Last (Day) Look

For my last day with my students I fought back the urge to go more casual and, instead, wore my favorite jacket. Besides the fact that I love the polka dots, the asymmetrical yellow buttons, the 3/4 sleeves, I love the fit of this jacket. If you are petite, as I am, jackets and blazers must come in a petite size. Don't even think about trying out a regular sized jacket unless, maybe (and this fails 50% of the time also), it's either from a more youthful oriented line/store (Urban Outfitters/Delias) or from European/UK brand (Top Shop, Oasis, and Monsoon tend to be cut narrower in the shoulders).

jacket - Ett Twa/Anthro * cami - Banana Republic
trousers - Talbots (remixed) * socks - GAP * maryjanes - New York & Co. (remixed)
scarf - Santiago, Spain (remixed) * earrings - gifted

You may also notice my awesomely glossy hair. I saw my stylist again last week. Back in September when I first started blogging at FA I discussed my hair and my anxiety that my long and wavy hair was not appropriate for the classroom given my youthful appearance. Commentators urged me not to cut for the classroom. I went to my stylist and told her I wanted to keep in long (I had contemplated cutting off 4-6 inches) but tidy. I'm grateful I did this, especially because I'm happy with the length right now and will continue to grow it longer. On days when I felt that my hair was too carefree for the classroom I simply put it up or dressed more professionally. What I learned: If anything didn't go the way it should in my classroom, it was not because of my hair. My hair is awesome.

14/30: Wrap Dress Rhapsody

I believe that Shakespeare's Feminine Ending is posting a bit later today, but, since I have a back log of 30x30 outfits, I thought I would just quickly post #14.  I wore this outfit last week on one of those days when I still was feeling crappy but had to teach my classes anyway.

 30x30 Items: 3. Blue Sweater Wrap Dress - Target + 16. Black & White Striped Top + 29. Red Mary Janes - John Fluevog

Accessories: Argyle Tights - HUE (remixed), Necklace - Thrifted (remixed), Earrings - Buttons N Baubles

While most wrap dresses don't work well for my figure, I've had surprising success with this wrap sweater dress from Target and with its twin in grey, which I purchased last autumn and got a lot of wear out of last fall and winter.  I suspect that the blue version will also become a cold weather wardrobe work horse.  What are your feelings on wrap dresses?  Do they work for you?  Do you have to worry about unseemly flashing with most wrap dresses like I do?

P.S. Nina of All Tumble Down also has this dress and has styled it up awesomely.

My First Belt

As you can see, I'm thrilled about my first belt. A friend told me that it was a baby step since it's silver and tiny and doesn't actually hold anything up, but it's still something and I liked it with brown and blue.

This was the outfit worn during discount night at a restaurant. It was such a relief to have a lovely $30.00 three-course meal with some fantastic ladies after reaching the mid-point on both National Dissertation Writing Month (goal: two drafted chapters, no matter how rough) and the November Yoga Challenge (21 Days).

How are your Novembers? Is break in sight yet?

Skirt: Benneton
Belt: Urban Outfitters
Top: Target (remixed)
Boots: Frye (remixed)

Also, please remember to enter our CSN Stores giveaway!

Sweater Weather: Non-Teaching and Teaching

1. Sweater - Moth/Anthro (Ebayed)

Pants - Talbots
Shoes - J-41
Scarf - World Market (remixed)

Last week on a non-teaching day I wore the above outfit to campus. I had back-to-back meetings and then a few hours in my office. The weather had just turned colder and I was able to maintain both comfort and warmth in dress pants, a sweater, and campus-friendly shoes. The next day, when I taught and had a reading group meeting, I wore this:

2. Sweater - Moth/Anthro (Ebayed)
Skirt - Ann Taylor (Ebayed)
Shoes - Ferryl Robin (remixed)
Tights - Ann Taylor LOFT
Cloche - Ann Taylor LOFT

I ditched the cloche before I left the house, but I did enjoy the shape of the hat with the vintage feel of the outfit--and I had fun posing with it.


But then I ditched the hat in favor of a less-exciting prop:

Sometimes I wear gold with this sweater, but I like pairing green earrings with green shoes--it bookends the top and the bottom of me with. I love green and I do wear it well, but my eyes are multiple shades of green (from blue/gray near the pupil to brown/hazel on the outer-part of the iris) and they look best when I accessorize with flecks of green instead of wearing larger blocks of it.

3. Earrings - A Now Defunct Boutique in Kansas City

Two questions:

1. I've used multiple books, an umbrella, a hat, my hood, and a coffee cup as props to obscure part of my face--do you have any other suggestions for SFE's props?
2. Those earrings from the "Now Defunct Boutique in Kansas City" were purchased a decade ago for Prom--no shit. They are the oldest accessory I purchased for myself that I still wear with regularity. What is yours?
   

