academichic

Sources:

• Dress – c/o Karina
• Cami – Banana Republic
• Shoes – Banana Republic
• Hat – Banana Republic

Endnotes:

One of the many things I will miss about blogging is getting to know some really great independent retailers including small online boutiques and etsy sellers like those featured in our Boutique Consortium.  If we weren’t closing up shop, Karina would certainly be a shop we would be interested in adding to our consortium.   Karina generously sent me this “Rita” dress to review. I love the color and can already image so many ways to wear it.  For its first outing, I paired it with heels and my straw hat for lunch with a friend.

Before I tell you how I feel about this particular Karina dress, let me tell you a bit about the company.  Karina dresses are all made of heavy, stretchy microfiber that drapes beautifully, never wrinkles, and washes easily. Each dress is made in Brooklyn in a small batch - which means prints and colors come and go, so if you see one you like, don’t follow my usual shopping pattern!

My favorite part about Karina is their motto:

dresses for “every body” … celebrating women from 18 to 80 … easy wear, easy care … wear the love”

Karina is committed to making all woman look & feel  great, no matter what shape or size . They offer many different styles made for a variety of body types and lifestyles and many of the dresses are offered in sizes 0 through 20. I also love that they use women of all ages, shapes, and sizes to model their dresses!

So, now about my dress – the “Rita.”  I can already tell this cap sleeved wrap dress is going to be very versatile.  I love the cut and the color and am quite happy with the fit. It’s a true wrap dress but has enough overlap to keep my legs covered.  The waist hits at the perfect place – often not the case for me with wrap dresses – and I think the tie could easily be tucked under a belt as a way of changing up the look.

I have to admit, I was surprised at first by the material, but am now a huge fan.  It really doesn’t wrinkle, making it perfect for traveling (both wearing on the plane and shoving in a bag) and super convenient if you just don’t have time to iron in the morning!  Also, the drape on it is much more flattering than jersey – I’m not even wearing spanx!  I also think the material could be dressed up more than jersey but can just as easily be worn with flats for an active day of errands.

If you want to know more about the dresses you can also check Karina out on Facebook!

A.

Sources:

• Dress: Moulinette Soeurs via Anthropologie
• Sweater: Gap outlet
• Belt: Old Navy outlet
• Camisole (under): Banana Republic outlet
• Shoes: BR

Endnotes:
I think S. brings up a great question: How do you best dress with stress? I had wondered at the beginning of this school year if during 9 months of dressing for classes 6 days a week there would come a point at which I absolutely could not stand to get dressed in the morning. For me getting dressed is fun. Obviously I enjoy it or else I wouldn’t bother playing around with what I wear, nor would I take the time to blog about it. Certainly in these last 9 months there have been days, or weeks even, when looking at my closet has inspired more dread than pleasure, but for the most part I’ve enjoyed starting my day playing “dress-up.” As I’ve said before, I use clothes to get me revved up, keep me motivated, and put on a brave front when I’m not feeling so tough inside.

However, in these last few weeks of school, as the weather has not warmed and the rain keeps falling, I have hit my wall. I have been going back to old, faithful staples that I’ve been wearing since I was in high school: corduroys and Birkenstocks. I haven’t blogged these outfits both because I feel “frumpy” in them and because it’s definitely not corduroy season in most of the country, so who cares how I styled a pair of cords in mid-May when really you want to know how to wear sundresses and straw hats?

Anyway, today I was actually feeling motivated enough to pull on a dress, a belt, and some cute flats. Pretty good considering there is a 70% chance of rain. Oh well, it’s time for me to bundle up for another afternoon of coaching in the drizzle. I probably will change out of these super comfy flats in favor of some waterproof sneakers, but who wants to see pictures of those?

- L.

