academichic

Sources:

• Tank: J. Crew
• Cardigan: Banana Republic
• Necklace: South Moon Under
• Shorts: BR Outlet
• Shoes: BR

Endnotes:
I wore this to our last day of faculty meetings on Friday, and now that those are done, my grades are in, and my comments are written, I’m not totally sure what to do with myself. Being a boarding school teacher is a funny life because you’re 24/7 for 9 months, and then when the kids leave, there is this big hole left behind. Not that I don’t have hundreds of hours of sleep to catch up on and hundreds of books I’d like to read this summer… and at least a dozen that I have to read… but I miss the students and I miss being in my classroom everyday. Talking to grown-ups all the time is not nearly as fun as talking to 14, 15 and 16 year olds. Especially when talking to grown-ups means faculty meetings and trustee retreats!

About the outfit, it’s pretty neutral: navy, mustard, putty, and my favorite olive studded flats. In summer (and fall, and winter, and spring) I especially like to wear bright colors, so this is a very subtle palette for me. Maybe I was thinking that I’d blend in to the surroundings at the faculty meeting? Either way, this outfit does get me thinking about our up coming Dress Your Best weeks (starting next Monday!) because it showcases something I’m very proud of: my muscular legs. Start thinking about what you’ll be showing off!

Sources:

• Cardigan: Target
• Cami: Forever 21, from last pregnancy
• Maxi: Forever 21, from last pregnancy
• Sandals: Old Navy
• Necklace: Hawaii swap meet

End Notes:

Notice anything different? Yes, I’m wearing my hair up. Or at least up-ish.

Thanks to your advice, I tried a modified version of the Real Simple tutorial for three low buns at the nape of the neck. Since I have a LOT of straight, slippery hair I need pretty significant length to make “real” buns. But, I loved this idea and I stood in front of that mirror for a long time with damp hair, some texturizing product, a few pins and some little hair bands to make something that sort of approximated that look. I just decided to embrace the spikes. It’s not the most beautiful hairstyle out there, but it fulfilled the purpose of getting hair off my neck with the added bonus of making it look like I had longer hair to start with. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself. I appreciated all the suggestions you had and will work on expanding my hair repertoire in the next few weeks!

I should say something about the outfit, but really…it’s purple and it’s mustard and I love this maxi dress and I added an old necklace so that you wouldn’t get too bored. The end.

P.S. Just three more outfits left to post in my self-imposed 15 for 15. (But that’s not too exciting since many of you will certainly be launching a 30 for 30 experience today ala Kendi…good luck!)

Sources:

• Striped Top – Gap
• Shorts – Banana Republic Factory Outlet
• Red Flats – Target
• Earrings – Aldo (altered by me)
• Bracelet – gift from S.’s mom

Endnotes:

Here is my second blue and white stripe based outfit.   It’s nothing ground-breaking, but here you have it.

I know you aren’t all fans of shorts this length, and I’m still not %100 confident when wearing them. But, I do, as many of you mentioned, feel more comfortable pairing them with a top with sleeves, and particularly this boat-neck, square-cut, three-quarter sleeve knit top that is all wrong with my skinny jeans. I certainly wouldn’t wear this outfit to school, but it was perfect for sitting outside with  iced coffee  and a friend.

On another note, what do you think of these earrings?  Since my new haircut I have been on the lookout for large dangly earrings and I love wood accessories for summer.  So, when I spotted large wooden disks hanging from a jewelry rack this weekend I grabbed them.  Unfortunately, when I turned them around I saw that layered on top the wood were two intricately decorated gold disks – just not at all my style.  They were cheap so I bought them anyway and did a little DIY (I just used pliers to remove the gold disks).  Now, I’m not sure if they are too big.  Thoughts?

Sources:

• Shirt – American Eagle
• Shorts – Banana Republic Factory Store
• Tank – Urban Outfitters
• Earrings – Gift from S.
• Sandals – H&M
• Sunglasses – Banana Republic

Endnotes:

This is certainly not my most exciting outfit (though I do think it looked much better in person than in these i-phone photos) but it was quite the exciting afternoon!  This year A2 and I joined a CSA on the recommendation of E and N. We picked up our first box of goodies two weeks ago at our local farmer’s market, but this week I decided to drive the 45 minutes to the farm to spend a couple hours picking some of my own produce and getting some sun with friends.

