academichic

Re-fash-ion. verb \(ˌ)rē-ˈfa-shən\

: To remake, to alter.

Example of usage:

I refashioned that dress into a skirt.

I am not a great seamstress. Traditional patterns, in all their tissue papery, multi-line goodness, tend to overwhelm me. I have trouble sewing armhole facings. I get intimidated by zippers and buttonholes. For all these reasons, I tend to be a “refashioner” rather than a “sew from scrapper.” As I understand it, refashioning clothes means seeing the potential in an existing garment to become something better — whether in terms of fit, embellishment, or a full on genre switch.

I don’t always have tutorials with all of my refashions because many of them evolve organically or I’m so full of trepidation when I start that I forget all about optimistically taking pictures in case things turn out! Still, I think that ultimately refashioning is starts with a state of mind. With some vision, rudimentary sewing skills, and a little help from our friend Google, transforming an existing so-so garment into something you really enjoy is both doable and rewarding.

Interested in extending or revamping your wardrobe through refashioning? Here’s a few tips and resources to get you started!

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I’ve been staring at this screen for a while, trying to think of what to say about my favorite outfits from Academichic’s second year. These aren’t my most exciting outfits, most fashion-forward, most innovative, or necessarily most interesting. But I would wear each one again in a heartbeat, and I think each captures some aspect of whatever it is that comprises “E. style”: machine washable elegance.

Two things that I self-consciously set out to incorporate more into my wardrobe this year were pattern and new proportions. I think I’ve finally conquered my fear of stripes, and pattern mixing comes much more easily than it used to. I barely batted an eyelash before pulling on lace tights with a striped top. As for proportions, I’ve come to value the possibilities of a billowy top that is not being used as maternity wear! My gray fluttery top (in pictures #2 and #4) proved to be an outfit-maker whether tucked into high-waisted pants or belted loosely outside a pencil skirt. I also learned new ways to work with my long torso, wearing a tunic and skinny pants with a shorter jacket (#6) and high-waisted pleated shorts with a tucked in cardigan (#8).

Still, I think color remains the way that an outfit most encapsulates “me.” Some of my favorite color combinations are evidenced in these favorite outfits. Mustard and plum. Olive and navy. Maroon and navy. Gray and yellow. Orange, yellow-orange, and blue green.

Also, I had a really good shoe year, right?!

Due in part to dissertation research, I’ve thought and blogged a bit this year about embodied experience, about bodies that are never neutral and that bodies and clothes are inextricably tangled together in how others perceive us. It’s a train of thought that will certainly re-emerge in year three, likely also in regards to mothering.

This has been such a great creative outlet for me in the midst of a lot of other life and career crazinesses, and like the other Chics, I really treasure your support and encouragement over the past year! Thank you!

Do you have a favorite among these looks?

Picking a top 10 was pretty easy for me since I’ve only been blogging since July and most of my outfits are still fresh in my mind. Since I took on being a “post-doc” at Academichic I’ve put much more thought and creativity into what I choose to wear, and as a result I also remember the pairings of which I am most proud.

My first month at Academichic was the color wheel challenge (pictures #1 – #3), and while at the time I thought it wasn’t the best way for me to start because the different modules felt strict, I actually think it ended up being terrific because I was immediately tossed out of my comfort zone and pushed to re-think color combinations altogether. It may seem silly, but wearing orange for the first time is a style milestone I’ll not soon forget!

I also experimented with more belting, which is a wardrobe innovation for me that I completely credit to E. and A. (and S., but because we were in different departments I didn’t see her every day). Finding a use for my long dormant scarf collection has made many an outfit “pop” and doubled my options for waist attire (pictures #4 and #7).

I don’t consider myself a “trendy” person and think I usually tend more towards classic (see pictures #8 and #10), but the fall trend of Minimalism struck a chord with me. Maybe it’s because of my love of minimalist art (I compared the skirt in picture #5 to a Barnett Newman painting), but something clicked for me when I was wearing only my grey sheath dress without any accessories whatsoever (picture #6). I suddenly felt very powerful, very at home in my own body, with my shape, unadorned, just me.

Finally, I’d have to say that my layered tights and unusual pin placement in picture #9 and the way my necklace and my blue suede pumps complement my scarf-belt in #4 are my favorite style moments of 2010. I’m excited to see what 2011 has in store…another marathon? More patterns? A trip to London? Red flats? Oh, the possibilities!

~ L.

I leave today for a multi-leg holiday trip. First, it’s off to Houston and weather in the upper 50′s to visit the in-laws for a week. Then, we’re jetting off to Honolulu where baby e. and I will get to spend twelve glorious days recuperating from this past whirlwind of a semester.

My husband has a fervent hatred for airline baggage check fees and an endearingly firm belief in my ability to pack for a trip of such length in just two carry-ons between the three of us. (There are a couple of key points to make about feasibility here. First, these are warm(er) climates, so there’s less bulk to pack. Second, we’ll definitely be doing laundry. Like, every six days. And third, we bought many of our Christmas gifts online and had them shipped to their respective residences.)

