September 16th, 2009 § §
Sources:
All remixed
- Purple Cardigan – Gap Outlet
- Grey Tee – Old Navy
- Black Cami – Banana Republic
- Black Skirt – Banana Republic
- Scarf (worn as belt) – H& M
- Black Flats – Urban Outfitters
- Yellow Bangles – Gap Outlet
- Earrings – Forever 21
Endnotes:
Today, I am continuing my experimentation with scarves and layered necklines to rejuvenate my summer wardrobe. I wore this scarf as obi/belt this past winter and loved it and I think it works well here with the purple and grey and the little bit of a textured cami layered under the ruched v-neck.
I got dressed, snapped some pictures, and headed off to a morning meeting before getting a chance to check in with the blog. I have to say, I was amused, but not surprised to see that E. and I were both wearing our matching purple cardigans today.
The three of us own several of the same items, E and I in particular have some of the exact same pieces in the same color, many of which we actually purchased while shopping together. Many a mornings I have received a quick email or text message alerting me that E. is wearing one of said items and I have more than a few times called E. while getting ready for an evening event to be sure we are not wearing the same dress.
But, this purple cardigan has become too much of a go-to item for both of us to even bother with. While this may be the first time we have both worn and blogged this cardigan on the same day, just last week when she wore hers with jeans, I was wearing mine with a brown skirt, but never got a chance to post it.
I mentioned this shopping trend of ours a month or so ago when E. and I were wearing the same cardigan in different colors. I explained then that owning the same items as these two lovelies has never bothered me and I know it doesn’t bother S. or E. since they have both, at one time or another, encouraged me or each other to purchase the same item as them.
Would you mind terribly if you showed up to class or work in the same sweater as a fashionable colleague? A.
Category: Layers Upon Layers, Office Hours, Our Best Flatware, Research Casual, Skirting the Issue
Tags: academic fashion > cardigan > floral > graduate school > purple > scarves > summer style
September 14th, 2009 § §
Sources:
Endnotes:
Today I am mostly catching up on emails and running errands with a few brief meetings in between. After long weekends, Mondays are always spent playing catch up before I can get down to any real work for the week. I’m staying casual in denim and a tee but tried to spruce it up a bit with a fun color combination and by adding the white tuxedo shirt pleats under my tee.
As S. departs for her year far far away from academichic central, I am feeling a bit nostalgic. I also spent yesterday evening holding baby e., which had me thinking about how much we have changed since we all first met.
We have received many reader questions about how we met and how we decided to start our blog. Well…
I feel like I have been friends with these two, and have had an intimate knowledge of their closet, forever. I met E. my first day on campus four years ago and we quickly took to each other both socially and intellectually. Our first day of seminar she complimented my outfit and I knew there was more then contemporary art talk in our future. I met S a year and half later, after many shopping trips with E had transpired. S and I would often compliment each other’s ensembles in class. By the end of the semester, we were walking together after every class chatting about running or fashion or bonding over our hair struggles. I introduced E and S a short while later and it only took a few shopping trips and a few more afternoons at the coffee shop to know that fashion, while just one of our many mutual interests, was what made our trio tick.
We all liked reading style blogs and thought that our status as feminist Ph.D. students who, against all stereotypes, actually care about style gave us a relatively unique viewpoint that would be fun to share and add to that style blogging community. We were always consulting each other on what to wear for the first day of teaching, a meeting with our advisor, a class presentation, or a conference, and one day, we just started throwing around the idea of a style blog that would answerer these questions for other academics. I think it was on one of our marathon shopping trips that we solidified the idea.
These two incredible women are now two of my closet friends and my regular confidants about way more than fashion!
Safe travels S.!
A.
Category: Beltless, Color Combinations, Layers Upon Layers, Office Hours, Our Best Flatware, Research Casual, Skirting the Issue
Tags: A. > denim skirt > graduate school > patterned shoes
September 2nd, 2009 § §
Sources:
All remixed except bracelet
- Patterned Tee – Banana Republic
- Brown Cami – Gap
- Grey Skirt – Old Navy
- Brown Wedges – Kenneth Cole Reaction, via DSW
- Bracelet – gift
- Cream stone on chain – grandmothers
- Turquoise stone on chain – made by me
Endnotes:
It’s no secret that pattern scares me a bit, but I have been trying very hard to meet that fear head on. Since staring this blog, I have purchased
patterned shoes,
patterned tops, and a
boldly-patterned dress. I bough this shirt on super sale last fall because the pattern was small and it was a favored color pallete. I wore it a few times last winter
as a layering piece, but had never actually worn it on its own.
