20 June 2009 – Gallery Opening

Posted on | June 22, 2009 | 8 Comments

20 June 2009 – Gallery Opening, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

All remixed.

Black tunic: worn backwards, gift from brothers
Gray skirt: Target
Red wedges: Naturalizers, from DSW

End Notes:

A friend’s work was included in a local juried exhibition, and my husband and I went out to show our support at the Saturday evening opening. As I’ve mentioned before, choosing what to wear to an art opening is fraught for art history grad students. There is always a sea of all sorts of fabulousness at these events and I wanted to remain true to my own relatively understated style while still making a statement. I stuck with a classic black, gray, and red color palette, but rather than simply trying to gussy up my jersey pieces with lots of sparkly jewelry I wanted to play with interesting shapes and proportions that would make the whole look more appropriate for an evening out.

S. has worn some of her dresses backwards before and I wondered if I could do something similar with this black tunic. The pleated, scooped neckline became a sexier scooped back, and by unbuttoning the small row of buttons that created a keyhole in the official “back” of the top, I ended up with a new, split neckline. And, rather than wearing the tunic over pants or shorts, I tried it out over a skirt. This is a really unexpected proportion for me, but I love the kind of drop-waist flapper vibe it creates.

As the bump gets bigger, it seems like the ways I can wear items also grows increasingly limited. So I was thrilled to get a little bit of my experimental creativity out in this look and I’m encouraged to look at some of my other maternity gear in new ways. After all, with only four weeks or so left I might as well squeeze out all the wear I can, right?

20 June 2009 – Gallery Opening, originally uploaded by academichic.

14 June 2009

Posted on | June 15, 2009 | 10 Comments

14 June 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Cream top with satin neckline: Liz Lange, gift from MIL
Jeans: Old Navy Maternity, frequently remixed
Gold and shell earrings: Swap Meet in Hawaii
Pointy toe flats: Target, remixed

End Notes:

I feel a little guilty since this is, in many ways, just a pants version of an outfit I wore a week ago: a white top with a built-in accessory and dark denim on the bottom. But I’ve been waiting for a good opportunity to wear this top and yesterday’s fairly packed schedule of assorted activities — leading a gallery talk at a local alternative space, having a movie date with my husband, and ending up at a birthday party for a friend — let this shirt’s versatility shine. For me, it hit the perfect in-between note of artsy, laid-back polish.

Neckline Detail, originally uploaded by academichic.

I think necklines with detailing might be my latest style obsession. Besides this top’s lovely woven satin detail, I have my black tunic and coral jacket with pleated necklines, and two purple tops with ruffled necks.

1. Neckline Detail, 2. Simply Chloe Dao Jacket detail, 3. 2 June 2009 – Bam, There’s a Bump, 4. Ruffles and Wine

I swear I didn’t set out to amass a collection of tops like this! I’d like to think that the fact that several of them were gifts means that other folks recognized some affinity between such necklines and my personal style, though I can’t really offer a rationale for that!

What about you? Have you ever had a wardrobe fixation sneak up on you? What was it? Or are you far too self-conscious of a wardrobe-builder to allow such a trend to emerge?

12 June 2009 – Curves

Posted on | June 12, 2009 | 4 Comments

12 June 2009 – Curves, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Brown dress: Ross, remixed and adored
Leaf pendant: Polli, mother’s day gift from my husband, remixed
Green bracelet: gift from S. from San Francisco Chinatown!
Silver slippers: Random store in Queens
Turquoise scarf: no idea

End Notes:

I’ve hit the stage in pregnancy where dresses are starting to look rather tent-like. My idea of a stylish outfit generally excludes circus references but, oh, I love a good dress in the summer! The dilemma was solved by belting my favorite brown dress below the bump, adding shape and a good pop of summery turquoise.

This brown dress has been through quite a lot with me. I purchased it in college for $15, and during the 6 years since I’ve worn it through several style and life changes. Since we’ve been blogging, it’s appeared under a chunky sweater, as a skirt under a blousy top, and layered with a light cardigan. I fear that I may be stretching it past recovery by wearing it into Month 8 of being preggers, but if it helps me show off all my new curves this well then I’m thinking it will be worth the sacrifice.

I’m a little scared of trying to find a replacement for this old standby post-baby. It just does what it does so well! Do you ever find that replacing a “basic” is sometimes a lot harder than retiring and replacing a statement piece? Do you have a strategy when shopping to update those simple-but-essential pieces in your wardrobe?