In any case, we’ll be traveling, per usual, with our trusted Tom Bihn Aeronauts. Some time next week I’ll have a post showing how I fit everything into this nifty bag. But for now I’ll show you what I’m taking and….drumroll….solicit your help in coming up with 20 outfits, no repeats, for two climates and a range of different events.

Ta da.

Okay, so the above has some imaginative license taken with it. These are not all necessarily THE items I’ve packed, so much as items that approximate my actual garments. For example, my black skirt is a homemade deal, not $185. And the taupe jersey dress is actually this one with the macrame neck detail. But you get the idea, right?

I’d love to see your ideas for how I can remix over the next twenty days or so. You’ll have to have a Polyvore account (or log in through Facebook) to save your outfit. Once you hit “publish,” your creation will be saved in the mini-editor’s gallery as well as on your own Polyvore account.

Give me some ideas for:

• Christmas Eve service in Houston
• Anniversary date night in downtown Houston
• Traditional Japanese New Year’s meal in Honolulu
• Lunch with high school friends in Honolulu
• Whatever else you feel like!

It’s that time of year when professional and personal lives blend a little more than usual thanks to the ritual of department holiday parties. Like last year, we’ll be brainstorming ideas to wear to a range of possible events, but one of our readers wrote in with a more time-sensitive request:

This is my first semester in the masters program and one of the profs (not from my department) is having a little “Dessert party” for this class because everyone is staying in the area for Thanksgiving.  It’s very nice of this gentleman to do this for us students.  However, what to wear?!  It will be casual held at his house and with all my classmates.

We think that you actually have quite a bit of creative freedom in this scenario, and a lot depends on your own sense of what constitutes “casual” and the general feel of your campus. Two things to consider when it comes to mingling with professors and colleagues-that-aren’t-close-friends in a casual setting:

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We just arrived in Houston to spend Easter weekend with my in-laws. Husband N.’s grandmother is Russian Orthodox, so there will be much fancy egg decorating and braided bread making to be had. It’s a short trip to a warm climate, but we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of room to bring extra loaves of bread back home with us. The packing challenge, then, was using one of my well-loved Tom Bihn Aeronauts to hold half of Husband N.’s stuff plus all of mine and baby e.’s.

E.’s Packing, originally uploaded by academichic.

Thankfully, the kind folks at Tom Bihn graciously sent us some of their packing cubes, which made packing for 2.5 people in one bag much more manageable. I put all of baby e.’s clothes, plus his blanket and some burper cloths, in a small packing cube. His clothes are so tiny that they have tended to get lost in the dark corners of my Aeronaut on previous trips. This time, however, we’ll be able to simply lift out baby e.’s cube and have everything we need for him at our disposal. Baby e.’s cube and all of my clothes comprised the bottom layer of the Aeronaut’s main compartment.

Tom Bihn Aeronaut, originally uploaded by academichic.

The top layer was another packing cube, this time the large size. I stuffed all of N.’s and my underwear, socks, pajamas, swimsuits, workout clothes, and my layering camisoles into the large cube. Again, I’m looking forward to being able to easily find those bits of clothing that have a tendency to sneak off into suitcase corners. My running shoes and slippers and N.’s slippers went in one side compartment. Our bag of toiletries and my orange pumps went in the other side compartment. And voila! All that N. had to put in his own Aeronaut were his t-shirts and two pairs of shorts, leaving more than adequate space for Easter bread.

Tom Bihn Aeronaut, Fully Loaded, originally uploaded by academichic.

It’s hard to hold back gushing about Tom Bihn products. N. and I have owned our Aeronauts for 4 years now, and we can’t imagine traveling without them. They’re smart, well-engineered, and extremely durable. Also, I’m also pretty sure that the cubes are kind of magical in how they seemingly absorb mass amounts of rolled or loose clothes and transform them into neat packages. I might need a few more.

So, I’m tickled to be able to offer you a chance to win a Tom Bihn product of your very own: The Kit (in kiwi!). According to their website, the Kit:

The Kit holds whatever tools you use to create, style, maintain or fix: pens, drafting supplies, toiletries, make-up, small tools, art supplies, iSight and cables, or any other small items that you may have. Even more than that, the Kit is a hand-held piece of portable architecture.

The Kit specs:

• 1050 denier ballistic nylon
• #8 YKK “splash-proof” coil zipper
• Exterior dimensions: 8.7″ x 4.7″ x 3″ / 220mm x 125mm x 80mm
• Volume: 60 cu. in. / 1 liter

For directions on how to enter (and to see what I ended up packing for Houston) click through the jump!

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1 February 2010 – A Lot Up Top, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Scarf: origins unknown
• Embellished tee: self-made
• Khaki skirt: thrifted
• Purple tights: Banana Republic
• Wedges: thrifted

End Notes:

(I know my skirt is abysmally wrinkled in these pictures. Does anyone have a foolproof method for keeping one’s skirt from wrinkling while spending large quantities of time sitting at a table and reading?)