Sources:

• Sweater: Cable & Gauge via Marshalls
• Tank: Banana Republic
• Belt: BR
• Skirt: Gap
• Shoes: Madden Girl via DSW
• Necklace: gift

Endnotes:
Spring is taking its sweet time coming to my neck-of-the-woods, and in the meantime it’s been grey and rainy for what feels like months (real time: probably only a few days out of each week for the last few weeks). I’m not sure about you, but my mood is more than a little influenced by the weather, so all these cloudy, chilly days have not been making me too happy. However, I am happy that April is national poetry month! Today especially, I’m reminded of T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” and some of the most famous lines in all of poetry:

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

After a rain soaked weekend, I decided to dress like the spring rain and dull roots and don blue and grey. This is basically another version of a monochrome outfit I put together last summer for our Color Wheel Challenge. As for memory and desire, well, the memory of past summers is the only thing making me smile in this picture.

The subtle embroidered flowers on the skirt and my flower belt also perked me up a bit, and I wore my green torsade in an effort to convince myself that all the rain really was bringing new, fresh, green things into the world. Usually I try to wear bright colors on days when I’m feeling low or the weather is bad, but today it was wearing little hints of spring that me happier. What are your tricks for changing your mood or combating a dreary climate?

Sources:

• Striped Tank – J Crew
• Blue Skirt – Gap Outlet (chopped from a dress)
• Belt – Anthropologie
• Flats – DSW
• Earrings – F21

Endnotes:

So, you may or may not have noticed, but I took a little blogging break for the month of March (other than an exception for L.’s birthday).  It was a busy month!  I turned in a partial chapter draft, applied for two fellowships, tiled my shower, visited Tuscan, bought a bike, tried several new recipes, prepped my vegetable garden, and got a hair cut!

Now, of course, my co-bloggers have managed to do most of this while continuing to blog (and teach full loads, train for races, give conference papers, and/or grow babies), but I needed and benefited greatly from a blog hiatus.   I’m happy to be back to show off my new hair.  I was going for a Carey Mulligan ‘do – some days it looks just like hers, but with out the help of my beloved flat iron, my hair has a mind of it’s own and I’m still  figuring out how to work with that!  It is fun and kind of liberating to embrace my naturally wavy/textured/something hair (not without a blow-dryer and some good product, mind you).

Sources:

• Necklace: “Mirari” by Orno Jewelry
• Bracelets: gift
• Ring: gift
• Sweater: Theory via Off 5th
• Yellow tank: J. Crew
• Blue dress (as skirt): Even via Off 5th
• Belt: mom’s
• Tights: Target
• Boots: vintage Charles David

Endnotes:
Hip hip hooray for jewelry week! I have been known to base whole outfits around a single piece of jewelry, wear my favorite pieces when I’m in an especially stressful situation, and to add serious bling to a summer dress. This outfit falls into the first category in that the colors were inspired by the Islamic mosaics and Moorish architecture that also inspire designer Carla Smiley in her Orno Jewelry line.

Smiley, originally from Lebanon, studied architecture in Canada before she designed her first line of silver jewelry. For this ensemble, I started with the necklace that my sister got me for Christmas and then built from there (pun intended). I first came to love these bright geometric mosaics when I encountered a mihrab niche in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC). The bright blues, turquoise, yellows and greens appealed to my eye. For this look I knew I wanted to wear multiple shades of blue and my yellow tank, but the layering that this outfit took on was unplanned. I put on my blue dress, then the tank over it, then tucked the tank into my obi belt so that the dress was now a skirt, and then put my sweater on top to hide the sleeve of the dress/tank and voila! The red tights also made a triad and I couldn’t resist. I actually got a “whow” on this in the dining hall today. I told the person I took that as a complement.

I finished off the outfit with two more pieces of jewelry that are vaguely architectonic. The bracelets, which look very modern in their stark lines and solid weight, are from Santa Fe. The ring, a gift from my sister, is from Peru.

As you can tell, I love jewelry and over the years have collected many necklaces, rings, bracelets, and recently pins. I also am a “beader” and have several necklaces that I strung myself. Be sure to come back on Friday for our give-away surprise and Saturday for my Weekend Workshop on how to make a necklace hanger! Check out more academichic baubles on Flickr. Enjoy the rest of jewelry week!
~L.

