academichic

Sources:

• Tunic Shirt: Edme & Esyllte via clothing swap
• Shirt (under): Banana Republic
• Belt: BR Outlet
• Skinnies: Anne Taylor LOFT
• Shoes: Dolce Vita via endless.com
• Necklace: Accessorize (gift)

Endnotes:
Nothing too exciting about this outfit other than the fact that I nabbed this great tunic shirt at the clothing swap I had recently. I have been having major problems getting excited to get dressed this week since it has been raining and in the 40s and 50s every day. Oh yeah, did I mention that it’s MID-MAY!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, I’m going bonkers and am absolutely fed up with freezing in my classroom, so after my valiant attempt at spring tights last week, I’ve thrown in the towel on skirts in favor of pants until I see some serious sunshine.

My verdict is still out on this outfit, but in theory it was great. The loose tunic top, stretchy comfort of Anne Taylor ponte pants, and my new Dolce Vita flats! How cozy? How comfy? How not tight on my tumtum! Alas, the tunic seems a little too flowy (it is a size 12, but you can’t be too picky when it’s swapped/free!) and the belt I added to tame things just wasn’t sitting right on my torso no matter where I put it for some reason. I tried using a skinnier belt that was colorful, a looser belt that sat low, and a wide stretchy belt to pull it all in, but nothing worked. This was totally one of those outfits that left my room in a shambles because I had pulled EVERYTHING out of my closet to try to make it work. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

Any ideas on how to make this tunic work in my wardrobe before it get’s put back in the swap-pile?

L.

Sources:

Top – Olian, via consignment store
Skirt – Liz Lange Maternity, via consignment store
Tank – BE Maternity
Red wedges – vintage Etienne Aigner, thrifted
Bangle – H&M years ago
Earrings – made by me
Sunglasses – my husband’s
Bag – Dots, back in high school when I worked there :)
Bike – 1970s Peugeot Mixte
Helmet – Giro

Endnotes:

Well, you may have noticed that I’ve been somewhat sparse around here lately. A variety of reasons are to blame for this: First, I’m done teaching and so I no longer have to dress up for work every day. Add to that the fact that as my belly’s growing, my wardrobe continues to shrink, and the fact that most days my activities consist of writing at my kitchen table, taking my dog on walks on the nearby trail, meeting friends for walks, or going to prenatal yoga. For all of these aformentioned activities, I’ve been happily donning comfortable workout shorts and my husband’s t-shirts (I’ve outgrown most of mine). So as you can see, not really blog-worthy material.

But the truth is that I wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s been a busy academic year and I’ve still got a heavy writing load to tackle before the baby is due (along with finally getting her room ready, something we’re just now getting started on), so it’s a relief to be able to slow down and take it easy on other fronts. I love being able to just get up and stay in comfortable sweats all day if I’m only going to be walking my dog, writing from home, or lounging on the patio reading. Life is all about ebbs and flows and this is definitely my time to enjoy the ‘ebb’ of being a stay-at-home pregnant woman.

As you can see, I did get dressed yesterday as I biked to my 30 week doctor’s appointment. And it was fun to pull our this funky print shirt that I found on my consignment shop trip with E. a while back, which feels way to fun to waste on a day of dog walking and backyard lounging. I also wiggled my feet into shoes other than Birkenstocks (but let me tell you! It was hard getting that buckle fastened. I almost gave up. It wasn’t that they didn’t fit, it was that in order to put them on, I had to bend down and clear this huge belly that made it nearly impossible to reach the clasp and fasten it). And so I did enjoy a day of looking polished and presentable. But today I’m happily back to cut off (maternity) jean shorts, a tank top, those easy to slip on Birkies, and my backpack as I bike to the library for an afternoon of writing. Right after I go walk my dog in decidedly non-red wedge shoes. ~ S.

Sources:

• Lace-edged Camisole: Banana Republic Outlet
• Cardigan: H&M
• Belt: American Apparel
• Skirt: White Rice
• Tights: Target
• Oxfords: Crown Vintage via DSW
• Necklace: gift from sister

Endnotes:
Really? Tights in spring? Tights in the middle of May?! Yes folks, sad but true. The daffodils are blooming, fruit trees have burst into fluffy balls of white flowers, and my allergies are going haywire (pun intended), but the chill is not out of the air some days where I am. I had sworn off wearing tights after spring break, mostly because my waist and stomach were tired of being constricted like that, but I had to give in and break them out on Friday last week. To really feel sorry for myself I started to look back at when other bloggers around the country had packed up their winter tights for the year.

The ever hip and stylish Clare of Between Laundry Days was still wearing tights (or at least posting tight-ed outfits) in April, but has recently been enjoying sunshine and nylon-free gams.

The oft-skirted and always adorably dressed Tanya of What Would a Nerd Wear decided to freeze her kneecaps one particularly cold spring day, but she hasn’t donned tights in weeks (just look back at her recent posts!). Even my lovely co-bloggers out in academichic central were ditching their tights back in early April!

