academichic

The lovely A. of the Glamorous Grad Student has a wonderful series called City Chic and I’m thrilled to have gotten to contribute my own post to it. Check out my guest post on beautiful Salzburg here! Thanks for featuring my guest post, A., and on my birthday none the less! S.

For November’s rendition of blogs I’ve recently found and love, I present you with…

Chelsea is the voice behind Bright Side Dweller and she couldn’t be more delightful in both prose and picture. In her own words: “I’m a gay girly feminist hoping to encourage healthy body image and fight against harmful stereotypes.” Chelsea has a great eye for color and proportions and a way with belting that gives us a run for our money.

Candis and Rose, the writers behind Musing Around, are fellow academics and style activists, likewise resisting the polyester suit of academic yore. Their new blog is chock full of wonderful outfits and gorgeous style inspirations, make sure to take a look if you haven’t come across it yet!

The lovely Mariel of Preppy With A Twist was recently featured in our Color Symposium Review and she’s bound to impress you with her bold choice of colors and wonderful collection of shoes. In her own words: “I’m finding my style, which is caught somewhere between a prepster obsession with plaid and grosgrain ribbon, and the hard hitting trends of New York.”

If you, like me, love to travel and to check out trends in far away and exciting places, then you will equally love the wonderful City Chic series over at The Glamorous Grad Student. This blog isn’t a new discovery and has been on our blogroll for quite a while, but I just want to draw your attention to this great series: Guest bloggers post about their favorite hang-outs, thrift shops, city sights, and street style in the series that has thus far featured Tel Aviv, New York, London and Dubai among others.

And on a somewhat related note, I present you with this wonderful find. If you like colors, reading, and eco-friendly re-purposing of already owned object (if you read this blog, most likely all of those apply to you), the you’ll probably be as delighted by this paint chip turned bookmark idea!

If you have some lovely links you’d like to share, please do so in the comments or on your own site (and let us know) and spread the blog love! S.

Last month we did a spotlight post announcing a Back to School Clothing Swap in Boulder Colorado.  As promised, we’ve asked co-hostess @gwenbell to write a follow up post, including  a how-to.  If you are planning a similar event, let us know – we would love to do a spotlight on it!

How to Hostess a Clothes Swap

It was a pleasurable evening of wine sipping, clothes swapping and laughing. Liz (http://lizfranco.com) and Sarah (http://sjoystudios.com) flew in from the West and East Coasts, respectively, and together we greeted our guests as they started coming in. The event lasted about two and a half hours and we had about twenty-five women join us.

Your Co-Hostesses @sarahjbray @srslyliz @gwenbell, originally uploaded by gwen bell.

Liz Waits for Guests, originally uploaded by gwen bell.

Thank you for joining us!, originally uploaded by gwen bell.

Sorting, finding, originally uploaded by gwen bell.

@4580 hosted the swap, originally uploaded by gwen bell.

We’re excited to present you yet another blog we love: Daddy Likey

Winona, the mastermind behind this wonderful blog, is a fellow academic, style-enthusiast, and one hell of a clever lady. Her posts always keep us nodding our heads in bemused and conspiratorial agreement.

In fitting back-to-school fashion, Winona posted a list of undergraduate style ‘essentials’ which are spot-on. (Where was this sound advice when we were undergrads?)

She asked us to contribute our suggestions for graduate student back-to-school style, and we couldn’t have been more thrilled to make our Very First Guest Post!  Check out our Fall Style Syllabus over at Daddy Likey and make sure to bookmark this site if you’re not already an avid reader!

I’m always discovering new blogs I love and bookmark. While most of these can be found in our ever-growing blogroll, I thought I’d share some recent discoveries with you in a post of their own.

One of my daily reads is Jentine’s My Edit. Not only does this girl have massive style and a creative eye for unique combinations, she also cracks me up with her humorous and often sarcastic writing style. While some style blogs pull me in with their wonderful pictures, this one keeps me going back for the witty writing as well as the gorgeous outfits.

Another recent discovery is Jen Loves Kev. Jen, a fellow teacher, collects smart and cute teaching outfits in her Teaching Style File (similar to our endeavor here). And I’m also in love with her home and her unabashed use of color – brilliant!

And lastly, I just want to direct your attention to a great post by writer and fellow style-blogger Jane, formerly of Work That Wardrobe, and now blogging over at The Small Fabric of My Life. You may already be well familiar with Jane’s one year of no shopping project, which she documented in the first of the two blogs mentioned above. Her local paper, The Liverpool Echo, featured an article in which Jane sums up her feelings about this year-long undertaking and it’s most definitely worth a read.