Fall is Our Favorite

This past week has been bit of a blur for me.  I was ill and took a sick day which caused me to get behind on everything right when I had finally just caught up after the grading and hurty brain syndrome.  (Damn you, Murphy!  And your stupid Law!)  I also ran a half-marathon on Saturday and have been preparing a research talk that I'm giving this week at my university.  Yet, in spite of all the busyness, I have still been in a great mood.  Fall is my favorite season.  And in terms of its fallish qualities October is the best of the autumn months.  I've been drawing inspiration from nature's color palettes with its soft browns and olive greens, splashes of orange, red, and yellow, and sunny blue skies.  Bailey approves of my current sartorial methodology.  Hopefully, the audience at my talk will be equally approving of my research methodologies.

(Top - H&M (hand-me-down from my sister-in-law and remixed), Skirt - Anthro (thrifted and remixed) Cardi - New York & Co. (remixed), Tights - We Love Colors, Boots - Steve Madden (2003 and remixed), Bracelets and Earrings - Target (remixed))

Where have you been drawing style inspiration from lately?

LGBTQ Outfit and Etsy Finds

I mentioned to LHdM that I also wore purple yesterday to support LGBTQ youth and she asked me to post my outfit. I didn't see very many people on my campus wearing the purple, but am gladdened to hear that it was in fuller force elsewhere.
And here's today's outfit. I've been practically living in my new asymmetrical sweatshirt. I've been on a quest to find the perfect stylin' hoodie-type garment that I could teach in without feeling like I should just have invited my class to hang out in my living room. This thing is warm, comfortable, and snazzy-looking. It also goes with everything and....
reminds me of the jacket Lucy Griffiths wears as Maid Marian during the first season of the BBC's Robin Hood (image grabbed and cropped from one on Amanda Beth Online, which has a fantastic analysis of all of Marian's outfits).

Do you ever scour the internet hoping to find clothes resembling those on t.v. shows/films? If so, where do you usually find them?

Sweatercoat (sic) Weather

First of all, on behalf of Fashionable Academics, I'd like to say a great big THANK YOU to Elaine of Clothed Much who gave us our new banner and did our overall redesign. As some readers have already noticed and commented, it looks fab! We couldn't be more pleased.

1. Dress - Corey Lynn Calter/Anthro (remixed)
Tights - Target
Shoes - Clarks (remixed)

So, I'm a little blurry in this one, but I wanted to share with you what you probably already know: dark tights and dark shoes create length. And the illusion of length is really important from wear I stand. I've worn this dress with these shoes before, but black v. nude/no tights really creates a different line.

My favorite item to wear with this dress is a sweatercoat that I bought for my exam defense last December:

2. Sweater Coat - Charlie + Robin/Anthro

I had tried on multiple blazers at J.Crew, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor (i.e. stores that offer petite sizing) and was ready to invest in a good one for the defense, but I never found one that fit quite right--and fit is important. But I found this purple sweatercoat when browsing one day and thought that it better reflected the crazy stuff that I would talk about in my exam defense, such as John Foxe's disgust for St Agnes's hair. The sweatercoat was wayyy out of budget, but it was missing a button, so they gave me $40 off.

3. Earrings - Macy's (remixed)
Floret pendant necklace - Gifted (In-Laws)
Background - Courtesy of Wm Rowley

The academic job-seeking season is upon us and some of the faculty in humanities at my university sent around a  general "advice for the job market" document last night and some of it touched on the proper attire for interviews and job talks.  There seemed to be a consensus from faculty that job candidates should seek styles that make them feel confident and comfortable--don't "reinvent," one advised, just "upgrade" a bit. The last item on the list was from a well respected scholar who wrote, "it is possible to get a job without wearing black for your whole campus visit." Viva la color!
Addendum: SFE acknowledges that she fucked up and wore her ONLY item of purple yesterday. She  regrets this decision. She is considering mixing up an entire rainbow outfit to make up for it.

Thinking Pink Day 6

I'm sorry for my disappearance from the blog and from StyleNation in general this past week.  (No) Thanks to a powerful draught of the writing pedagogy Kool-Aid, I went down the rabbit hole to spend a week in grading wonderland purgatory, but I've emerged on the other side of the world stronger and wiser (never again will I assign three classes so much written work within two weeks!) and ready to blog again! 

