academichic

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We’re happy to offer you, dear reader, a special Valentine’s Day giveaway courtesy of Nomi Network! According to their website, the “Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body” campaign, which seeks to “eradicate sexual slavery and the trafficking of women”, features “merchandise made by at-risk women and survivors of sexual exploitation, providing them with fair, sustainable employment opportunities” and “100% of the profit is reinvested into training and career development programs for women.” S. was a big fan of their collapsible “Slogan Zip Tote”, and these nifty cosmetic bags (reviewed by L. on Friday) are the perfect size for all those small items that tend to float around in the bottomless pit of your purse or backpack.

To enter to win a cosmetic bag leave a comment letting us know what three essentials you’d put in yours. For a second chance to win, either “like” Nomi Networks on Facebook or go to their website and let us know what other bag or tote you’d fancy! Leave us a separate comment telling us which one of these you did.

The contest is open until Midnight US Central Time on Wednesday, February 16, 2011. We will randomly choose a winner to announce on Thursday.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

~ The Chics

Thank you to all who entered our Orno Jewelry “Mirari” necklace giveaway on Friday! We’re thrilled to announce our winner…

Comment # 145, left by reader Christine! Congratulations, Christine! Please send us an email with your address so that we can send you your prize!

And remember that if you didn’t win but would still love to purchase a piece of Orno’s gorgeous silver jewelry, you can benefit from our reader discount code – CHIC15- for 15% off at checkout anytime between now and March 1, 2011! Or, for today only, enter the special Valentine’s Day discount code – LOVEORNO – for 25% off!

Thank you to the reader who brought to our attention that our recently posted Shabby Apple Discount Code wasn’t working. We have contacted Shabby Apple and they have fixed the glitch. The new discount code is academichicdiscount for 10% off at checkout!

We recently received this reader question…

I have an on-campus interview (yay!) at a liberal arts college in a very cold climate. I just purchased a navy blue suit from J Crew: fitted blazer + pencil skirt. I’m going to pair this with a brightly colored shell of some sort and gray patent leather shoes. The problem is what to do with my legs. If I double up on tights, I think I’ll be sufficiently warm for brief jaunts outside. But what color tights would work best? Is black okay? Any suggestions you have you would welcome!

First of, congratulation on your campus interview! And we love the items you’ve chosen for this occasion: this navy J.Crew skirt (and matching blazer) and these grey patent leather Naot shoes. To winterize your legs, we agree that doubling up and layering tights might be a good idea. Now, as to what color tights to wear on the outside, here are a few suggestions:

Although we love how that navy skirt and grey patent leather shoes would look with a boldly hued pair of tights like this…

… we agree that the above combination might be best saved for a teaching day on campus. For that more formal interview attire, we would suggest opting for a more ‘conservative’ and ‘traditional’ color such as a navy or grey…

A pair of black tights may be too harsh with the lighter color shoe, while a grey or navy pair should blend more seamlessly with your skirt or footwear choice. Choosing a pair of tights in a neutral that picks up on the existing color scheme of your outfit should makes the tights fit right in with your look wihout drawing too much attention. And don’t forget to check how the pair of tights underneath affects the color of your top layer! This might be obvious but is worth stating in case your mind is on other interview related matters right now.

Lastly, we also think that a pair of open weave pattern tights layered over an opaque black pair of tights could create a subtle yet rich and interesting effect. It wouldn’t be too discernable from far away but would lend your outfit that extra bit of personality and individuality from up close.

What do you think, dear readers and fellow academics? What color tights would you recommend to for that polished and professional interview look? What have you worn for academic interviews in the past? Thank you as always for your contributions in the comments section! ~ Chics

Are you a fan of academichic on Facebook?

As part of our Year Three initiative, we’re reworking our facebook presence and updating our Facebook page to announce giveaways, upcoming theme weeks, DIY projects, and other fun posts. If you’d like to be notified of these upcoming projects, join us on Facebook and become a fan of our page!

We’re excited and a little nervous to unveil the next incarnation of academichic.com! Please be patient as we work out some of the kinks.

- The Chics

One year ago, at the end of my reflection on Year One, I wrote this:

In year two I hope to keep challenging myself to focus on the things I love about my body and the styles that make me feel great about myself.  I also plan to continue challenging myself to try new looks, gather inspiration from others, and take a few more style risks!

Well, I do think that in year two I focused on my best features and styles that make me comfortable (our Dress Your Best Week helped with that).  I don’t think I took all that many style risks.  For me our first year of blogging was very much about experimenting, reveling in the new, and pushing myself outside my comfort zone.  I think this second year was more about expanding my comfort zone and striking balance – between academia (including dissertating, teaching, and advising), home life (including marriage, running, gardening, cooking, etc) and blogging.

I like that my top ten outfits reflect some of this balance.  I’ve included my first day of teaching outfits for both the Spring (# 1) and Fall (# 7) semesters.  Pictures #3 and #4 show date-night outfits and #4 also shows off my my running legs from training for yet another marathon.  I also included a simple casual outfit worn for a day of writing at the library and coffee shop that still kept me feeling stylish (# 9).  Picture #6 is a less than perfect picture, but it allowed me to talk about some of the challenges of style blogging. And of course, I’ve included my wedding dress (# 10) – my happiest memory from this year and my favorite style moment!  I still love my simple grey dress from J Crew, my “custom” shoes, and my borrowed necklace.

I think my style has changed a little since year one.  I still love pencil skirts and my belts, but I also wore full skirts more and love the way the look on me (#3, #6, #8).  This time last year, I was slowly embracing the skinny jeans, wearing them mostly with fuller/longer tops and boots.  Now, I can’t imagine life with out them and confidently sport them with heels (#4) and shorter fitted tops  (#9).  I discovered my love of the classic color combination of red, white and blue (#7 and #8) and added the perfect blazer to my closet (#8 and #6).