It was hot. Really hot. So, I wore shorts (short shorts), a tissue thin button-down over an almost as thin tank, sandals and my aviators.  I picked these shorts up on the cheap at Banana Republic Factory store a couple weeks ago and have been living in them ever since.  I bought them because they actually fit both my thighs and my waist (well almost anyway).  I would have preferred them to be an inch or two longer and still feel a bit self-conscious in them.  What about you? Are you a shorts person?  Do you feel comfortable in non-Bermuda-length shorts?

The combination of thin plaid button-down, shorts, and big red canvas basket were perfect for a couple hours on the farm.  We got to pick three different kinds of peas and then make up bags full of  already harvested lettuces, greens (kale, spinach, etc), turnips, radishes, garlic scape, broccoli, and more.  We also picked pints of the most beautiful and delicious strawberries, but were down one before we ever even made it home!

As we drove home with our haul enjoying the beautiful scenery (and consuming a  pint of strawberries and some snowpeas) we brainstormed a feast that would not require anything but our fresh veggies and some staples that were already in the pantry.  We shucked peas on the back deck with a bottle of whine and got to cooking.  For some reason I just fell in love with the rainbow swiss chard.  It comes out of the ground in these beautiful vibrant colors!  After photographing it, I put it in a vase to use as our centerpiece and to eat later this week.

All in all it was a wonder afternoon spent with friends and dirt and an equally wonderful evening spent with more friends and great food!

The weather swings in academichic central lately have been crazy, swinging up from the fifties to the nineties in a matter of a few days. Which means my wardrobe choices have been something like this:

Sources:

Cold:

• Cardigan: Target
• Tank: Old Navy Maternity
• Skirt: Old Navy Maternity
• Wedges: Naturalizers, via DSW

Hot:

• Hat: Banana Republic
• Scarf: gift from S.
• Top: thrifted (and worn backwards)
• Shorts: consignment shop
• Shoes: Target, thrifted new
• Clutch: c/o Crystalyn Kae (don’t forget to check out Crystalyn and other independent boutiques through our boutique consortium!)

End Notes:

S.’s post on sharing — or not sharing — maternity clothes also brought to mind a recent reader question about what to bring to a clothing swap, that is, how do you decide what clothes to give away or exchange?

I love it when I go to a swap and people have brought clothing that is still a) in great condition, b) not obviously dated, and c) is accompanied with the giver’s desire to find someone who really looks GREAT in that article of clothing. When I’ve culled through my closet, either for swaps, for donations, or to simply pass along to a friend, I am pretty ruthless about putting anything that I haven’t worn within the past year into a “consideration” pile. If something is still essentially new — I bought it on clearance and wore it once but then never again — I might first consider putting that up on eBay to make a few bucks. But, most of the time it’s something that either doesn’t fit my body quite right or a different silhouette that I attempted to integrate into my wardrobe but just didn’t work out. In that sense, I guess I tend to think of clothes-swapping as an opportunity to right my past shopping wrongs, rather than simply a means of cleaning out my closet.

I was delighted to see S. wearing that turquoise top in her pictures! That top got the cut from my wardrobe because it was just wishful thinking and a lot of tugging that kept that empire waistline tucked below my bust. Since I knew that my torso length was unlikely to shorten during future pregnancies, it was time to let that top go. Now we both win! The deal is, clothes-swapping can actually be a humbling experience — to go back through your closet and acknowledge that you did not make the wisest choices. But it can also be incredibly fulfilling when you can be happy to see someone else looking like a million bucks in a garment that didn’t really do much for you.

Ultimately, I think a lot of these questions relate back to the notion of building a versatile, workable wardrobe that does what you want and says what you want it to say. Although these hot and cold outfits are fairly different from each other, I do think that they give some insight into how my style has changed a little since my last pregnancy. I’m a bit more daring with trends — shorter shorts with a draped top, for example — and I’m finally on board with stripes. I’m a hat lady now, too. On the other hand, the brightly colored shoes are still a big part of my repertoire, and I don’t see myself swapping those out any time soon!