Sources:

• Sweater Dress: Banana Republic Factory
• Belt: Anthropologie
• Tights: Italy
• Shoes: BR
• Blazer: Anne Taylor Loft
• Scarf: thrifted
• Bracelet: Accessorize

Endnotes:
I’ve been on the hunt lately for dresses because life is so much easier when I can just match tights, belt, shoes and dress rather than several layers of separates. Basically, it’s the end of January and I’m feeling lazy! I scored this sweater dress (very similar to E.’s great burgundy dress) at the BR factory outlet recently and was trilled that it was on sale. I was a little worried that it was a tad short for teaching, but like E. said with her new yellow skirt, I decided that with tights it was fine. Even as a petite woman I’ve been finding it really hard lately to find dresses or skirts (that aren’t pencil skirts) that come to an inch or two above my knee rather than three or four inches above my knee. Is anyone else having that problem? I thought I’d treat maroon as a neutral and pair it with navy blue and brown (a combination with which E. has also dabbled). I added the blazer because it’s still freezing out.

This scarf is something that I thrifted when I was 5. Yes, you read that correctly. I remember going to the church fair with my grandmother and picking this one out specifically because of the gold details and the brilliant blue and orange. I guess it was only a matter of time before a few of my friends asked me to join their style blog (wink wink). The combination of the diamond patterned tights and the more scrolling floral motif of the scarf also counts towards my new quest to mix patterns!

It has languished in my dress-up box since I was about 10, but I recently was digging through the attic at home and salvaged a few items (including this costume jewelry pin) from my treasure trove. What items do you still have in your wardrobe from when you were a kid?

~L.

Three Firsts, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Shirt Dress: American Apparel
• Blue Dress (under): Even via Off 5th
• Belt: Anthropologie
• Scarf: gift
• Shoes: Steve Madden via DSW

Endnotes:
So many firsts in this post! First time remixing/layering dresses, first time tucking my scarf into my belt, and first picture in my classroom. Even though I’m not participating in Kendi’s 30 for 30 (as A. and E. are) this time around, I have been inspired by all the layering and remixing that my co-bloggers are doing. I’ve never tried the layering a dress over something longer, but I own a few cotton dresses that have shrunk and become short enough that I’m reluctant to wear them to school, and I thought they might work for just this experiment. I tried to ease myself into this by keeping to block colors and neutrals.

Three Firsts, originally uploaded by academichic.

The scarf-tucked-into-the-belt look is one that A sports frequently and I’ve attempted it before, but never with any success. The key for me was finding a scarf that was thin enough that it didn’t feel like it was adding a lot of bulk to my front.

Belted Scarf, originally uploaded by academichic.

Finally, as I’m sure you’ve noticed I took my pictures today in my classroom. A few of you commented last time I posted that you wished that I could take pictures in natural light, and believe me I wish for that too! I’m really torn about this right now – Like E., A., and S. have all discussed, I’ve kept my style blogging quiet. My family and close friends know, but it’s not general information that I give out. Especially since I’m just starting a new job with many time consuming commitments, I didn’t want people to think that blogging was taking up time that I should be grading or prepping or giving extra-help – and it doesn’t, generally. However, I also believe that when working in a boarding school (or really in any walk of life), one must make time for personal commitments and have outlets beyond the campus. For me at this moment style blogging is a respite from all school related stresses. I guess my reluctance also comes down to the fact that we’re not just talking about colleagues knowing about Academichic – there are students involved too, and I’m very apprehensive about them finding out and questioning my professionalism. Anyway, all this was to say I also wish I could take pictures in natural light, on the beautiful campus that surrounds me, in front of the fall foliage and ancient brick walls that form my new home. However, I’m not ready for my pupils to know about my leisure activity, and so I’ll be taking photos inside for a while longer. For other bloggers out there, do you have similar struggles about revealing your site to others?

Everyday Dress, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Dress: BR
• Scarf: vintage (thrifted)
• Tights: no idea
• Boots: vintage Charles David
• Necklace: Tiffany

Endnotes:
Well, it’s official… I’m not marrying Prince William. I’m not usually a celebrity gossipmonger, but for some reason when I heard that the dashing Wills and gorgeous Kate Middleton were engaged I instantly had to know every detail. I was sad about the news at first, realizing that my childhood dream of being a real princess was over.

Prince William broke my heart, originally uploaded by academichic.

But I’ve always liked Harry more anyway… that red hair!

I heart Prince Harry, originally uploaded by academichic.