10 June 2009 – Simplicity

Posted on | June 10, 2009 | 6 Comments

10 June 2009 – Simplicity, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

All remixed.

Lace print tee: Forever 21
Denim skirt: Old Navy Maternity
Red wedges: Naturalizers, via DSW
Turquoise necklace as bracelet: Target

End Notes:

There are some clothing combinations that have become classics for a reason. It’s hard to go wrong, for example, with a white tee, dark denim, and a pop of red. With this simple of an outfit it’s the little details that keep things interesting: the turquoise bracelet (actually a necklace doubled over!), the stitching on the red wedges, and the lace print on the t-shirt.

I do love this lace tee and it has served me well throughout the pregnancy (here I am wearing it at 20 weeks, 25 weeks, and 30 weeks!). It reminds me a little bit of a t-shirt I had as a little girl, one with a silk screened tuxedo ruffle and suspenders in turquoise and magenta emblazoned on the front. I’m pretty sure that I loved it. A quick browse through Etsy just confirmed that such wardrobe innovation was not limited to the 1980s and, indeed, in a few weeks I will have to decide whether such attached accessories will be appropriate for my son or daughter.

After looking at these utterly adorable onesies from Sam and Coop, I think I’m going to go with “yes.”

DIY: Refashioning a Maxi Dress

Posted on | May 11, 2009 | 19 Comments

One of the things I treasure about my summers is that I suddenly have the time to do little crafty projects that are impossible when the semester is in full swing. I have a fairly extensive list of refashioning projects that I’d like to complete before the baby arrives and I was excited to get started by creating a dress to wear to my first baby shower.

Click for the how-to narrative after the jump!

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4 May 2009

Posted on | May 4, 2009 | 3 Comments

4 May 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

All remixed.

Patterned top – thrifted
Gray skirt – Mimi Maternity, via eBay
Square earrings – street vendor in Austin, a gift from my husband
Silver cuff – bridesmaid gift
Red wedges - Naturalizers, via DSW

End Notes:

We’re going belt-free this week. (I like how it sounds almost healthy when you put it that way. We are BPA-free, sulfite free, and belt-free kind of ladies.) This is also the last day that I’ll see my students this semester as I help administer their final exam, so I needed to look polished and calm for their sake.

It’s a simple outfit, basically the skirt version of how I wore this top earlier in the year, but I’m making it special with little details, like how my square earrings match the pattern of the top and pick up the red of my shoes.

Square Earrings, originally uploaded by academichic.

And who needs a belt when you’re preggers and have an under-the-bust seam like this one? I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, let your seams do the work. Even though this isn’t a maternity shirt, it works perfectly for me as it hugs my bump and gives me volume elsewhere to balance things out.

Finally, for comparison purposes, let’s examine how my bump, my hair, my cheeks, and my garden have grown over the last month plus one week:

I think I’m keeping pace with the hostas, don’t you?

30 April 2009 – Husbandly Advice

Posted on | April 30, 2009 | 8 Comments

30 April 2009 – Husbandly Advice, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Checkered button down – husband’s, thrifted
Corduroy jacket – Ross
Jeans – ON maternity
Pointy toe pumps – Target

End Notes:

Today’s challenge actually comes from S., who told me that I needed to wear something checkered or plaid. It shortly came out, however, that what she really wanted to see was if I could figure out how to steal something from my husband N.’s closet and make it work with my bump. Now, I know that there is some disagreement over whether or not purloining from a man’s closet during pregnancy is course of action to be praised or condemned. I think — much like simply “buying up” several sizes instead of just buying maternity — that there are a lot of contingencies and no hard rules can really apply.

I wore this shirt of N.’s earlier in the year, back when my pants were getting tight but the bump was barely visible to the naked eye. I liked it then — and still like it today — because it has a softer drape than most of his other shirts, thus allowing for my shape to be evident. I felt like I needed some structure on top of it today, and N. actually suggested that I wear a blazer that would let the sleeves “poof” at the cuff. He approved of the shoe choice, too.

In other news, my end of the semester panic has temporarily lifted as I finished my third of four papers yesterday and found out that I passed my glucose tolerance test. This whole “getting dressed for not going to campus” business is working out pretty well thus far!