Today I decided to wear it and play off the pattern a bit in my accessories. I dug this bracelet out of my jewelry box (I had forgotten how much I like it). I love how the round beads echo the circles on the shirt and how the little painted dots add another layer of this shape. I pulled out two simple necklaces – a cream pendant and a turquoise round bead pendant – and wore them both, bringing the dot pattern up around my neckline.
This is by no means pattern mixing, but I would argue it should count as pattern playing! A.
Category: Calls for Papers, Office Hours, Reaching New Heights, Skirting the Issue
Tags: academic fashion > graduate school > pattern > skirt length > summer style
August 21st, 2009 § §
Sources:
All remixed
Endnotes:
Why I wore what I wore:
Being rather pleased with yesterday’s outcome, I decided to try another monochromatic non-neutral with a neutral base – purple, purple, purple! The necklace is one of the earrings S. gave me for being her “best woman” worn as a pendant. This is a remixed trick that lets me wear my favorite jewelry more often.
What I thought about as I wore it:
Last night I caught up with my childhood best friend, which was wonderful! She had heard through the family grapevine that I had a blog and had checked it out. While she was very complimentary, I have to admit my first instinct was to be embarrassed and that initial feeling has had me thinking all night and all day. My family knows about the blog, increasingly more friends know about it, and because it’s on the world wide web, more people with random connections to my non-blog life are discovering us. Yet, no one from my academic life (outside of S. and E. of course) know about the blog. Why? Because fashion and style are considered frivolous. We are suppose to be concerned with much more important things and I guess I assume professors and even colleagues would consider this a silly waste of time. Threadbared recently wrote a thoughtful and stimulating post on this very topic in which they also address the gendered and sexist aspects of academia’s fraught relationship with fashion.
I think as a feminist, my love of fashion might be further seen as contradictory. We begin to address this in our State of the Field and it is a topic the three of us continue to discuss amongst ourselves, but I would love to open this issue up to our always insightful readers.
My active involvement in the LGBT political and academic communities adds an extra layer of tension to self-styling. I find there are expectations for how I should physically present myself and often incorrect assumptions are made based on my appearance.
On our post on male academic style reader H. left a thought provoking comment about the gendered concerns of wearing an engagement ring in academia. What does our clothing and jewelry say to our colleagues and superiors about our commitment to our work, our politics, etc. While I don’t have an engagement ring, I would like to say that in regards to all of the above, I have tried to make it my policy that I will wear what makes me feel most comfortable and confidant, yet I have to admit I do often find myself wondering what my clothing says about me and hoping that the message I set out with is the one conveyed.
Do you feel pressure to look a certain way because of your job, your political leanings, your commitments to family or a particular community?
Do you find that colleagues or strangers make unfair or incorrect assumptions about you based on your style?
Category: Color Combinations, Our Best Flatware, Research Casual, Skirting the Issue, Theoretical
Tags: A. > belted > colors > floral > graduate school > monochrome > pattern > purple > style > summer style
August 14th, 2009 § §
Sources:
On A2:
- Jeans – Gap
- Green Tee – Old Navy
- Navy Polo – Polo Outlet
- Sandals – Reefs
- Necklace – Hawaii Souvenir
On A (below):
- Shorts- J Crew
- Navy and White Striped Shirt – Gap
- Lime Green Tank – American Eagle
- Red-Orange Flats – Old Navy
- Lime Green Necklace – Gift from A2
Endnotes:
I have long been trying to get A2 to do a “Visiting Lecturer” post but it wasn’t until I told her I was inspired by her analogous color combination that she agreed to make an appearance. I love the triangle of bright green created by the layering of this Old Navy graphic tee under a Navy Blue polo and I think the slivers of green peeking out of her sleeves are perfect.
Jeans or chino pants with a polo or button-down comprise A2′s daily uniform, yet she continues to surprise me (and S. and E.) with brilliant color combinations and pattern mixing.
For my inspired outfit I am keeping the navy button down over a bright green layering piece paired with neutral bottoms, but I am attempting to pass this off as a triad. I figure if S. and E. can both cheat the color wheel a bit by exchanging blue-green for green in their orange-purple-green triad, then I can swap navy for blue-violet in my blue-violet, red-orange, yellow-green triad!
I promise to try a true triad before moving on to next weeks color challenge of monochromatic and split complimentaries.
Enjoy your weekend! -A
Category: Beltless, Color Combinations, Our Best Flatware, Research Casual, The Short of It, Visiting Lecturer
Tags: A. > analogous colors > graduate school > green > jeans > summer style
August 12th, 2009 § §
Sources:
- Green Lighthouse Tee – J Crew
- Denim Skirt – Gap
- Light Blue Cardi – J Crew Outlet
- Green Flats – Banana Republic
Endnotes:
The failure to capture a decent picture of this analogous ensemble was just one of the many things going wrong yesterday…
The biggest catastrophe was that my computer crashed and my hard drive was erased! I am now posting these pictures from what feels like an empty shell of a computer.
