Duchess Inspired
Posted: August 21, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: mustard wide-leg pants, red, red slingbacks, white, white eyelet button-up, yellow 1 Comment
When I saw these photos of Kate Middleton back in May, I knew I had to put together something inspired by it. The culottes are cute, but what really drew me to the outfit is the shirt. I’m a sucker for broderie anglaise (I have, at last count, four tops with some on them – it’s part of my Anglophilia, I guess) but I never thought to pair them with my culottes, so here we are.
At first, I thought about wearing my sneakers to mimic the Duchess’ outfit completely, but then I found sneakers make it slightly too casual – Kate Middleton may have pulled them off, but I couldn’t – so in the end, I decided to wear my red heels because there is a bit of red on my shirt.
Fresh Fish
Posted: August 16, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: belt, black, brown, brown fish-print blouse, brown loafers, white, white baggy pants 2 Comments
School’s started again, but it’s still hot AF, so here’s a simple, summery outfit. It’s another one inspired by Keira Knightley’s wardrobe in Begin Again – more specifically, this look. Basically, whenever I put together an outfit with a short-sleeve/sleeveless top and linen pants, you can trace it back to that movie.
Anyway, it looks like it’s going to be a busy semester. I’m teaching four classes in total – Screenwriting II, Adaptation, Script Editing, and Screenwriting for Directing Major – but at least they’re all classes that I enjoy and I don’t have to teach any freshman (despite the post title), which is never fun. On top of that, I’m also translating American Gods AND Good Omens, two of my favorite books ever. So it’s going to be busy but fun, and I won’t have it any other way.
To Tuck Or Not To Tuck
Posted: August 2, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black loafers, gray, gray linen pants, white, white embroidered linen top 1 Comment
I don’t know about this outfit, you guys. It’s another embroidered top I got from the annual sale of my local boutique, and I’m a sucker for anything botanical (the embroidery on this particular top is cilantro flowers and seed pods), so I’m excited to wear it, but when I received the top, it turns out to be more cropped than I expected. You’d think that crop tops would work on a long torso like mine, but not always. When I wore the top untucked, it looked sloppy, and when I tried the French tuck, it didn’t look quite right either. It’s frustrating, isn’t it, when you’re looking forward to wearing a new item and then it turns into a struggle? Maybe it’s the pants. I’ll try pairing it with a different pair next time and see how that works.
Floral Pocket
Posted: July 15, 2019 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: black, black baggy pants, black loafers, style imitating art, white, white embroidered blouse 2 Comments
When I saw this week’s inspiration for SIA, a floral embroidered pocket from the 18th century, I knew I was going to wear my embroidered blouse. What to pair with it is another matter though. At first, I wanted to pick out some colors from the embroidery, but I’d already wear this blouse with my green pants (and for SIA too). In the end, I decided to go the easy route and wear my black pants because of the black background. It wasn’t until I uploaded these photos that I remembered my yellow culottes – which would look interesting as well. But never mind. I wore this to my second proctoring session, and yellow pants might be too distracting for the students. Black is a better choice.
Don’t forget to drop by Daenel’s blog on Wednesday to see other outfits inspired by this fun piece!
Too Hot To Function
Posted: July 10, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: beige, beige flat sandals, blue, navy print culottes, white, white v-neck popover 2 Comments
Is summer over yet? No? This summer seems particularly long, probably because I still have to go to work. I’m proctoring our school’s entrance exams this week, which I’m not looking forward to at all. And of course, the temperature decides to go up to 100+ for the whole week. So this outfit is the best I can do while still maintaining some form of professionalism. I mean, if I’m going to spend 6 hours sitting around with nothing to do except to stare at a bunch of sweaty, nervous kids, I might as well be comfortable.
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.
One Bottom, Two Tops
Posted: June 21, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: belt, black, black loafers, blue, navy linen sleeveless top, pink, pink embroidered top, white, white baggy pants 1 Comment
Thanks everyone for your kind words about my dog. She’s doing well now. Luckily, she only got flesh wounds, and in Vietnam we have a saying that goes “A dog heals its skin, a chicken heals its bones”, which means dog’s skin and chicken’s bones are easy to heal, so it looks like she’s on her way to a full recovery.
I have two casual outfits today. The semester is officially over for the students, but there are still papers to read and grades to turn in, so I opted for something easy and breathable. I didn’t realize it until I put the two of them together, but they are actually inspired by Keira Knightley’s outfits in Begin Again, specifically these two. I’ve been getting inspirations for my summer wardrobe from that movie since I first saw it – it’s one of the few movies with realistic costumes that I can actually recreate, and it helps that her character’s style is pretty timeless too.