However, I do have a (reluctant) tights companion in the artistically photographed, well dressed and hilarious woman behind Hello, Monkeyface!, who also paired spring florals with tights this month, and the queen of color combos, Audi of Fashion For Nerds, also sported some firey red tights recently. Thank goodness! I really was starting to feel sorry for myself (wink wink)

On the flip-side, the always thoughtful and encouraging (and well heeled!) Sally at Already Pretty lined up some great ideas for how TO cover up even when it is warm out.

How have you been keeping warm during the mud season between winter and spring? Do you have a cut-off point for some wintery items that you refuse to wear after a certain date or season change?

L.

Sources:

• Cardigan: Target
• Tank: Old Navy
• Skirt: thrifted maternity dress, cut into skirt
• Belt: Old Navy
• Shoes: Steve Madden
• Bracelet: gift from A.
• Book: Making Face, Making Soul / Haciendo Caras: Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists of Color,” edited by Gloria Anzaldúa

End Notes:

I seem to have reached my nerdiest plane of wardrobe inspiration yet. I’ve been working with Gloria Anzaldúa’s edited volume, Making Face, Making Soul / Haciendo Caras for the past few days, and it was still sitting on the dining room table when I sat down for breakfast this morning. “I really like these colors together,” I thought. “I should wear them.”

This is a fairly loose interpretation of the book cover’s color scheme (largely because I don’t really have anything in that yummy deep purpley magenta that still fits) and I doubt that anyone I see today will exclaim, “Hey, you look JUST LIKE the cover to Making Face, Making Soul!” Still, it makes me happy to be wearing a kind of secrete homage to a book full of writings that I love.

Anyone want to join me? If you’re inspired to create a book-cover outfit in the next week, leave a comment or send us an e-mail (chic at academichic dot com) of both your book of choice and your sartorial interpretation. We’ll feature submitted outfits the following week.

I leave you with one of my favorite methodological mantras in the book, from Maria Lugone’s contribution to the volume, “Playfulness, ‘World’ Traveling, and Loving Perception,” a moving and accessible essay about adopting an attitude of playfulness in order to know other women’s worlds:

Playfulness is, in part, an openness to being a fool, which is a combination of not worrying about competence, not being self-important, not taking norms as sacred and finding ambiguity and double edges a source of wisdom and delight.

Sources:

• Dress: French Connection
• Shirt (under): Splendid via Nordstrom Rack
• Sweater: Banana Republic
• Pants: Anne Taylor Loft
• Shoes: Ciao Bella via DSW

Endnotes:
I realize that this is extremely similar to the first way I styled this dress when I debuted it in London (it was a birthday gift from my fabulous sister). However, the addition of skinny black ponte pants underneath made the shorter hemline feel safer, and the shirt under and sweater over provided needed warmth.

The inspiration to tie the built-in belt from the dress on the outside of the cardigan is something that my co-bloggers have been perfecting for years. E. takes the ties on a solid color jersey dress to hold down a top layer consisting of an unbuttoned patterned shirt dress; S. takes a removable sash from a jersey dress to wrap around her outer layer; and A. uses the ties on a wrap dress to integrate her cardigan into her look. You can also use ties from blouses to hold down cardigans. If you want more ideas, check out A’s tutorial on how to use built in ties over cardigans.

Sources:

• Coral cardigan: Banana Republic Factory (from last post-partum)
• Striped tank: Target
• Belt: thrifted
• Skirt: Mimi Maternity, via eBay (from last pregnancy)
• Orange pumps: Dolce Vita, via solestruck.com
• Necklace: Figs and Ginger, Mother’s Day Gift from husband N. and little e.

End Notes:

There’s a lot of almost-not-quite sentiment wrapped up in this outfit. I wore it when proctoring my students’ final exam on Monday, meaning that my semester is almost-not-quite over as I’m currently wading my way through stacks of blue books. Then there’s the color combination of a coral cardigan and orange shoes, almost-not-quite matchy matchy or clashy clashy. (Incidentally, I like that I managed to wear the same shoes on both the first and last days of this academic year.)

Even this cardigan is an almost-not-quite. It almost-not-quite fits me when I’m a year post-partum. It’s too big on top and falls at an awkward length on my torso, meaning that I cycled it out of my rotation. But when I’m preggers or just-post-preggers, it hits just below my new, higher waist and provides adequate space for uh, newly ample bust. Behold:

Back to my theme. I am almost-not-quite halfway through a draft of the first chapter of my dissertation. I almost-not-quite have a new baby. And I definitely have some other big changes happening on the home front, and we’re currently in the almost-not-quite of those transitions. In the midst of all this, my husband and little e. gifted me with a sweet little necklace for Mothers’ Day this past Sunday, a reminder to cherish the right-now-very-definitely.

