B.I.M.
Posted: August 23, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black cropped jeans, black oxfords, blue, blue striped popover, brooch Leave a comment
No, not BMI (Body Mass Index), but rather BIM – Big Important Meeting. Yes, I just came up with that acronym. I had a Big Important Meeting at work, meaning I had to dress a bit more “seriously”. Usually, I would just throw a blazer on and call it a day, but it’s still too hot for that, so here’s the best I could do – summer business casual. Of course, I couldn’t let go of my usual touches altogether, so I added a brooch too.
Bonus – here’s my dog, having fully recovered from her ordeal earlier in the summer. You can’t even see the scar underneath her fur!
Graduation Ceremony
Posted: July 5, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: ao dai, black, black culottes, brooch, red, red suede heels, white 3 Comments
Happy belated Fourth of July to my US readers! Hope you guys had a great celebration.
Last week, I’ve shared what I wore to be on the thesis committee, and this week, here’s what I wore to my students’ graduation ceremony. It’s a semi-formal occassion, so of course, I brought out my traditional Vietnamese áo dài. I was quite happy to realize that my shoes match the buttons and the stitching on the tunic almost exactly, and they added a nice pop of color. For a sentimental touch, I also added a brooch that my students gave me for Teacher’s Day last year.
The students, however, all decided to wear dresses instead, and I don’t blame them – áo dài can be uncomfortable/difficult to move around in (mine isn’t because it’s made of linen and has a looser fit.) My only problem with wearing áo dài, in fact, is that it’s a set, which means you can’t really mix and match it (I do wear the pants separately though). But it’s for special occassions only, so it’s fine.
Thesis Committee
Posted: June 28, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black pumps, brooch, red, red printed dress 1 Comment
I wore this last week when I was a member of the thesis committee at our school. It being a film school, a student’s thesis is either a feature-length screenplay or a short film, which they still have to present and defend it like any other thesis. It was pretty exciting – I’ve never been a full member of the thesis committee before, and this is the first graduating class that I’ve taught the full four years, and it was heartening to see that they all managed to graduate together (usually, in every class, there are a few students that have to graduate later because they don’t complete their thesis project in time.)
Obviously, I wanted to dress up, but I didn’t want to appear too stuffy or boring either (film school, remember), plus it was too hot, so this printed dress seems like a good compromise. I’m not so happy about the shoes – the dress has a vaguely 1940s vibe and I wanted a strappy shoe to go with it, but I have none at the moment, so these black heels would have to do. I tried to tell myself that they make the dress more modern and less like a costume, because honestly, I do not need an excuse to buy more shoes…
Blue Enamel
Posted: June 17, 2019 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: beige heeled sandals, blue, brooch, mustard wide-leg pants, navy print sleeveless blouse, style imitating art, yellow 6 Comments
Confession time: I didn’t wear this outfit for SIA. I had a different outfit in mind for this week’s SIA, inspired by Van Gogh’s “Still Life with Blue Enamel Coffeepot, Earthenware and Fruit“, including this pair of mustard pants (another pair of wide-leg pants, I know, I know), my blue gingham shirt, and black heels. Alas, I didn’t get a chance to even wear the outfit, let alone to take photos of it, because I spent most of last week taking care of my dog, who got into a fight with a neighbor’s dog and was bitten pretty badly. Thankfully, the vet was able to stitch her up and she is stable and eating again, but it was quite a stressful couple of days.
So for this week’s SIA, I just looked through my existing outfit and picked the one that’s as close to the inspiration as I can get. I ended up choosing this one – just imagine my shoes are black and it’ll be perfect.
Here’s the poor silly thing, before she got hurt
The Great A’Tuin
Posted: June 14, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black baggy pants, black loafers, blue, blue button-up, brooch 1 Comment
The outfit is nothing to write home about – it’s all about the brooch here. I haven’t bought a new brooch in a while, but when I saw this turtle brooch, I knew I had to buy it because it reminds me of the Great A’Tuin in the Discworld book (of course, it’s missing the four elephants and the Discworld itself on its back). It’s terribly nerdy of me, I know.
Speaking of Terry Pratchett, I finally finished the Good Omens mini series last week (I was too busy to binge it the day it came out.) It’s good, but… I don’t know, not as great as I’d hoped. I never thought I’d say this, but I think the problem is that it follows the book too closely. Book and film are two different media, so a moment in the book may not have the same impact when it is recreated exactly on the screen. And the voiceover narration (most of which is lifted verbatim from the book) doesn’t add anything to it either – there were moments when I wished I could turn the voiceover off and concentrated on the actions. I guess it comes down to the age-old problem of adaptations: the book is always better.
Try Again
Posted: June 12, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: blue, blue striped popover, brooch, navy paperbag pants, red, red slingbacks 2 Comments
This is my second attempt at the “blue outfit with paper bag pants and red accents” after my first try didn’t turn out so well. I like it better because the vertical stripes make this shirt look less billowy that the other one, but it’s still a little looser than I’d like, and by the end of the work day, it had pretty much come untucked.
I have never seen the appeal of the bodysuit before, but now I’m seriously considering buying one because it drove me crazy trying to fix the tuck all day long. Unfortunately (or, fortunately, if you look at it from a financial standpoint, because I do not need more clothes), all the bodysuits I see in store look like swimsuits and not like normal tops, so I don’t think I’ll be buying one yet.
Feeling Crabby
Posted: May 31, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: beige, beige heeled sandals, blue, blue plaid shirt, brooch, navy paperbag pants, red 1 Comment
The post title is both a reference to the crab brooch on my shirt (very creative, I know) and the fact that I’m not entirely happy with the outfit. The shirt is a bit too loose-fitting, so when I tried tucking it into the paper-bag waist of these pants, it just created all this bulk around the waist. A more fitted shirt may work better. And the brooch feels like an afterthought too. I wanted a pop of color that was not shoes, and I just got this brooch, so I decided to wear it, but now I think I should’ve saved it for a more “nautical” look. Or would that be too costumy? I don’t know… I guess I’m just not feeling this outfit.