Looking back on all my outfits and all my posts, #2 is one of my favorites because of the accompanying text.  In this post I talked about being comfortable in my own skin and about dressing for myself rather than for others.  I like that this year I blogged more about clothing as it relates to gender and sexuality and that I took the opportunity to share more about myself with you readers.  This has been one of the most rewarding parts of bloging in year 2 (THANK YOU) and it’s something I plan to do more of in year 3!

As I look back on these ten outfits, right now, (besides my wedding dress) I think #5 is my favorite outfit.  Maybe it’s just because I am longing for warm sunny days when I have toned arms and some color in my skin!

Which is your favorite?

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Happy 2nd Birthday to our site! We’re thrilled to be wrapping up year two of Academichic and are so happy to have shared two wonderful years of blogging with you. Thank you, to all our wonderful readers, for your support, encouragement, and thoughtful feedback over these two years! This past year was one full of milestones and excitement. Year One saw E. give birth to her beautiful baby boy and S. move abroad to Germany. (Read the full Year One Review here). Year Two was no less momentous…

A. got married to her long time partner A2 in a small outdoor ceremony in North Hampton, followed a couple months later by a big party with friends back in Academichic Central. While these were certainly the biggest highlights of A’s year, she also took an amazing trip to Europe, durring which she got to visit S. in Munich. Through all these exciting events, A. continued to work on her dissertation (which sometimes led to blog discussions on gender identity, clothing, peformativity and drag). After reaching each little academic milestone, A. attempted to reclaim her normal life and return to some of her favorite activities including running, baking, home repair, and gardening (and even started a vegetable garden).  After submitting and defending her dissertation proposal A. celebrated by running a marathon with L.  Academia also had her applying for fellowships, teaching summer school, and mentoring LGBTQIA students. She finished the blog year by barely squeezing in a round of Kendi’s 30 for 30 Challenge. Through it all, she continued to learn about the great balancing act! .

E. celebrated some major milestones in both motherhood and academics. Baby e. went from a rolling baby to a running toddler and E. learned how to make baby food, pull a bike trailer, and get a lot done during nap time. Academically, she finished off her coursework, took summer French, studied for, took, and passed her comprehensive exams, and turned in her Very Important Dissertation Form to the graduate school. Also, much to the delight of both S. and husband N., E. became a bike commuter at the beginning of the summer, riding her 6-speed Takara to and from home, campus, and baby e.’s sitter while stubbornly wearing heels and skirts all the while. She ended the year participating in Kendi’s 30 for 30 project, remixing 30 wardrobe items into 30 outfits.

S. was only with us until August when she began her first academic job as a lecturer at a large research university. Prior to that, she spent the first half of the year in Germany, concluding her research year abroad. She enjoyed visits from A. and A2 and from her husband, explored Munich and Prague by bike, ran the Vienna and Salzburg half marathons, visited family in Romania, and blogged about packing up a year’s worth of living in Europe in her allotted airline baggage of two suitcases and one carry-on. She took an academichic sabbatical in August to focus on her new job (and to continue progress on her dissertation) but is now thrilled to return to the site with upcoming maternity style posts.

L. joined Academichic in July, which was just in time to participate in another go-around of the Color Wheel Challenge. L. has brought another style perspective to the consortium in terms of hair color (red), height (5’3″), and geographic location (New England). As L. began her new life as a boarding school teacher, she navigated the waters of what is appropriate to wear in front of high school aged students as well as being new, young faculty in a place where most others do not dress up. In October, L. and the Chics participated in Blogging for Breast Cancer AWEARness (spearheaded by Melissa of A Working Mom’s Closet) to bring attention to this cause. Fundraising for organizations that fight cancer is dear to L.’s heart. L. finished the year with a trip back to Academichic Central (to shoot the Holiday Party Dressing post and really just for a visit with friends!) and is looking forward to more blogging in 2011!

We also had the occasional guest post by J., our guest blogger, who provided a chic and colorful perspective on male academic style. We hope to welcome J. back with the occasional guest post in Year Three of academichic.

Other highlights of this past year included:

• A bibliography for you all on fashion history and style as discourse.
• Thanks to Sally at Already Pretty, we got to have a roundtable discussion on style and academia (with some follow-up questions posted here).
• During the dreary month of March we challenged ourselves with a series of Fashion 101s on styling different accessories: Scarf Month, Cardigan Week, Tights Week, Belt Week and Jacket Week
• A fortnight of posts on interview attire
• Our Holiday Party Guide
• Our second annual Dress Your Best week

Overall it was an exciting and eventful year for all four of us and we enjoyed chronicling our adventures here and sharing them with you. Thank you, again, dear readers of our site, for making this project such a worthwhile and rewarding one. We look forward to many more life and style discussions on academichic over the year to come. Now stay tuned for our Top Ten Looks of Year Two later this week. (And check out A’s, E’s, and S’s Top Tens of Year One here).

Love, The Chics

Well, I did it. I made 30 outfits from 30 items of clothing. I’d like to thank my tights and scarves collections. Without them this would have been a far less interesting experience.

(You can see all of my 30 for 30 posts in the 30 for 30 by E. category.)

Besides the super dramatic weather swings, this was actually a really big time of the academic year for me to take on a wardrobe challenge. When I started I was preparing to take my major field comprehensive exam. I took my exam in outfit #9 and defended in outfit #19. But having a limited wardrobe to choose from really allowed me to focus on the tasks at hand while still maintaining a creative outlet. Plus, I like that I can look at those outfits and still feel a bit of the accomplishment and relief that marked each of those days. I think my favorite looks overall are 8, 24, and 28. Do you have any favorites?