How do you decide what ends up in a swapping pile?

Sources:

Orange necklace- consignment store
Gray tank – BE Maternity
Teal top – inherited from E.
Skinnies – ON Maternity
Flats- Target
Bag – Kenneth Cole Reaction
Bike – 1969 Raleigh Sports

Endnotes:

This is what I wore last Friday to meet a friend at a coffee shop for cappuccinos and some German conversation. I inherited this teal pregnancy top from E., who wore it during her first pregnancy. When she went through her pregnancy clothes for this time around, she purged some items that she knew she wouldn’t be wearing again, and I was lucky enough to inherit them. I have two thoughts on sharing and inheriting maternity items:

• It’s great!
• It can be a ‘false triumph’

1) The advantages:

It’s great if you have friends who can share their maternity items with you because it saves you from having to spend too much money on items that you’ll wear for a limited amount of time. I compiled the majority of my maternity wardrobe from thrift stores, consignment shops, hand me downs, and only a few actually new items (my maternity jeans and a few ‘workhorse’ layering tanks). It’s also a great thing if you have friends who share your sense of style and aesthetic and who will give you pieces that you would have likely bought for yourself.

2) The disadvantages:

It can trap you into wearing something that doesn’t work for you because it’s free, you feel guilty spending money on clothes that won’t get worn for too long, and you feel bad turning down a thoughtful friend. Don’t fall into this trap! If you’re not as lucky as I am to be inheriting clothing from someone as stylish as E., (or maybe the gift giver is stylish, but it’s just not your style), politely decline. Someone else may really appreciate the offerings, and it doesn’t have to be you. I often hear women say that they don’t care what they wear or how something fits when it comes to maternity clothes because it’s temporary and they already have misgivings about their changing and growing body that less than ideal outfits ranks low on their list. I think that particularly at this time, when you want to feel good about your body, you should ruthlessly cull things that don’t serve that purpose. It’s ok to rotate between the same five dresses or maternity tops if you feel truly great in them when you wear them. When it comes to maternity wardrobes, my take is that less (but great) really is more.

So if version #2 above best describes how you feel about maternity hand me downs, do yourself a favor and just say no.

Have you encountered this dilema with shared clothing or hand me downs in general? What have you done in those situations?

And on a non-related side note, I’ve received several questions about cycling while pregnant. I’m always happy to answers those questions directly within the comments on this site, but I also wanted to point out that I write more at length about this topic on my bike (and life) blog, Simply Bike. You can read my latest post on cycling into the third trimester here. ~S.

Sources:

• Striped tank: Target
• Striped cardigan: Target
• Necklace: Tilly Bloom
• Jeans: Old Navy Maternity
• Flats: DSW

End Notes:

After days of warm weather, a band of thunderstorms and tornados swept through our area, leaving much cooler weather (and some hail, but thankfully no significant damage) in its wake. Since I wasn’t expecting this when I chose my list of 15 rotating garments, I made a game-day call, switching in my long striped cardigan. I actually think this could be a better choice anyway, since it adds some length to my otherwise cropped collection of top layers.

I always think of Tania, of What Would a Nerd Wear whenever I wear this red striped shirt. Actually, Tania, I think this could be a totally “you” outfit, if I had a big bun on top of my head (or if you had a bun in the oven). Oh, the punning!

In any case, it was a simple outfit for a quiet day of chapter writing. As I settle into a routine of writing consistently from home and continue to adjust to a changing body, I am growing to appreciate more sincerely the little touches of an outfit that can make me smile when I look up, bleary eyed, from a book. Stripes stretched across a bump makes me smile. A cat wearing a Victorian dress makes me smile. The fact that I’m pattern mixing when no one else — save all of you, I suppose — will see me, makes me smile.

I end with the words of the inimitable Jack Donaghy: “It’s called power clashing. And I do it because I can.”

Sources:

Dress – thrifted
Yellow bag – vintage Sears, $1 garage sale find
Yellow flats – Target last summer
Heart pendant – gift from husband
Bike (below) – 1969 Raleigh Sports

Endnotes:

After a weekend spent mostly in shorts and a tank, it was glorious to see the sun come out, to don a summer dress, and to bike to the library yesterday. Over the weekend, my in-laws were in town to help celebrate my husband’s birthday and to help us paint and get the baby room ready. It was so much fun and I’m getting increasingly excited for the arrival of our daughter (I’m now 31 weeks), and am just trying to squeeze as much out for my dissertation as possible before July.

