Ruffled

What I Wore: [Dress: Anthropologie, Shirt: old Gap (similar), Earrings: old Anthropologie (similar), Shoes: old Lucky Brand (similar)]

Sometimes you have a week where you wish there were six extra hours in every day and that you could spend those six hours simultaneously sleeping and doing all of the work that you're behind on, this week was one of those weeks. I know it's quite cliché (admittedly I like clichés) but focusing on little happy things really did make the long days a bit brighter. This week those little things included the ruffled neck on this dress, feeling the sunshine on my bare legs, seeing the piece I am choreographing for my school's Spring dance show come together, and getting massive chocolatey ice cream cones from Salt & Straw.

Oh, and this quote by Warsaw Shire:

“The sun is perfect and you woke this morning. You have enough language in your mouth to be understood. You have a name, and someone wants to call it. Five fingers on your hand and someone wants to hold it. If we just start there, every beautiful thing that has and will ever exist is possible. If we start there, everything, for a moment, is right in the world.” 

Here's to a productive and stress-free upcoming week, for us all! 

In The Navy

What I Wore: [Shirt: old Zara (similar), Skirt: American Apparel, Booties: old Sam Edelman (similar), Bag: Madewell, Jacket: Gap, Earrings: old Forever21 (similar)]

Recently I've been feeling pretty uninspired by my current wardrobe and being a college student I have a pretty tight budget when it comes to what I can spend on clothes, so to remedy this problem I've been doing my best to work with what I have and change up the way I've been wearing things as we head into the warmer months. This outfit is made up of some of my most favorite staple pieces - the top was the first thing I ever bought from Zara when I was 16 and went to Germany for a school trip, the navy skirt is my version of the perfect pair of jeans and I wear it at least once a week, and these booties have seen me though everything - but for some reason before today I had never put these three pieces together. I've got a weird thing about wearing shades of blue that are too close to being the same shade together (I never wear a blue top with blue jeans, etc.) so I never considered this top as being able to go with this skirt, but because of the pattern and color accents I think the navy on navy works - the combination almost looks a bit like a dress actually. I very easily get in the habit of rotating my same favorite "outfit combinations" without thinking to break up the pieces and put them with something else, (it's a little hard to do when you wear dresses all the time) slowly but surely though I think I am beginning to expand my outfit options without having to purchase a whole new wardrobe.

Menswear Inspired

What I Wore: [Dress: J. Crew Factory (similar), Sweater: Gap (similar), Necklace: Portobello Road Market (similar), Tights: H&M, Shoes: Minelli (similar), Bag: Madewell]

If you've been following my blog for any amount of time you'd agree with me when I say that 'masculine' is not a word that really ever describes my personal style, but I am a big fan of the whole menswear inspired aesthetic on other people. This particular outfit is my attempt at that achieving that kind of look. Because of my body shape I tend to prefer more 'feminine' cut clothing pieces (i.e. all things with defined waists) and am known for putting a waist belt on anything that is purposefully shapeless, but this time I resisted the belt temptation! Somehow the layering of two loosing fitting pieces over each other resulted in something that didn't make me look like a tent. It was the perfect thing to wear for an afternoon curled up doing homework on the couches at the Ace Hotel with two of my closest friends. School has been so busy these days with all of my work for my classes in addition to my new job at my school's newspaper so not doing homework on a Saturday isn't really an option any more. Luckily, having so many nice coffee shops and cafes in Portland to work in makes homework on a Saturday not seem like such of a drag.

Misty Mornings

What I Wore: [Jacket: old Forever 21 (similar), Skirt: J. Crew, Booties: old Sam Edelman (similar), Bag: Madewell]

I've been back at school for about two weeks now and I've definitely been feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to readjust to school life and get this whole semester figured out. Things around campus definitely feel different this semester. The majority of my junior class is gone on abroad programs, including 4 of my closest friends, and since my roommate and I both studied abroad our sophomore year we feel as if we're the only ones left! So we've made it a plan to expand our friend circles and meet more new people this semester! I've also had to kind of hit the ground running in terms of classes and extra curriculars this semester. There has been lots and lots of reading, many meetings, and seemingly endless emails. It's all very exciting, and new, and a bit stressful, but definitely all good.