Last Friday I went to meet a friend for lunch at a local coffee shop with amazing organic food and delicious lattes and cookies.  I took a stack of take-home essays and spent the afternoon marking there afterward, so I knew that I wanted to be dressed comfortably.  The friend that I was meeting is a stylish academic with an amazing boot collection, so I didn't think twice about donning my harem pants that day.¹

 1. Harem Pants - Market in Trastavere, Italy (remixed), Shirt - H&M (remixed), Cardi - Say What? (remixed), Shoes - Steve Madden (remixed), Necklace - Etsy (remixed)

For the sunny drive to and from the cafe, I grabbed a pair of thrifted Guess sunglasses.  Bailey wanted to model them here for you, and by that I mean she sulked like the dickens when I put them on her.  What can I say?  Bailey's preferred accessory is the scarf.  

 

For those of you who are academics, what is your strategy for grading written work?  Do you use a timer?  Do you try to grade all of the papers in one sitting?  Do you use a rubric?  I have tried all of the above, but don't feel committed to any of these methods.  

Do you think harem pants are appropriate for the classroom or for your work place?  Why or why not?

Already Layered, Plus AUH Relives Twin Peaks

First of all, apologies for being remiss in responding to comments and commenting myself lately. I've been reading and enjoying and am now finally in the clear again. Well, for now. Though I can now dress myself with more care, I still find myself reaching for numbers like this softer than you could believe thrifted shirt because I don't need to layer. It builds in its own cover-up tank while still doing its cowl gone wild thing. It's warm, it's easy, and I wore it today to a conference I wasn't presenting at when I was running late.
In other news, I received my product review shoes from CSN Stores earlier in the week. I know you're not supposed to wear them all day when they're new, but was running late and just pulled them on. Turns out I didn't need to worry. These have been comfortable from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and are being complimented everywhere. I will write a fuller review soon, but am incredibly impressed so far.

Shirt: Thrifted
Shoes: Bass via CSN Stores

Query: Is it still called Indian Summer?

Yesterday it was already warm in the morning and I knew it would get up in the high-70s (25.5 C), so I pulled out a favorite Spring/Summer dress. I was going to wear a professional looking black skirt + silk blouse combo, but I decided to take advantage of the last day of warmth. I definitely enjoy dressing for Fall/Winter more than Spring/Summer, but I've really enjoyed this outfit, especially because I thought I had already worn it for the last time three weeks ago--when the temperature dropped to the level that required the landlord to turn on the heat.

1. Dress - Ann Taylor Loft
Cardi - Tiny/Anthro
Cami - Banana Republic
Sandals - Bare Traps via DSW (remixed)

I've decided to forgo jeans in the classroom, so this is likely to be the most casual outfit I will don the entire term. And now that it is mid-term and my students know me and my expectations, I felt it was fine.  Because of my proportions--especially the height factor--I find that drapey, asymmetrical cardigans look best on me over dresses and skirts. Compare the above to pairing it with pants below:

2. Cardi - Tiny/Anthro
T-shirt - Banana Republic
Cropped Cargos - Ann Taylor Loft (remixed)

To be fair, that was the most unflattering photo I took of this outfit, but sometimes those are the most telling. Pairing this sort of cardigan with cropped pants on a shorter body is not necessarily terrible, but it is much more flattering with a monochromatic dress.

To return to the cardi + dress comb, it creates a really great neckline:

3. Earrings - ? (gifted)
Miraculous Medal - National Shrine, DC

Also, I have good news to share:

4. Dress - Girls From Savoy/Anthro (remixed)
Cardi - Banana Republic

Last Wednesday I confined myself to a library computer until 9:30 p.m. in order to finish a paper that had to be sent out and circulated. It was a goal and I met it, and per the revised policy, I got to wear the Twinkle Twinkle Dress on Thursday to celebrate.

Thinking Pink Day 5

This past Thursday I was still thinking pink and suffering from hurty brain syndrome.  While A-Dubs has recently suggested that September is a crazily hectic month in which tooth brushin' is optional, I find October to be much more stressful.  There's always more grading, which means more last-minute class prep and no time to do laundry; the luster of the new semester has worn off; application, grant, and paper proposal deadlines loom; committee work is in full swing; and, on top of all that, I'm in the hardest stretch of my marathon training.  So when an outfit comes together serendipitously quickly at 6am from the six items of clothing aren't dirty, smelly, or horribly wrinkled and it includes pink for the Blogging for Breast Cancer AWEARness challenge, I don't waste time questioning it!

 (Dress - Nine West (remixed), Cardi - Anthropologie (remixed), Belt - From another dress (remixed), Tights - We Love Colors, Boots - John Fluevog (remixed)

 

Now.... if you'll excuse me, now that I've had that first cup of a coffee, I need to get to grading in the hopes that by Thursday I'll be able to do something besides mark papers and practice the lift from Dirty Dancing.

How is your October going?  Did you do anything fun this weekend?  Canadian readers, what are you doing with your holiday today? 