What are some of your daily must-reads and which blogs would you honor with a dose of Blog Love? S.

Clothes Line, originally uploaded by academichic.

We’ve written frequently on this blog about the power of clothes to change moods and alter one’s self-perception and self-presentation. This past Saturday, I was privileged to be a part of offering that opportunity — and much more — to women in my city.

For the past few months, I have been helping to organize a one-day event that provided a free “shopping” experience for women in need from the area. We gathered donations of new and gently used clothing and accessories, set up a mini “store” in my church’s basement (complete with changing areas, spot-lit accessory walls, and garments arranged by size and color), and provided refreshments and “personal shoppers” for the women who came.

Many of our guests were refugees, and many spoke little or no English. But, cliche as it may seem, language is really superfluous when it comes to two women — an American volunteer and a Ethiopian refugee — celebrating the perfect fit of a pair of jeans.

When we began organizing donations for the event, I was a little worried that we would be drowning in piles of bad puff paint sweatshirts, elastic-waisted pastel pants, and shapeless floral dresses. And while, indeed, we had our fair share of Cosby sweaters and denim jumpers, we also had some donations of beautiful clothes and accessories: designer bags, terrific jeans, well-tailored suits, classic dresses. People gave generously, and it was delightful to see a small Somalian grandmother, wrapped in a bright scarf and carrying a tan Dooney & Bourke purse that she chose because she loved it, not because she knew what the D&B stood for. Even some of the donated items that made me scratch my head found good homes. A teenage refugee girl latched onto the fire engine red feather boa, preening in front of the mirror and showing it off to her friends. She went home with it still wrapped around her neck, and every time one of the volunteers would compliment her, she glowed even more brightly.

In the end, we had over one hundred women come through our “store,” each leaving with a large, stuffed shopping bag. Frankly, it was an exhausting endeavor in both preparation and execution. But this was so much more than cleaning out our closets or simply giving away clothes. It was our hope that by transforming piles of clothes into an event — taking women individually through a “store” created just for them, finding a dress that fit them beautifully or a handbag that they thought was pretty — would dignify them, enabling these women to walk away with clothes that not only satisfied basic needs, but looked fantastic on them too.

Gwen explains how the clothing swap works:

You show up with those items of clothing needing a new home (you know the ones I mean, the ones in your closet that you bought and thought you’d love but don’t) (it stands to reason that if it was once rad to you it might be rad to someone else).

You come ready to have fun. You try on clothes, swap, remix your wardrobe with some ultra-fashionable ladies.

To find out more about the event, including how it works, how it got stated, and who it benefits, check out Gwen and Liz’s sites.  While unfortunately none of us Chics will be able to make it to this fabulous event, we will be covering it here on Academichic so be sure to check back for a full report on what promises to be a fantastic evening of fashion, clothing, and fun and latter for  a DIY post on how to organize your own clothing swap.

A lovely reader recently turned us on to The Uniform Project, a project by the very creative Sheena Matheiken, who has pledged to wear one little black dress for 365 days. In her own words:

Starting May 2009, I have pledged to wear one dress for one year as an exercise in sustainable fashion. Here’s how it works: There are 7 identical dresses, one for each day of the week. Every day I will reinvent the dress with layers, accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies.

We here at Academichic could not be more supportive of a project that not only pledges sustainable fashion and responsible spending but also works to raise money for education:

The Uniform Project is also a year-long fundraiser for the Akanksha Foundation, a grassroots movement that is revolutionizing education in India. At the end of the year, all contributions will go toward Akanksha’s School Project to fund uniforms and other educational expenses for slum children in India.

Not only is Sheena Matheiken supporting education and being a responsible citizen, she is also a force to be reckoned with in the fashion blogosphere. Just check out her stunning ensemble for a recent wedding:

We always knew that a Little Black Dress was a must in our wardrobes, but this project will prove just how far such an item can be stretched! Check The Uniform Project for more images and information and to make a donation if you can!

A while back, when we did our Fashion 101 series on Proportions, we received some reader comments about how we do not represent a very broad spectrum of sizes. Although we have very different body shapes and proportions, we are indeed pretty similar in terms of clothing size. We believe that dressing for your shape and proportions can be more beneficial than focusing on a number. We understand, however, that the stores we frequent can lack options for the plus sized reader and that can indeed be very frustrating.

So we would like to introduce you to a wonderful St. Paul-based online fashion boutique that offers beyond adorable and stylish plus size products: b&lu.

Click for some of our favorite items and a reader discount code after the jump…

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