The Dressed Aesthetic

Posts Written ByThe Dressed Aesthetic

{Giveaway} Unlikely Pairs: Posies and Patisseries

{Giveaway} Unlikely Pairs: Posies and Patisseries - The Dressed Aesthetic

Sometimes, it’s all about an unlikely pairing. Peanut butter and jelly. Science and art. Denim and glitter. We have all of these ideas in our head that force a dichotomy – Pretty and smart. Naughty and nice. One or the other. Someone once told you that you have to choose. But once you really think about it and start to break them down – you realize the real magic is that they were meant to be together all along. Mixed and swirled until something uniquely you is created.

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{Review} Pool Shark: Cheers Street Billiard Box Bag

{Review} Pool Shark: Cheers Street Billiard Box Bag - The Dressed Aesthetic

I’ve never had an aptitude much for bar games. You know, things like darts or pinball. I always had high hopes for pool, given I fancied myself a science nerd (and we know pool is allll about the physics). But, no matter how many evenings were spent over a pint and a cue stick, I just never seemed to manage to do much more besides click the cue around the table (and occasionally off the table, as the case may be). 

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{Sewing} Rain or Shine

{Sewing} Rain or Shine - The Dressed Aesthetic

It’s definitely been a hot minute or two since I posted here. But I’ve found myself in that magical, nebulous period in between Christmas and New Year’s. You know what I mean – where we all seem content to turn into piles of goo and have a collective agreement to get nothing done. You can browse the sales, rewatch cute cat videos in your pajamas, hand sew a hem or two, and feel apathy towards anything productive.

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{Review} Strawberry Tarte

{Review} Strawberry Tarte - Vendula London : The Dressed Aesthetic

Have you ever had a weird obsession you just can’t explain? For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been completely charmed by clothing masquerading as fruit. Heels adored with lemon slices? Yes please! A necklace with a rhinestone apple? Sign me up! So when one of my favorite handbag companies Vendula London came out with their La Petite Creperie range, my eyes scanned the adorable shopfronts and zeroed in immediately on the bag approximating a strawberry tart.

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Spring Forward: Custom Made Magic With Jenny Dame

Spring Forward: Custom Made Magic With Jenny Dame - The Dressed Aesthetic

There is something sincerely magical about crossing the threshold into Spring. I suddenly find a new bounce in my step, an extra twirl in my skirt. The scent of the air is somehow better, and the birds chirp merrily as I make my way towards the end of the semester. And for whatever reason, that extra bit of sun shines a new perspective on things, reminding me of the many things I have to be grateful for.

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Tip Your Hat:
Meet Jana Katrina Millinery

Tip Your Hat: Meet Jana of Jana Katrina Millinery - The Dressed Aesthetic

Truth be told, I’ve always been a little intimidated by hats. For years I’ve struggled to find ones that suited me (and I still say I have an abnormally large head). When I do venture into the Land of the Great Chapeau, I tend more towards fascinators and headbands, which feel like the perfect mix of whimsey and glam (especially if they involve glitter).

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{Review} Shakespeare’s Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing

{Review} Shakespeare's Theatre: Much Ado About Nothing - The Dressed Aesthetic

I was a full-on theatre girl growing up (and why am I speaking in the past tense? I still am VERY much a theatre girl now). But, while these days my world is full of schedules and students and all of the science, I spent so much of my teen years and early 20’s on a stage. There is still something about the smell of a costume closet, or fresh paint and plywood, or the whooshing sound of a heavy velvet curtain that brings me right back. As strange as it may seem, I really found myself in the act…

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{Sewing} Kara in Paris

{Sewing} Kara in Paris - The Dressed Aesthetic

If you’ve been following for awhile, you know I tend to avoid things that are trending. Usually if something appears on a tv show (hello Carrie Bradshaw blue wedding heels) or is on every Influencer (ie, whatever the new It Girl handbag is), I avoid it like the plague. Perhaps it’s some form of reverse snobbery, but I definitely have an aversion to anything even slightly approaching popular, so deep is my commitment to an original style.

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Staycation Mode

Staycation Mode - The Dressed Aesthetic (Kitty Joseph Chroma Skirt)

I know what you’re thinking: “What?? An actual blog post?!?” Needless to say, it’s been more than a little quiet around here. So, why am I gracing these cyber pages with a splash of color, you ask? (or didn’t ask. But I have the microphone so….) Because I am officially on Spring Break! When you’re a professor, this doesn’t mean you and your 20 closest friends piling into a clown car headed for Daytona Beach. But it does mean time to breathe, time to sew, time to write a bit. A time where the endless demands blessedly cease and the…

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Something New

Pleated Paradise - The Dressed Aesthetic

Some fabrics are just destined to be pleated. It’s almost as if the print is one thing on its own, but she takes off her glasses and shakes out her pony tail, and becomes something entirely new once she’s pleated. I’ve decided to look at 2024 the same way. You might think it’s yet another year, but just fold and crease and press a bit, and it could turn into something unexpected.

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