Anyway, back to the outfit at hand. A broad mixing of neutrals – navy and black – a perennial favorite for me. I took a page out of E.’s book when I bought this dress, which is sizes too big, but since I knew I’d be wearing it with a belt anyway, it wouldn’t matter. The only catch was that the neckline was too low in the bigger size, but this was easily remedied with a lace edged camisole that doesn’t even show in most of these pictures. I’ve become totally enamored of my scarf collection of late, and instead of a more traditional belt I find myself reaching for scarves more and more to add some interesting element to otherwise bland outfit. I also love these flat black shiny boots to add a little umph to an ensemble.

Although I admit this outfit is hardly daring – scarf or not – I dress to teach every day, six days a week, and I’ve realized that posting what I think are tame outfits could be just as inspiring to others as something on-trend or out of the ordinary. I would hope posts like this one are helpful at least in realizing that feeling stylish doesn’t necessarily have to translate into being the center of sartorial attention… or at least not every day (wink wink).

Sources:

Both:

• Chocolate Skinny Cords – Gap Outlet
• Teal Cardigan – Banana Republic

Day (4):

• Pink Paisley Scarf – Old Navy
• Boots – Banana Republic

Evening (7):

• Blue and Green Paisley Scarf – Echo
• Wool Pumps – Urban Outfitters
• Earrings – F21

Endnotes:

While E. was taking (and I have no doubt rocking) her comprehensive exam yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending the day with baby e.!  I chose my chocolate brown cords (which keep showing up as black in all the photographs) a warm cardigan, colorful scarf, and my black wellies.  My bright two-thirds color scheme of blue and pink and baby e.’s yellow jacket made us into quite the walking triad!

The outfit was perfect for reading books, playing with stacking cups on the floor, exploring the backyard, walking to and playing at the park.  (note: it’s labeled 4 of 30 because last week in my application daze I skipped from outfit 3 to 5).

By swapping out just a few elements, this ensemble went from ideal for a play date with e. to casual dinner-date ready.

I traded one paisley scarf for another and my wellies for my olive flannel pumps, touched up my makeup, added a pair of earrings, and was ready to go!  This version is rather matchy-matchy with the scarf matching both the olive of my shoes and the bright blue of my sweater. I love wearing these earrings and scarf together because they almost match but don’t, which I think is supposed to be a no-no of pattern mixing — well, just call me a pattern mixing rebel!  A.

Jewel Tones, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

• Shirt: BR Outlet
• Lace trimmed Undershirt: Gap Outlet
• Skirt: Banana Republic
• Belt: Custom made by Leather Report
• Shoes: Bandolino via DSW
• Lacquer Necklace: Ikuta Mayumi via Keiko Gallery (Boston)

Endnotes:
Can you tell how much I loved wearing this outfit? Yup, it was a hit. This look draws from the fall trend of “jewel tones”, and the deep sapphire of the shirt and ruby red of my pendant and belt were inspired by designers that feature these saturated and heart stopping hues in their fall collections.

Jewel Tones – Stylebakery.com, originally uploaded by academichic.

InStyle states:

Not exactly flirtatious, certainly not sweet, fall hues like garnet, malachite and carnelian guarantee drama, especially when used monochromatically. Gem tones also serve to accentuate such fabrics as shiny satins or shimmery metallics and details like pleating and draping…These jewel tones don’t attract; they command.

I definitely loved the fully saturated blue and red together. I felt pulled together and super professional all day in this number, which was important because getting through this last week until Thanksgiving break is really taking it out of me! I find that at least for me, dressing up changes my attitude and how I carry myself is influenced by what I’m wearing. Hence, during this extremely tiring period of the boarding school year, looking neat and stylish is making up for whatever I’m lacking in actual motivation and energy.

Jewel Tones, originally uploaded by academichic.

I also love this necklace and can’t help but feel dramatic when I’m wearing it.

Ruby Red Necklace, originally uploaded by academichic.

As E. heads off to her major field exam and A. finishes up her grant applications I say, “Keep up the great work, my friends! You’ll rock those tests and apps, AND you look fabulous in your 30 for 30 at the same time!”

~ L.