Autumn Hues and the Mystery of the Wang Stork

Lately all I have been wanting to wear are neutral colors and autumnal shades, particularly olive and gold.  So when the weather played nice (if a bit windy) today, I donned my favorite fall-ish A-line skirt, an ecru colored blouse, and my olive cardi with gold buttons and hopped on my bike for a ride into campus for office hours and lecturing.

  (Skirt - Anthropologie (thrifted and remixed), Blouse - BCBG (remixed), Tank - New York & Co. (remixed), Cardi - New York & Co. (remixed), Shoes - John Fluevog, Necklace - Etsy (remixed), Ring - Boutique in Salamanca (remixed), Bag - Nine West (remixed), Sunnies - Vera Wang (the Wang Stork)

So these Vera Wang Sunglasses appeared hanging on my mailbox one morning a week or so ago.  I have no clue as to their origin.  Are they a bribe from my student who is one of my neighbors?  Are they a pair of shades that belong to a friend who dropped them?  Are they a mysterious gift from a secret postal admirer?  Did I fill out some survey for which I was rewarded a pair of Vera Wang sunglasses and then forget about it?  Were they dropped by one of my neighbor's visitors only to be mistaken for mine by another neighbor?  I've no friggin' clue.  But when I mentioned this mystery on Facebook, a friend commented that you don't question the Wang Stork.  So thank you, Wang Stork, whomever you work for....

Autumn Jigsaw

I know others have talked before about how outfits seem supercalifragilistic until photographed in their entirety. Then they become boring. Or too pattered. Or, if you're me, see through. To prevent this, I'm presenting photo jigsaw. I recently discovered that I love pairing teal with bright pink lips and smokey eyes.

I then added in a wine-colored cami for see-through prevention. I love the way the teal and wine went with my brown wide-legged pants and light pink watch (it looks like a Band Aid, but I've become attached).
And here we have the wide-legged pants, coral toes and sandals--the last nod to summer. This was my Equinox outfit and it was perfect for drinking hard cider and feasting on roasted beets, carrots and onions to celebrate the change in season.

How are the rest of you celebrating autumn?

No-Nonsense

For my first day back to teaching I went with a no-nonsense outfit:

1. Twinset - Ann Taylor Loft (cardi-remixed)
Skirt - Ann Taylor (ebay-ed)
Shoes - Ferryl Robin
Bag - Accessorize (remixed)

This skirt is a Wardrobe Workhorse. And I've owned two of the same. The first one I owned was a smaller size and when I needed a new one I found the same exact skirt, in a larger size, on Ebay. It's a wool-silk mix and works in every season. Even more important than the blend is the fit and the cut and the fact that Ann Taylor comes in petite sizing.

Because I was so black-and-gray today I tried to lighten up my outfit with accessories. Instead of pearls around my neck I went with green glass beads:

2. Earrings - Macy's
Necklace - Target
Bracelet - Carolee (gifted)

And then there were the shoes:

3. Shoes - Ferryl Robin

I actually find these shoes comfortable to teach in because of the thicker heel. I've worn them with more exciting outfits but I like them best against a no-nonsense combination. Especially because they invite spectators (err...students) to suspect that there might actually be a little nonsense involved.

Sporty Cropped Cardigan Alternative

It's the time of year again when I regret not having purchased cropped cardigans. I found this alternative when I realized that the combination of my lululemon running jacket (on sale!) and my super-flared dress worked as a more fitted way to stay warm while wearing bottom heavy dresses in the fall.
And here we have a non-blurry shot (we'll just pretend I was running in the library in the above picture) that shows the triangle cut of the jacket meeting the dress's flare. I really shouldn't be anywhere near this new fiction if I want to get my own work done......

Jacket: lululemon
Dress: Target

How are the rest of you solving the sweater and dress problem?

LHdM and the Blustery Day

Holy shit!  Yesterday was ridiculously windy.  Here in my corner of the upper Midwest we were experiencing gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.  Skirts and wind don't mix so well, and I have little desire to flash students and colleagues, so I wore pants.¹  

1. Blouse - New York & Co. (remixed), Cardi - New York & Co. (remixed), Pants - Sharagano (TJ Maxx), Shoes - John Fluevog, Earrings - Target (remixed), Bracelet - ?? (thrifted and remixed)

If you've been a long time reader of the blog, you will perhaps recall that I don't have the best relationship with pants.  It's difficult for me to find trousers that fit well, and because of where I tend to gain weight they don't always serve as very versatile pieces in my wardrobe.  In spite of our fraught relationship, I managed to find this pair of pants last week that fit pretty well and were within my budget.

All in all, this wasn't my favorite outfit ever, but I loved the color palette and the fact that I avoided the wind blowing up my skirt all blustery day long.  And that enabled me to make an ass out of myself in other ways....