As I noted the last time I wrote, for me being productive and getting a lot of writing and nesting done means not having to get dressed if I don’t feel like it. It means being able to spend half the day in sweats or days in a row wearing iterations of the same tank + shorts combo. But on the occasion that I do want to look a little more presentable, my favorite way to do so quickly is by throwing on a sundress and some flats and leaving it at that. Not only are sundresses super comfortable while still looking nice, they’re also very welcoming of a bourgeoning baby belly. I already had a good collection of empire waist sundresses before I got pregnant and I’ve added a couple more as I’ve come across them at the thrift store these past few months, this blue floral number being one of them.

I’ve always had hippie-ish tendencies when getting dressed but not having to teach and being pregnant has really brought those out in me: just give me a loose floral dress, some Birkenstocks, and let me braid my hair, and I’m a happy camper.

Meanwhile, I so admire how put together and polished E. continues to look throughout her pregnancy. It just goes to show how different all of our styles are here on the site. The same can be said about our approach to getting dressed; while E. thrives under the structure of wardrobe challenges, such as her current 15-for-15, I thrive most when I’m given free reign and can make decisions on the go. Having a wardrobe challenge in addition to being busy sounds really stressful to me, but to E, it represents a fruitful downsizing of options that allows her to thrive under pressure.

What’s your personal stress/style preference? Do you like self-imposed wardrobe challenges or do they feel overwhelming to you? When tackling a multitude of projects, do you prefer to let your fashion choices fall by the wayside or is that when it seems althemore important to look polished in order to feel organized and on top of things? Do share your take on this!

S.

Sources:

• Cardigan – Gap
• Jersey Dress – Banana Republic Factory Store
• Scarf – don’t remember
• Boots – Steve Madden Intyce
• Jean Jacket – Gap
• Bike – 1970s Schwinn Le Tour
• Helmet – Bern

Endnotes:

This week has been extremely busy with commencement events, advisor meetings, and out of town guests.  But, I did manage to fit in my first official bike commute to campus.  It was wonderful!  I’m hooked!

Here are a few pictures of my beautiful new bike (and my post-commute helmet curls):

Sources:

• Ruffled Shell: Banana Republic
• Sweater: August Silk via Filene’s Basement
• Skirt: French Connection
• Shoes: Giuseppe Zanotti via Filene’s Basement
• Necklace: South Moon Under

Endnotes:
Happy Monday everyone! And now for a brief foray into pop culture courtesy of Katy Perry:

Cause baby you’re a firework
Come on show ‘em what you’re worth
Make ‘em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you’re a firework
Come on let your colors burst
Make ‘em go “Oh, oh, oh!”
You’re gunna leave ‘em fallin’ down-own-own

While I’m not a huge fan of her music (I’m uneasy about the sexual message of “Teenage Dream” and the veiled homophobia of “I Kissed a Girl”), I do enjoy the positive tone of these particular lyrics, and yes, I will admit to blasting it while driving around doing errands this weekend. Sometimes a catchy tune is just a catchy tune.

I happily refer to this skirt as “fireworks” because of the bursting blue and neon pink of the pattern. I’ve worn it with this top before, but not on the blog. That time I paired it with my cropped navy blazer, but I’m liking the line of the cardigan tucked in. I thought about wearing my navy blue shoes, but decided that would be matchy-matchy overkill. You all know that my policy on footwear is “when in doubt, wear metallic” so I put on these gold sparklers (get it?).

I feel very put together in this “firework” outfit and love the burst of ruffle from the shirt and the bursts of color and pattern in the skirt. What is inspiring your outfit today?

Also, what do you think about Katy Perry or other pop artists? I’d really like to hear what others have to say about the influence that pop music has and what messages are carried within it – especially for young women. I know we have very thoughtful readers and commentors, but since this can be an incendiary topic, I request that you respect me and each other in the comments section as we are all entitled to our own opinion. Thanks!

L.