Husband N. found it at our local craft alliance, a silver necklace by Figs and Ginger, with three birds on a branch. As little e. tells me every time he sees the necklace: “Mama Bird, Dada Bird, and E-E bird!” It’s a precious, wearable encapsulation of our (now limited) time as a family of three, and as much as I am ecstatic to welcome a new baby into our home there will always be something beautifully special about little e. making me a mama for the first time.

Clearly, our clothes and jewelry can be so invested with memories and significance. What memories do you wear?

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.

Sources:

• Shirt (tunic): French Connection
• Skirt: Calvin Klein outlet
• Belt: mom’s
• Shoes: Tahari via endless.com
• Necklace: Gift

Endnotes:
I believe that one of the most fun things in life is twirling around while wearing a very full skirt. This skirt lends itself to playful swishing, swooshing, and all out spins. I had wanted to wear this shirt/tunic again, and I realized that the teal and lavender of the shirt would look great with this skirt and obi belt.

I’m sorry I haven’t been writing very lengthy posts lately, but much like everyone at this time of year, I’m crunched for time as the academic calendar winds down and tests, papers, and projects roll in my door. Sometimes a bright, sun-shiny top, or pop of color, or comfortable stand-by is what gets me through. Other times a full, fancy, almost bustled skirt will do the trick and I can twirl, twirl, twirl myself right into a happy mood. It makes me think I’m a carefree kid again – not like I was exactly twirling around as a kid all the time – but again, too many cotton commercials have conned me into believing that I wore cute summer dresses and spent lazy afternoons rolling down grassy slopes and swinging around to see my skirt flutter around me. Even if it didn’t happen, isn’t it ok to dream? As Miriam Toews put it in her beautiful novel A Complicated Kindness, “The stories that I have told myself are bleeding into a dream, finally, that is slowly coming true… Is it wrong to trust in a beautiful lie if it helps you get through life.”

What do you all think? If we’re talking about more than mixing up your memories, is it wrong to trust in a beautiful lie if it helps you get through life? What “lies” do you believe in?

L.

Sources:

• Jersey Dress: 5/48 via Filene’s Basement
• Shirt: Bebe
• Camisole: Gap Outlet
• Belt: American Apparel
• Shoes: Ciao Bella via DSW

Endnotes:
This is an example of how to convert a dress into a skirt by using a belt to hide the bottom of the shirt as if it were tucked in. I can’t wait for summer when I can wear this dress without anything over it, but for right now a little more coverage is needed. Like the dress I was wearing last week, this one is almost too short, but at this point in the year I’m so tired of my wardrobe that I’m starting to reach for things that I would otherwise hold off on wearing to school. I’ve been reaching more and more towards jersey materials and especially to jersey dresses for their comfortable fit and flexibility. Having a range of stretchy wide belts helps to accomplish tricks such as this one. Do you have any tricks for wearing specific clothing items to look like something else?

Sources:

Gray jersey dress – Target
Navy shirt dress – Motherhood Maternity, via consignment shop
Belt – Gap Outlet
Flats – thrifted
Necklace – gift from Costa Rica
Bangle – J.Crew, thrifted

Endnotes:

It seems a little funny to be talking about an outfit in light of today’s (or rather, last night’s) ground breaking events. I’m sure that all of you have heard the President’s speech by now and are following things on NPR or whatever your choice of news provider is. But in case you are stopping by the site today for some lighter topics, here is my Monday post showing last week’s outfit on my last day of teaching. Not just my last day for this semester, but my last day for quite a while. I just found out that I received the dissertation fellowship for which I had applied, meaning that I will be on fellowship all of the coming academic year while I finish my dissertation and prepare to defend next May. I’m thrilled about the break from teaching as it will allow me to focus on my writing and meet my May 2012 graduation date, but I’m also a little sad to be stepping out of the classroom for so long.

Teaching is one of my favorite things about being in this profession and I was especially lucky to have some really amazing students this past year. I enjoyed waking up and going to my classes each morning and I didn’t even mind that on some days I had to be on my feet and in front of a class for three courses in a row. Because the students made it worth it. So I know that while this break from teaching will be great for my research and writing progress (and I get to be at home with little C. her first year of life!), I leave campus and my office with mixed feelings and a bit of sadness at having to say goodbye to something I really enjoy doing.

So here’s a glance at what I wore on the last day of classes. It’s nothing that spectacular as I was once more trying to get out the door quickly. I grabbed this navy maternity shirt dress and paired it with my newly thrifted flat sandals. And then, to mix things up from how I’ve previously worn this dress, I layered a gray jersey dress underneath and left the shirt dress unbuttoned and belted.

For a pop of color, I added a red-orange belt and this colorful necklace that was a gift from Costa Rica.

Like I said the last time I posted, I’ve been running a little low in outfit inspiration and I blame it on the changing weather as well as my constantly changing body and the need to busy myself with so many other projects and tasks that fashion has taken a back seat. As I’m now facing motherhood and a year out of the office, I’m anticipating even more challenges to my getting ready and looking ‘fashionable’ each day. And to be honest, I’m not sure that I mind. So we’ll see what the coming months and adventures will bring.