I know it is very easy to see plaid as something very preppy. After years and years of Catholic school and its plaid skirts, I have always associated plaid with school. I’ve had this look sitting in the queue, waiting to be posted, and it just felt so fitting to share this plaid dress after finishing my first month of law school.
As I have mentioned before, I am struggling with the fashion of this new decade. I am not shy to admit that I dressed far cuter for the 2010s. I think a large part of it is that Gen Z has so much power in deciding the trends and what is cool. However, most Gen Z kids are about fifteen years old, crop tops and many of the other current trends are not exactly well suited for a young adult entering the professional world. I want to look my age, while still staying current and wearing flattering pieces. Trying to get some inspiration, I stumbled into Urban Outfitters on Melrose and picked up anything and everything I liked. Urban Outfitters is always cool, so I trust them to help me out here. Among a few other things from my haul, the crown jewel was this plaid babydoll dress.
In general, I don’t wear babydoll cut clothes because the silhouette doesn’t have a waist, which is a huge no-no for me. In my closet, everything needs to have a waist. Otherwise, you lose your body under the clothes. Not having a waist structured into your clothes gives the fabric too much liberty to hang from your widest parts. I can’t imagine anyone wants that. But there was just something about this dress that told me to break my number one fashion rule and experiment. Perhaps it was the sweet, yet edgy, energy this dress was giving, which felt very Avril Lavigne. I also felt it was reflective of my own temperament as of late (generally a good girl, but I am DONE with the pandemic). Perhaps it was the nostalgic plaid that made me smile at the thought of simpler days. Either way, I was clearly drawn to this dress, so I decided to take it home with me.
I haven’t worn this dress to school yet, but SF is having a bit of a heat wave, so I suspect that I will likely find myself wearing it this week. If it just so happens to cool down just as the weekend comes to a close, perhaps I’ll add a cute coat. Here, I am wearing my chunkiest Zara boots! While they definitely edge up this dress (it is a babydoll cut after all), I actually prefer to wear them with my faux leather leggings and a fuzzy sweater. There is something about juxtaposing chunky, edgy Chelsea boots with an otherwise sweet article of clothing, that I just find to be so fun. I suspect it has to do with balancing my look so that I don’t swing too far in one particular direction. However, I also think a large part of it has to do with pushing my limits. It may not be shocking to the general public, but it definitely pushes me outside my general comfort zone. Boots aside, this dress would work just as well with white sneakers or slides. I suspect that I will most often be wearing it with sheer black tights and black leather riding boots. What a simple way to look cute for class, right?!
When I say that I have written and rewritten this blog post a million times, I’m not exaggerating. I simply just cannot decide if I want to include my law school experience on the blog. The part of me that wants to is rooted in the fact that some complete transparency with the law school experience would be very valuable. There is so much information out there about what to do and what not to do that it either scares you out of thinking you could ever make it or it completely romanticizes the idea into this picture perfect thing it isn’t. The part of me that wants to exclude my law school experience from the blog is the same part of me that started the blog in the first place. I need a safe haven for that hyper-girly side of me that feels out of place in San Francisco. The academic side of me is on full power every day at school, so it is nice to have the blog to keep me grounded in my other passions. For this reason, I have finally come to the conclusion that my law school experience will not be a featured part of the blog.
That isn’t to say I won’t discuss my law school experience here and there. Being that it is the current chapter of my life, it is likely that my anecdotes in each blog post will be about my law school life. I will probably get on my soap box and discuss law school specific topics, but I will probably include those in the “Little Thoughts” section of this blog. In fact, I already have a few ideas in the works, so there’s no reason to be disappointed if you were looking forward to my thoughts on law school.
As of now, I have officially finished my first month of law school! When I put it like that, I am actually extremely proud of myself. Law school is a lot of work, but I wouldn’t say the horror stories are all true (so far). While it is true I do a lot of reading and sleep isn’t always priority number one, the school-life balance is much better than I anticipated. That first week was definitely the most difficult. Orientation was incredibly draining, so I didn’t have the best lead-in to the first week of class. Going into the second week though, I was much more rested. The biggest takeaway I have so far is that it all gets better with time. Law school is sink or swim…but instead of sinking, everyone just learns to swim at different times. Some people catch on very quickly. Others take a little time, but we all get there eventually. I have personally noticed the biggest difference between weeks 3 and 4. I was doing fine during week 3 in that I didn’t have any serious questions, but I have started to outline during this week, which has seriously helped me sort through the information. Overall, my readings are going faster, and I am getting better at being able to distinguish what is and isn’t important from lecture. It can sometimes seem like a lot, but I actually feel like I am hanging on better than I even did in undergrad. I have done a lot of work on myself so that I would be able to kill it in law school, and I am already starting to see that pay off.
I hope to keep up the blog more consistently throughout law school. I have a lot on my plate, but deciding how much law school content to include was the biggest hurdle for me in finishing up this post. Until next time!
xx
Emily