Morgan and I found some time in-between classes to take some outfit photos on Monday. We headed to south campus and were able to capture just how eerily beautiful campus can be when the fog rolls in. That's one of the things I love most about the Pacific Northwest, everything here is so beautiful no matter what the forecast is!

Portland Wardrobe Essentials

It's strange for me to think that I am already in my third year of living in Portland, and even though everyday I hear about new places to see and different things to do in the city, I am beginning to feel more and more like Portland is becoming a home. Over these past few years I have tailored my wardrobe to be as Portland appropriate as possible and have the city and it's conditions in mind often while shopping. Now, today the plan was to photograph the very "Portland Appropriate" outfit I was wearing, but in true PNW fashion it was raining and dark and foggy and pictures were just not going to happen. So in leu of that I'm going to talk about my Portland wardrobe essentials.

Wool in all forms

On the day I wanted to take these photos I was wearing this wool skirt from Madewell. I found it on sale just before Christmas and was so glad I snagged it because I think it is going to quickly become my favorite colder weather skirt. Since it's wool and is a heavier material, even though it's above the knee, it is a bit warmer than say something made of chiffon or cotton. Plus, doesn't it just kind of look like Portland? (Anything grey makes me think of Portland) The second kind of wool investment (aside from socks) I would recommend are lightweight sweaters, such as this Merino wool turtleneck from J. Crew. The wet kind of cold that exists in Portland chills me to the bone some days so it's really nice to have a warm wool layer that I can snuggle up in but that isn't going to be too thick underneath my jacket.

Plaid/Flannel

Plaid is one of the easiest patterns to wear and is something that I think really works with kind of personal style aesthetic. It's just as easy it make a plaid shirt look preppy as it is to make it look punk or hipster-ish. Two ways that I find myself wearing plaid a lot are either in the form of flannel shirts that I like to tuck into one of my many pleated skirts or as a scarf wrapped around my neck and tucked into my leather jacket. It's an any season, any style, any article of clothing pattern that I think should exist in some capacity in everyone's wardrobe.

Weather Proof Shoes

Okay, let's talk shoes. For me, I like to stick with investing in classic shoes that will go with everything and last through anything. That means either leather or some water resistant material, things that are either flat or have low heels, and are well made. My two suggestions are these chelsea style rainboots from J. Crew (so much easier to wear than full on, knee high, rainboots in my opinion) and some black leather flats from Born. I have so many pairs of flat, black, leather shoes because they just go with everything and Born is one of my favorite brands for shoes that are practical and still stylish.

Black Tights

These are basic, but important! I like to wear dresses and skirts year round but usually it isn't warm enough to always go bare-legged so a good pair of black tights is essential! I like these because they are designed to stay up better than most and these because they're fleece lined and extra cosy. 

Big Hats

Weather in Portland usually lies somewhere in the middle of raining and trying to be sunny, which generally leads to me having a lot of unpleasant, frizzy, and damp hair. Hoods on rain jackets only kind of fix this problem, but they can really only be employed when it is actually raining outside (plus my hot pink north face rain jacket does not go with a very large percent of my wardrobe) so my go-to solution to this problem is hats. Large felt hats in particular. They make any outfit look more chic, they hide unsightly hair issues, and they keep my head/hair/face area mist free! and that is all I can really ask of an accessory. 

Jackets

Finally we have reached the topic of outerwear. I am not going to talk about rain jackets or light-weight down coats, because those are kind of no-brainers and not really my style (even though they are sometimes necessary). Instead, let's talk leather. Or faux leather at least. My faux leather jacket is probably my most worn, and most complimented, article of clothing. This is especially true when I'm in Portland because it's just the perfect solution to all of my outwear needs. In one piece of clothing I can be warm enough for the mild Portland wear, somewhat water resistant, and still achieve my desired "aesthetic". This quilted one I found from Asos is one I've been coveting as of late.

And that's it! Those are my Portland wardrobe essentials - I hope they were interesting/useful to you all in some capacity. Outfit posts are on the way!