February is Scarf Month!

Posted on | January 31, 2010 | 38 Comments

February is Scarf Month!, originally uploaded by academichic.

I can’t speak for S. and E., but I have a scarf addiction, its worse than even my bag addiction! I can say that all three of us love scarves and have rather large collections of scarves in all shapes, sizes, colors, patterns, and material. You will often find us sporting a scarf (or two) tied around our necks or used in place of a belt, as head protection, as faux-blouse, or as bag accessorizer. We belt them, layer them, knot them, and pin them. We probably love scarves as much as we love belts!

SCARVES!, originally uploaded by academichic.

So, we are declaring February “Scarf Month.” We often get questions about how we tie our scarves or how we know when to add a scarf and in what colors. For the next month we will be sharing all of our scarf tips, including great places to buy scarves, how to store your scarves, scarf tying how-tos, scarf DIYs, and a Fashion 101 on scarf styling. Each Friday in February we will also be doing a scarf giveaway!

Let us know if there is anything in particular you would like to see us address in “Scarf Month” and don’t forget to check back this Friday for our first scarf giveaway!

too many?, originally uploaded by academichic.

5 November 2009 – Take One

Posted on | November 6, 2009 | 20 Comments

5 November 2009 – Take One, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Plaid dress: Converse from Target
Tights: Target
Steve Madden Iriss boots: eBay
Wooden hoop earrings: Wet Seal

End Notes:

While I am certainly still hoping to thrift some plaid in the near future, I couldn’t resist this shirt dress on a recent Target run. I adore the fit, it’s practical for feeding baby e., and I loved the black and gray take on buffalo plaid.

In fact, I liked this dress so much that I paid full price for it, something that I rarely do. I’m fairly certain that it will be well worth the cost, but I thought it would be fun to challenge myself to wear this dress once a week for the next three or four weeks, styling it differently each time. I started yesterday with the most straightforward approach that jumped into my head. The boots and wooden hoop earrings push the look towards urban cowboy, simple and with a subdued edge.

I have a few more ideas already floating around in my head, and I’m already excited for next week. I love this challenge of transforming something that’s not-quite-a-basic. This dress is not quite a blank canvas of an LBD, but I think it has the potential to be quite a chameleon in styling. We’ll see. Stay tuned!

5 November 2009 – Take One, originally uploaded by academichic.

8 October 2009 – Five Skirts

Posted on | October 8, 2009 | 15 Comments

8 October 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

White button down – J.Jill, remixed
Wrap skirt – Boden, thrifted, remixed
Boots – Dillards (brand wore off), remixed a ton

Endnotes:

This is my one patterned skirt that I chose to pack for this year. (I now have a second patterned skirt that is the last of my inherited pieces from my grandmother, but that was not part of my original packing list). In addition to a patterned skirt, I packed my jean skirt, my green cord skirt, a brown jersey skirt, and a black professional skirt. These five skirts cover a variety of registers (level of formality) and come in a variety of materials and cuts so that they form a nice solid little (skirt) capsule wardrobe. So don’t get bored with these too quickly, because you’ll be seeing a lot of them in the following months.

If you had to pare down your wardrobe to just five skirts, could you do it? Following your really thoughtful comments on my recent post, it appears that most of you/us subscribe to the more is more school of thought when it comes to fashion and clothing. How difficult of a challenge would you perceive it to be, having only five skirts out of your wardrobe at your disposal for a year? Feel like joining me in my endeavor? S.

8 October 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.

Reader Challenge: Laboratory Chic

Posted on | May 25, 2009 | 10 Comments

We received this email from a reader recently:

As a PhD in molecular biology, I spend a lot of time in the lab. We have to wear closed toed shoes and non-skirts (shorts are okay as long as they hit the knee). Sometimes I feel like there are only so many cute outfits I can put together and still look fashionable.I would love to see a your suggestions on how to look cute and lab-appropriate!

This comment is one of many we’ve received from fellow PhDs who are in the Sciences, and who’ve noted that style and laboratory safety regulations are not always easily reconciled. So while all of us may occupy the broad realm of academia, being in the Humanities versus the Sciences does affect how fashion and style translate into daily outfits. This week, we’re going to build outfits that are lab friendly and that could easily be embraced by our colleagues in the sciences.

(We will, however, be cutting E. some slack since a) her preggers wardrobe was not built around lab requirements and b) she is quickly becoming her own heating machine thanks to the hormones. Don’t worry, she will offer simple, affordable alternatives to whatever non-lab-friendly pieces she may wear.)

For our lab appropriate looks thus far, see our new Flickr set for inspiration! We collected all of our long-panted and closed-toed looks (one inch heel or less for all-day standing comfort) in one lab friendly set.

Reader Challenge: A Week Without Heels

Posted on | May 17, 2009 | 20 Comments

We received this comment from a reader recently:

I would like to propose another challenge following the “beltless” one! Can you go a week without wearing high heels and still pull off your stylish looks? I am unable to wear high heels on a daily basis due to old running injuries so would love some inspiration on how we can still look gorgeous while keeping our legs and feet comfortable and dare I say it… practical to walk for miles in!

Wait, you want to separate us from our heels?!

Alright, so it is true that we believe a good pair of heels to redeem any otherwise ho-hum outfit and that we all three love our wedges and our heeled sandals, espadrilles, or boots. But we also appreciate a good flat for its comfort and practicality. And just like we love a cute pair of heels, we equally adore a flat that’s both functional and adorable; E. appreciates a cute flat knowing that she’ll likely not be chasing a baby around on four inch platforms, and S. and A. love a flat particularly on days after a long run when their calves scream at the mere sight of a heeled shoe.

While heels can add a dash of allure and confidence to one’s stance, heel-less outfits do not have to go without. This week, we will all three explore how we can build cute, stylish, and confidence-boosting outfits with the flat footwear in our wardrobes. And if you’re interested in seeing flat footwear looks we’ve created thus far, check out Our Best Flatware category!

Reader Challenge: A Week Without Belts

Posted on | May 3, 2009 | 23 Comments

We recently received this e-mail from a great reader:

I noticed you all use belts as a sort of crutch item in all your outfits. I would love you see you guys go a week without using belts. I think they’re great once in awhile, but when all three of you use them all the time (and always right around the smallest part of your waist), it gets kinda old. Up to the challenge?

Why, dear lady, whatever could you possibly mean? Us? Over-belters?!

Okay, maybe you have a point.

As we’re all entering new stages in our academic careers — going abroad, working more from home, having a baby in tow — we’ve also been thinking about how we can keep ourselves from getting into a rut style-wise. We’ve definitely noticed that all three of us use belts a lot, albeit for slightly different reasons, so this challenge comes at the perfect time.

So… you bet we’re up for a week without belts! We’ll start tomorrow!

P.S. Partly out of curiosity and partly because we’ll need the inspiration this week, we made a Flickr set of our beltless outfits until this point. We figure that it’s a rare enough phenomenon to document.