Five Bamboo, Thank You!

My dear readers, perhaps you will indulge me just one post about my closet.  I realize that in theory, this is a food blog and in theory, I post recipes.  In fact, I hope that the very next thing I share with you, after this post, will be a recipe because I still like food.  I’m sure you do too.  I even have something in the oven right this minute and it’s smelling really delicious.  I hope the taste lives up to the smell!  If it does, I’ll tell you about it soon.

Today’s post is a story about my closet, my transition out of graduate school, and a sweet little company in Seattle called Five Bamboo.  Two years ago (give or take a few months), I started a new job and a new phase in my professional life.  For the first time, I was a professional, a professional scientist.  I jumped into my new job with gusto, embracing my new status as a postdoc.  My closet, however, was still that of a graduate student who liked to shop at thrift stores and who liked to save money.  It was also the closet of a woman who lived in the Great White North, where it’s winter six months a year.  I had a pretty awesome collection of sweaters, and I was a pro at wearing layers to keep warm.

Then I moved to Texas, and suddenly, a closet that had once seemed perfectly satisfying was lacking some oomph.  I needed more warm-weather clothing that was stylish, work-appropriate, and made me feel good when I wore it.  While wandering around the internet, I came across a style blog, then another one, and another, and I landed at What Would a Nerd Wear, who told me about Five Bamboo.  One visit to their website, and I was sold.  Or a dress was sold.  To me.  I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.

I fell pretty hard for Five Bamboo because they offered me two things I wanted: beautiful clothing that feels good to wear, even in the hottest days of a Texas summer, and responsible consumerism.  I’ve written before about Five Bamboo’s sustainably made bamboo fiber clothing.  Now, after several months of wearing and washing their clothes, I can say that the pieces I’ve bought are in regular rotation in my closet, and they are holding up well.

Today I thought I’d share a few photos from my Five Bamboo collection, as a way to say thank you to a wonderful company and to encourage you to check out their stuff.

That’s actually not me, wearing that orange dress.  This lovely is my sister, Theresa, and she’s wearing the Elusive dress in papaya.  I also own this dress and love it.  When I wear it, I feel a bit like a creamsicle, in the best way.  I love how Theresa added blue accents to the dress—the combination looks very fresh and summery.

Okay, this weirdo is me.  Here I’m wearing the Artemis dress in applewax green, which is the first piece I bought from Five Bamboo.  This summer, I’ve really gotten into scarves, and I love how the yellow scarf plays against the green dress.

Here I am again, pretending to be a chic model.  Most of my outfit is from Target, but underneath my white cardigan I’m wearing a shelf tank in raspberry red.  When I ordered the Elusive dress, Five Bamboo sent me the tank as a thank-you for mentioning them on my blog, and I was really touched by the kind gesture.  I’m not the kind of blogger who gets much in the way of free stuff, so it’s a thrill when it does happen.  I wasn’t expecting it!  I also wasn’t sure how I would wear this tank, but I love how it came together here, a bold splash of color to tie together the pale cardigan and skirt.  Also, these photos were taken in front of one of my favorite modern buildings on campus, which happens to be a great place to take self-portraits.

And finally, this is what I’m wearing today.  I bought the flowered top ages ago at Marshall’s, but I was never quite comfortable wearing it because it’s too loose in the top.  Finally I figured out that I could wear a close-fitting tank underneath and let the flowery top be loose and flowing without worrying about spillage.  Here the shelf tank is providing coverage and support and a little bit of complexity in the form of an additional layer.  I’m happy with how this turned out because now I can wear a blouse I always liked, in theory, but could never wear in practice!

And now, I must turn my attention to matters of the belly.  Happy weekend, everyone, and do hop over to Five Bamboo’s site to check out their awesome goods!