A few months back, I went on a shopping adventure with a friend of mine and she asked me, if I ever had to choose between fashion and science, which would I choose? As most of you know by now, I’m a marine biologist and I love my job. Like, get-up-and-be-stupid-excited-to-go-to-work kind of love. You know that feeling of discovery you had when you were a little kid? Being a scientist basically means that part of you never has to grow up. Although there’s a bit more red tape and bureaucracy involved than when I was digging up critters in my backyard and discovering the process of earthworm regeneration with childlike wonder, the basic idea is still the same.
But my love of science certainly doesn’t supersede my other love – vintage. Clothing with a history and a story. The feel of timeless elegance. Self celebration. That little girl inside me who used to gleefully dig up worms would get just as much joy out of dressing up in her mother’s wedding gown. Clomping around in her high heels and running my fingers over her beaded handbags. Of discovering the ways that clothing can make you feel like the best version of yourself. And that little girl who loves to play dress ups? Yeah, let’s just go ahead and nurture her too…
Adornment, what a science!
Coco Chanel
Perhaps the beauty of this point in time for me is that I don’t have to choose. I can have the best of both worlds. I suppose I choose to have both. I choose to skip to the lab in my vintage dresses and march right past the raised eyebrows. Maybe the most interesting part of the question was that it brought back a time when I believed it had to be an either/or choice. Fashion or Science. Pretty or Smart. Good or Evil. One or the Other. No sense of greyscale or the ability to recognize that, while life is full of choices, deciding which parts of yourself deserve to shine doesn’t have to be. Cause they are all deserving.
Without getting up on my soapbox about the whole “free to be you and me” concept (cause we all know I’ve gone there before), I hope you’re celebrating yourselves today. Every last weird and wonderful part. Letting your worlds collide a bit. Which is why today’s outfit photos took place right outside of my office. Celebrating my love of vintage right beside where the science occurs. Where my love of discovery occurs. Because it’s not science or fashion. It’s blissfully, wonderfully both.
xoxo
Outfit Details:
Dress: Word from the Bird (similar here, here, here)
Necklace: Magnolia (similar)
Belt: Anthropologie (similar here)
Handbag: c/o La Belle Vintage (similar here & here)
Shoes: Miss L Fire via Modcloth (similar here, here & here)
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