28 April 2009 – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

Posted on | April 28, 2009 | 6 Comments

29 April 2009 – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Pink and white seersucker blazer – stolen from A.’s giveaway pile
Gray tank – Target
Jeans – ON Maternity, remixed of course
Blue green scarf – Ross, remixed
Paisley pointy toe pumps – Payless

End Notes:

When I got the e-mail from A. challenging me to wear “pink — not magenta — PINK” today, I knew it was going to be a battle. Ever since I realized that pastels and my skin tone don’t play nicely with each other, I’ve been fairly ruthless about weeding them out of my closet. I do have a deeper pink top that still fits (barely), but given today’s slightly chilly weather I knew that I would have to layer over that blouse and that A. would likely chasten me for not embracing the challenge. So I did what she would least expect: I wore one of HER old pink items of clothing.

No, I don’t have a secret tunnel of access to her closet — though that would be useful some mornings — but I do have a few bags of clothes that she generously gave me to help with a clothing drive I’m organizing this summer. I remembered that she had once mentioned that she was giving away a pink and white seersucker blazer, so I dove into the clothing pile and fished it out.

I decided that the best course of action would be to pair the relatively preppy jacket with edgier or at least more grown-up shapes and colors. So out came a gray top as a base, the skinnies, and a great pair of pumps. I cannot be mistaken for either a candy striper or a marshmallow peep in those items! I was still unhappy with how the pink looked next to my face, but a saturated blue-green scarf helped to remedy that. I wish I could say that I am happy and confident in this outfit, but I’m really still quite paranoid about all this pink business. On the other hand, one of my favorite songs by The Flaming Lips, “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” has been in my head all day, and that’s a welcome respite from all of the other swirling thoughts about discursive materiality that have predominated for the last week! – e.

29 April 2009 – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, originally uploaded by academichic.

24 April 2009 – Evening

Posted on | April 25, 2009 | 7 Comments

24 April 2009 – Evening, originally uploaded by academichic.

Sources:

Fluttery gray chiffon top – Target, a few sizes up
Jeans – ON Maternity, remixed
Pointy toe flats – Target, remixed
Silver bangles – gifts

End Notes:

The end of the semester brings a slew of student-related art show openings at galleries across town. Last night I helped out with the opening night reception for an MFA student showing in a local alternative gallery space. Dressing for art events is always a little tricky. There are unspoken codes about who dresses how: curators tend to wear artful layers of black or gray, MFA students can usually be spotted by their edgier shapes, brighter colors, or wild pattern mixing, and donors often appear in more elegant evening attire. There’s little consensus over how art historians — particularly contemporary art historians, like A. and myself — should dress.

But, when I saw this spread in the most recent issue of Lucky Magazine, I immediately flagged it as art opening inspiration.

Arty Top + Skinny Jeans, originally uploaded by academichic.

I bought this floaty, layered top off the clearance rack at Target a few sizes bigger than usual. Digression: I do need to be really careful about just “buying up” for maternity wear since I gaining girth only in a very particular spot; sometimes large shirts just look awful because of the excess fabric at the chest or back or the droopy arm holes. This particular top works, however, because it’s meant to be drapey. My straight leg maternity jeans are too long to wear without heels, so I decided to chance it and cuff them. To mitigate the break in my leg line, I opted for pointy toe flats that help counteract that break while enabling me to stay on my feet all night. Finally, to make the cuffs look even more intentional, I eschewed fancier, “evening” jewelry in favor of funkier silver bangles and dangling leaf earrings.

I know, I know, it sounds like I completely over-thought this outfit. In reality, though, I just kept swapping things around — cuffed or not cuffed, heels or flats, chandelier or leaf earrings — until things looked “right.” And that’s when I knew I had made Lucky’s super trendy look fit me, bump and all.

24 April 2009 – Evening, originally uploaded by academichic.

Academichic Essentials: E., the Preggers Edition

Posted on | April 18, 2009 | 5 Comments

Last week, S. made a list of her wardrobe essentials, the glue that holds her wardrobe together. I’ve been thinking a lot about wardrobe foundations since being pregnant. How does one, exactly, put a wardrobe together from scratch? My list of essentials at 6 months pregnant is of course strongly influenced by my pre-preggers style that I’ve tried to maintain, with some tweaking, as my bump has grown. And actually, compiling this list — a mix of extendable existing garments and new maternity purchases — revealed a couple of holes in my preggers wardrobe that I need to try and remedy shortly!

While S.’s and my lists overlap quite a bit, you’ll of course notice that the particular shapes and colors we use as our “essentials” are different and influenced by our personal style and our body types. You may also notice the big gaping absence of a white button down in my list. Anathema! But I rarely wore button downs pre-preggers (being long-waisted and thin made that difficult) so I felt no compunction at all to add it to my list of preggers essentials. I need a bumper sticker that says, “One person’s white button down is my magenta cardigan.”