madewell – PhD in Clothes

The search for reasonable clothes to work from home in: My virtual work uniform flowchart

I wrote this post in December after a solid semester of working from home every Thursday and Friday. I didn’t hit publish on it at the time, but given world events I am now getting even more familiar with my work from home wardrobe. Even better, I’ve narrowed my work-from-home getting dressed approach down to a simple decision tree. Consider this my flow chart of what to wear in the morning…

A review of all my Madewell jeans

Before I started purchasing jeans at Madewell, most of my jeans came from Forever 21. That meant they cost $25 (pro) but also that they were rarely long enough and usually didn’t fit the way I wanted (con….). Then I switched to Gap jeans ($60) and thought they were a lot better, but still not perfect. So today I’m here to answer the question “should I splurge on Madewell jeans?” which is something I have only done in the last 2 years or so. The answer: depends on what you want! I have the Madewell slim boyjean, the skinny skinny high riser, the road tripper, and the 8″ rise skinny jean, so I thought I would just review them all at once here!

How I buy Madewell items for less

I’ll keep it brief: Madewell is my favorite store. Almost every item I see makes me do grabby hands and say “I want to go to there.” But, Madewell is also a little too expensive for my life. Here are some ways I find it cheaper and on sale.

1) 30% off clearance

At the end of every season, Madewell does a week or so where you can take an extra 30% off clearance items–this is standard for so many retailers, but Madewell keeps the sale rare enough that I actually jump on it when I get the email. And it’s happening right now. Here are my current picks:

Christmas ootd. Happy day everyone!

Busted out the first sweater of Fall today

Spring 10×10

Day 3 of Spring 10×10: Today is a teaching day, but my students are doing an in-class workshop, which equals JEANS WHILE TEACHING! in my opinion. Colorado is a pretty casual place so I think teaching in jeans is okay, but I’m not sure this is true at other universities/in other regions. Does anyone teach somewhere where you are always business casual?

Today, I cheated. These shoes are not part of my 10 picks. But I realized that gray and tan is not a good combo and I needed some shoes with a cooler base to make it work. I really like this outfit, though–it feels pulled together even though I didn’t really do anything, besides pick things with cool textures while shopping.

Ootd featuring spring break and being too tall and having to choose between the top of my head and my shoes.

Spring outfit ideas

Kind of spring

How to avoid looking like an undergrad in grad school

Is this a common grad school anxiety? I think it is. If you’ve come straight out of your undergrad, you probably want to look older so that you don’t get hit on by some guy in the dining hall line who asks, “so, are you a freshman?” (#truestory). Some ideas:

-Messenger bag or tote>backpack. Some suggestions.

-Mix one business casual piece in with your casual wear (in this case, oxfords).

-Sweat pants/workout clothes are awesome and you have every right to wear them but they may increase the risk of the aforementioned junior-guy-hits-on-you scenario.

-Glasses have been shown to boost your perceived credibility.

You could also just decide you don’t care if someone mistakes you for an undergrad! But on days when you do care, the above can be helpful.