle of nowhere and don’t have a car. I imagine it’s rather different if you go to school in a city, where there are restaurants everywhere. When you go to school in South Bend, Indiana and there are restaurants nowhere, it’s a different thing.

I feel like I should mention that our Galentine’s Day actually included two guys as well — Dylan and Jackson, the boyfriends of two of my friends. Galentine’s Day should be for everyone, not just women. It’s like Friendsgiving, but the Valentine’s Day version.

Turns out, the brunch place we went to had some spectacular lighting, which made for some great photos, as you can see here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuWimnvAs6B/

And nothing says “Valentine’s Day” quite like an outfit that makes you look like a priest (bishop? cardinal? Sorry, I don’t know my Catholic hierarchy well) from the Spanish Inquisition!

I got this cape from a vintage shop near my home called Street Scene, and to be honest, I’m not convinced it wasn’t actually once owned by a member of the clergy. It looks eerily similar to some of the capes that bishops wear.

I’m not sure if there are rules about wearing old clergy clothes. Are they like American flags, which are supposed to be burned after they’re decommissioned? Do I need to wash it in holy water along with my Tide Pods? Leave me a comment below if you have advice.

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!

Cape: Vintage (thrifted — Street Scene Vintage)

Top: ASOS

 

January 21, 2019 – Unintentional Minion (OOTD #441)

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I’ll admit it — I thought the Minions from Despicable Me were cool when they first came out.

It’s a little hard to explain, but I’ve got this vague memory of being about 14 years old, scrolling through Pinterest at the height of the Minion craze, probably listening to Happy by Pharell Williams or whatever as cool back in 2013, and thinking that a Minion costume would be cute for Halloween. This was, of course, before I realized that I wasn’t cool enough for Halloween parties, and that I likely wouldn’t have the opportunity to wear a Halloween costume again until I was a junior in high school and actually had friends.

This was also, of course, before I realized how annoying Minions were.

Despicable Me was a good movie, and the Minions were cute side characters. Because that’s what they were meant to be — side characters — and not the obnoxious, Facebook meme-fueling evidence of how out-of-touch corporate America is with young people that the Minions have become. Illumination took something that was cute and funny and killed it by putting it everywhere. Minions were cute when you could buy little yellow Tic-Tacs shaped like them in 2013. They were not cute when they received their own feature-length movie in 2015.

So anyway, that’s all to say that I really didn’t mean to dress like a Minion here. In fact, I didn’t even realize how much like a Minion I looked until one of my friends pointed to me at lunch and said “you look like a Minion!”

To be honest, I was going more for an Arthur the Aardvark vibe with the blue and yellow, but as soon as my friend brought up the Minion comparison, I knew they were right. I looked just like the Minion costumes I saw all those years ago on Pinterest, from the denim dress to the yellow sweater down to the combat boots.

So what can you do when it’s 12 noon on a Monday, you have two more classes still to go, and you look like a Minion?

You own it, and then write a blog post about it later.

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: Forever21 (thrifted)

Dress: Vintage (thrifted)

January 16, 2019 – New Year, Same Location (OOTD #438)

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It’s back to the staircases, I guess.

So far, I’ve barely asked anyone to take pictures for me — I’ve been doing them all by myself. It’s a little more difficult, but I think the result comes out looking nicer, at least some of the times. Nothing against my friends who’ve done my pictures for me in the past, but often, I think I kind of like my own pictures better. Don’t at me.

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oh, i think i hear the dinner bell ringing

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The one kind of annoying thing with doing my own pictures is that I have to find a place where my phone will sit in order to use the remote camera feature on watch to actually snap the picture. Given that restriction, I often end up using the same locations over and over — not that I didn’t do that when my friends took my pictures, anyway.

I don’t know how many times I’ve complained about the limited locations on campus for outfit photography on this blog, and so I’ll try to resist making the same complaint again. Just know that I get tired of using the same staircases and doorways as backgrounds for my outfits, okay?

It does feel kind of good to be back somewhere and know that I’ll be here for months, especially after weeks of moving around constantly. I never thought I would appreciate how quiet and uninteresting northern Indiana is, and how you can hardly travel anywhere from here. But here I am — appreciating how quiet and uninteresting and isolated South Bend is.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I like to travel, and that I don’t mind moving around constantly. I do however, like to have a home base that I can return to. I don’t know if I could handle living out of a suitcase forever; I’d at least like to have a place to call my own with some friends and some plants and a cat that I can come back to after the travels are over.

We’ll see how long it takes for me to start complaining about how I’m bored of staying in one place at university. For now, like I said, I appreciate it after the traveling I did for winter break, but I suspect that I’m going to start craving travel again after a month.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my travels. 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!

Top: ASOS

Skirt: Vintage (flea market)