Rebuilding my computer feels like a very daunting task and it seems every time I open the lid and stare at the horrible preset backdrop, I think of something else I’ve lost…
I guess I will just have to take it one webpage bookmark , one application, or one calendar entry at a time!
Category: Color Combinations, Our Best Flatware, Research Casual, Skirting the Issue
Tags: A. > analogous colors > cardigan > denim skirt > graduate school > green shoes
August 8th, 2009 § §
Sources:
- Sweater – J Crew
- Maroon Top – Banana Republic
- Lace Cami – Banana Republic
- Grey Suit Skirt – BR Outlet
- Brown Wedges – Kenneth Cole Reaction, via DSW
- Bracelet – Gift from S.’s mom
Endnotes:
The day after the wedding, I drove back to Academichic Central and hit the ground running with a day of meetings and playing catch up on phone calls and emails. I needed to look professional but had used up all of my creative juices making bouquets and the like, so I pulled together some basics and called it a day. As the beginning of the academic year quickly approaches I am reminded that on many days I will have little time to spend pulling together an ensemble and will become depended on those good, simple basics that can be mixed and matched.
Category: Layers Upon Layers, Office Hours, Reaching New Heights, Skirting the Issue
Tags: A. > academic fashion > cardigan > graduate school > pencil skirt > professional > red > wedges
August 1st, 2009 § §
Sources:
Endnotes:
Like S., I love the two-thirds combination of
green and purple and have paired them together several times. I’ve most often done this
using a more teal-green or by throwing on
my green flats. I’ve only done the red-violet and this pale turquoise
once before – wearing the same tee with
a different necklace. I don’t know that this is a color combination I could do with large swaths of color, but I do like the way the pop of color at the neckline adds so much to this otherwise very simple, research-casual ensemble.
I plan to spend most of the day writing at a coffee shop, but if I am productive enough, I may treat myself to a short trip to old navy (only because I have a 30% coupon – thanks Cora). I’ll be sure to report back any great purchases! -A
Category: Beltless, Color Combinations, Our Best Flatware, Pants Please, Research Casual, Weekend Wear
Tags: A. > academic fashion > graduate school > green > green and purple > jeans > purple > summer style > two-thirds color combination
July 21st, 2009 § §
Sources:
Endnotes:
A rather unexciting outfit for a rather unexciting day…
I spent most of the day working from home with a break to walk the dog up to the coffee shop and a meeting with a contractor in the evening. The jersey skirt and soft tee made it easy to move from writing at the desk to reading on the couch to walking about the neighborhood. As I have described this sweater before, it feels much like wearing a big comfy robe, but I think manages to elevate the jersey separates a bit. I think the wide stripes of cream and beige (two soft neutrals) add a dose of polish and sophistication to this cozy piece. Mixing fabrics always adds visual interest and also helps to elevate this particular look from sleepwear to research casual.
Category: Color Combinations, Layers Upon Layers, Research Casual, Skirting the Issue
Tags: A. > academic fashion > blue and green > cardigan > coffee > graduate school > green > neutrals > striped top > summer style
July 15th, 2009 § §
Sources:
All remixed
- Grey Tank – Old Navy
- Grey Tee – Banana Republic
- Black Skirt – BR Outlet
- Black Flats – Urban Outfitters
- Black and White Scarf – H & M
- Grey Striped Tote – J Crew
Endnotes:
Today is a rather grey day with storms threatening and a constant drizzle outside. I spent the morning catching up with S. over coffee but now need to hunker down and do some writing.
I have always been drawn to grey and insist that there are a beautiful range of greys out there, some soft and subtle and others rich and complex. When I stumbled across this J Crew tote last week for only $16, I had to have it. It’s large enough to fit my laptop, several folders, and handful of books, and all of the other junk I carry around with me.
I wore a similar palette back in February as a monochromatic look, using the same scarf as an obi. This scarf is a nice light weight so I am trying out the summer-scarf trend. Which Fab Finds Under $50‘s July Inspiration Calendar calls for this Friday. I was a bit unsure of how to pull this off and am still not convinced it would work as well on a sunnier day. What do you think of the summer scarf? When does it work and when doesn’t it?
Category: Beltless, Color Combinations, Layers Upon Layers, Our Best Flatware, Research Casual, Skirting the Issue
Tags: A. > coffee > graduate school > grey > monochrome > neutrals > scarf
16 September 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.
Detail, originally uploaded by academichic.