While this may not seem like that exciting of a way to kick off scarf month — and I’ll argue that this is a long distance run, not a sprint — I thought it fitting to begin with a) one of my oldest scarves and b) one of my occasional scarf dilemmas. Regarding the former, I purchased this scarf sometime, somewhere during my undergrad years. I don’t think I necessarily expected to get so much mileage out of it, yet it has become something of my problem solving scarf. Outfit too bland? The blue green scarf can fix it. Not sure what matches the rest of the outfit? The blue green scarf probably does.

Regarding the latter issue…sometimes I wonder if a scarf needs to stand alone as the sole neck-based accessory or frippery. Diana of Smiles Go With Everything posted two tutorials last year that prove that you can, indeed, wear a scarf and a necklace simultaneously. So what about a scarf and a tee with an embellished neckline?

As is so frequently the case, I think a lot has to do with balance. I chose a solid, less bulky scarf today and the monochrome nature of the embellishments keeps things from getting too busy as well. Furthermore, I chose to tie the scarf in a way that wouldn’t crowd the fabric flowers and would give some verticality to an otherwise blah color-blocked outfit. I know, multi-tasking scarf, right?

I remember one semester in undergrad when a friend came back from studying abroad in France and convinced all of us on my hall to start wearing our scarves the “French” way. I’ve since seen this knot termed the “European loop.” (S. or our European readers…care to verify?)

Simply fold the scarf in half (though in this case I purposefully folded it unevenly because I wanted one end to hang past the waistline of my skirt)…

European Loop, originally uploaded by academichic.

Wrap the folded scarf around your neck and open up the loop in the folded end…

European Loop, originally uploaded by academichic.

Stick the dangling ends through the loop and arrange.

European Loop, originally uploaded by academichic

For my purposes today, the European loop was especially useful because it can be worn off to the side, giving my fabric “corsage” some room to breathe. What do you think? Do you tend to keep your scarves as the only accessory up top? Are there certain necklines or embellishments that you would not wear with a scarf?

Scarf and embellishment detail, originally uploaded by academichic.

Husband N., baby e., and I are embarking on a two week, two-part holiday travel extravaganza. We’ll be leaving the chilly Midwest for 6 days in Texas and then 8 more in Hawaii. My husband, who has great faith in my packing abilities, asked if we could possibly make this trip without checking any luggage. My initial response was shock and horror, followed closely by curiosity. After all, if S. could pack for an entire year and 4 seasons in two suitcases, then shouldn’t I be able to pack for 14 days and 3 climates in a carry on?

Click through the jump for a run-down of my packing list and to join in on an outfit-making challenge.

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Online gift guides proliferate at this time of year, but we at Academichic are focusing in on what we know best: presents for the academic in your life.

The On-the-Go Academic:

If your academic is constantly misplacing her favorite writing tools, she might benefit from a brightly chic fabric pencil case that can be easily spotted in the depths of her tote bag.

Your well-clad academic’s laptop deserves to be stylish too. These laptop sleeves come in a variety of fantastic prints and sizes.

S. has frequently sung the praises of her sturdy and practical tote bag. It’s hard to deny a basic that’s ergonomic and well-made enough to get your academic through those seemingly interminable years of graduate school.

The Teaching Academic:

When it’s time to grade, all three of the chics swear by these brightly colored Pilot G2 gel pens. And none of us ever use the red pen.

Every teacher knows the feeling of walking up to the classroom’s dry erase board only to discover that all the pens are either a) mysteriously missing or b) utterly parched. These mini dry erase pens are small enough to discretely tote around so you’ll always be able to write out that very useful diagram for your students, regardless of less-than-accomodating classroom conditions.

A compendium of unfortunate declarations made by North American college students in their history classes, Non Campus Mentis provides that sometimes-needed pick-me-up during grading marathons. Just knowing that someone else’s student wrote about the Automaton Empire helps ease grading fatigue.

The I-Prefer-Hard-Copies Academic:

The embedded brilliance of these “Mental Note” note pads will help your academic break through any dissertation, grant, article, or book-writing block.

It’s hard to choose just one of the many Anne Taintor products featuring 1950s ladies speaking their minds. Portable, practical feminist snark is always in style.

Bonus Round:

Passive-aggressiveness runs rampant in academic circles. This book helps put it all in perspective.

As always, we welcome recommendations from our readers! What will you be giving the academic in your life this year?

** Academichic recommends these products independently. We do not have sponsoring relationships with any of these vendors.

While I certainly enjoyed an American Thanksgiving feast, I also indulged in a crafty binge over the holiday weekend. I’ve been craving embellished tees, like these from JCrew, for quite some time, so I finally just decided to figure out how to make some myself.

Click past the jump for directions to make your own embellished tees!

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