The Last "First Day"

What I Wore - Dress: J. Crew Factory, Shoes: Dolce Vita, Earrings: Madewell, Lipstick: Bite Beauty "Brandy", Backpack: Duluth Pack

Today was my first day of school. My first day of my senior year of college. My very last first day of school. I've always been someone who spends the whole of August counting down the days until school starts again. By that point I've usually grown bored of not having a schedule (although that was not an issue this summer), am itching to see my friends everyday, and have a stack of new clothes in my closet that I've been saving all summer to wear. But mainly, I get excited for the first day of school because I have always seen it as an opportunity to introduce the new and best version of Eva; to blow my peers and teachers away with how I've changed (or magically somehow became cooler over the summer, although this stopped happening after I shaved my eyebrows off right before seventh grade). Mainly, I like reinventing myself because the image I have of who I want to be is ever changing and my first day of school outfit has always been indicative of what that desired image of myself is.

Last year I really wanted to embrace all of the new found independence and confidence my semester abroad had given me. I really felt I knew what I wanted and was not going to let myself get in the way of making it all happen. I had a lot of expectations for junior year. My leather mini skirt, pointy toed flats, and embellished oxford shirt on the first day of school made that known. This year, my last year, feels different. I want my senior year to be exactly whatever it's going to end up being. I want to work really hard, spend time with the people I love, do things that challenge and excite me, and stay true to who I have become over the past four years. So I kept my outfit simple and wore what felt natural to me. A shirt dress, nude flats, simple jewelry, and a bold lipstick. I still felt like the best, most authentic, version of myself without feeling like I had to make a statement about it.

My "Back To School" Stack

Since it is basically the middle of August and my countdown to my return to Portland has begun I have decided it is finally time to start talking about one of my favorite subjects.....back to school shopping. Unlike when I was 10 and would purchase the entirety of Limited Too in preparation to take on the new school year my current "back to school wardrobe" shopping strategy is usually just to get a few key pieces to refresh what I already have. Although it should probably be noted that I still do the whole "I'm not even going to touch this or take the tags off of it until school starts" thing to make things feel even more exciting and special. I don't know what it is, but even at 20 years old there is nothing that excites me quite the same way going back to school and the beginning of autumn does. 

Alright, let's talk about clothes. Like I said, my shopping strategy is to get things that will work well with the rest of my wardrobe so I gravitate towards classic styles and patterns that are still current and somewhat trendy. Let's take a peek and what I've collected.....

Tops: I snagged this striped top with fluttery sleeves from Anthropologie (currently on sale!), a light-weight striped popover from Old Navy, a chambray top with an embellished collar from LOFT, and a neutral crew neck sweater from The Gap outlet, similar. None of these tops were purchased for any particular reasons other than "this is cute and I want it", because sometimes you just have to live life that way. 

Dresses: The only dress I've picked up for the up-coming season is a chambray (I really can't get enough of chambray) shirt/shift dress from J. Crew Factory Store. I had been eyeing it online for quite some time and when it went on sale I thought it was as good as time as ever to replace the chambray dress I had been previously wearing to death. Said moment of weakness brought to you by trying to stretch out my lunch break at work. 

Bottoms:  I am not a big pants wearer in general but when I do they either have to be dark dark dark blue or black and I for some reason didn't have a pair of plain black skinny jeans, so to remedy that issue I picked up a pair of super comfortable ones from Old Navy. The one new skirt that I did get (my skirt collection is getting a little out of hand these days) is from J. Crew. I got it on sale for only $20 and I really cannot wait to wear it, it's probably one of the most flattering pieces of clothing I own - it's still available in a few colors and sizes! 

Outerwear: My two outerwear purchases are very "Portland Friendly" i.e. one has a hood and one is a fleece pull over. My reasons behind getting both of them were fairly practical - the fleece, from Mountain Hardware, is intended to be worn during runs/hikes when the weather gets cooler and pretty much any other day I want to wear bright turquoise fleece, and the sage colored utility jacket will be perfect for layering over everything I wear during the majority of those low 50's, dreary, overcast Portland days that I have become so fond of.

Shoes: I'm at a point in my life wear it is just not physically possible for me to house all of the shoes I want to own, so for back to school this year I just got one new pair of shoes because that was honestly all I knew I'd be able to fit in my suitcase/tiny apartment. They are part of black D'Orsay flats from Lucky Brand and they are perfect. Just trendy enough to make me feel cool but still very classic and I know I'll be getting my money's worth out of them. 

And that's about it! It's more than likely I'll be picking up a few new things here and there before I leave but I'm already worried about packing all of my stuff up to take back to Portland, it's always so overwhelming.

Let me know if you liked this style of post, it was a fun one for me to write (i.e. finding a way to justify all of my purchases). Until next time,

Eva