Madelene sent me the link to this dress (thanks, Madelene!) and I like it very much. I'm not sure if I'd wear it — okay, who am I kidding, I'd wear it, it's got a Peter Pan collar and pockets — although I'd feel better about it if it were red with pink accents, and not mostly that pink. I'm starting to feel a little long in the tooth for pink AND Peter Pan collars AND pintucks.

I looked up the designer — Ashleigh Verrier — and found out that she's 1) 23 and 2) her mother is her muse. So what does that mean? Is this dress for 23-year-olds, or for people who could be the mothers of 23-year-olds? (I did the math, and even at the limit of biological possibility, I could not yet be the mother of a 23-year-old.) Her collection (click on the image for the slideshow) isn't bad. And according to New York magazine, her thesis collection was picked up by Saks last year.

I do like this dress, but I think it's not quite there yet. It's still a little too predictable. It's a great shape, but I would like this better in a wild chiffon print, or in a lightweight wool bouclé. What if the hems on the skirt and sleeves were left ragged, or were intentionally made ragged with bias chiffon? What if, instead of tucks, there were lace inserts? There's a lot more that could be done with this dress, to move it a bit more away from April Cornell.

I love this dress, and I hate both 1) polyester (oh, sorry, "Crimplene") and 2) purple, so you know this is true love.

This is from a site with the punning name "Beehive Yourself," and I think it might be Australian, which makes the pun make more sense, because try to say that in a fakey Aussie accent. No, go ahead, I'll wait. See? Click the image to see all the gory details (unless you are too busy STILL saying "beehive yourself" in that "no, THIS is a KNOIFE" accent).

Anyway, the designer, Prue Acton, was Australia's Mary Quant. You see, kids, before the Internet, each widely separated geographical area … ah, never mind. Now I wish I had a search tool that would let me search [name of place]'s [name of famous person] to see how many funny combos I'd get. I'd also like to see dresses from Japan's, Bulgaria's, and Canada's Mary Quants! Any help?

For some reason (perhaps the towering stack of work, the 150+ emails to deal with [not to read, to DEAL WITH, we're talking the dreaded "action items," people], the planning for yet another week of travel) I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed today. So I'm just going to look at this Marc Jacobs silk shirtdress (with Peter Pan collar) and take deep cleansing breaths. I'm not going to think about how it's nearly my size (B34, so it'd be a leeetle tight), "only" $500 (for Marc Jacobs?), or about how I actually have a vintage pattern very similar to this one and could do it in better fabric if I had just four extra hours today. Nope. I'm just going to look at it (I wish the pictures were better, click on this one to visit the designerexposure.com site and see other views) and take deep breaths.

I suggest you do the same …

As promised, a scan of the Darth Vader silk fabric I bought in Beijing. The Darth heads are about the size of a quarter.

I only bought two meters, because, although the temptation to make a hugely full-skirted 1950s shirtdress out of this stuff was nearly overwhelming, how many times could I actually wear it? (Keep in mind that I have very little Star Wars interest; haven't been to a comics convention; have never, not even as a little girl, dressed as Princess Leia, etc.)

So what I'm actually thinking of making is a nice skirt with a contour waistband, lined in black habotai. I'm going to edge the hem in picot trim, to give it some weight that it badly needs. And I'll use the leftovers to make a Darth Vader bow tie for my little boy. He's very excited.

For some reason, no matter how long I looked at the bolt, I didn't see any "TM George Lucas" on this anywhere! Go figure.

I'm back!

Okay, so my mad Photoshop skillz are never going to win me the b3ta challenge [warning: that link often nsfw], but I needed to crop the other views off this pattern envelope (click on the image to find out why).

Oh, never mind, I'll tell you — it's because one of the other views comes with "dance pants," that's why. Do you know what "dance pants" are? It's a euphemism for "this dress is so freakin' short you have to make matching underwear." And the thought of that nearly ruins this dress for me, and this dress is not so bad. Even if I did drag it out of a comic-book longbox labeled "BAD 70s PATTERNS".

Anyway. Imagine this dress with narrow sleeves, done in tissue wool jersey in a deep jewel color, possibly with a contrasting silk sash, because that's what I'm imagining, and this is my guided meditation, okay? Got that in your mind's eye? Good. Now relax, breathe, and enjoy this image. Don't think about the dance pants. Damn. Sorry about that.

I'm sorry if you are coming to this blog looking for a respite from the horrifying Katrina news. There's nothing I can say about Katrina and its aftermath that hasn't been said better, by other, smarter folks, but here's one thing I hope people think about: many areas of the country, not just the Gulf Coast areas, are going to be affected as gas prices go up and up and stay high. When you need to buy gas to get to work, that money has gotta come from somewhere, because in 99% of this country, public transport is not an option. Biking to work is not an option. Walking to work is certainly not an option.

I am seeing posts all over the internet asking "Where can I send food, where can I send clothes and bedding and toys to the folks hit by Katrina?" And many organizations are saying "Thanks, but we need cash." But — poor people, just as poor as those left behind to suffer in New Orleans, are going to be hit by a gas price hurricane, right where you live, wherever you live. So, please: think about making regular donations, every month of this year, to the local food pantry. Clean out your closets and give those warm clothes you never wear to a local charity — bonus points for giving business clothes to The Bottomless Closet and other work-enabling charities.

We don't have gas stamps. The Salvation Army doesn't have a gas kitchen. There's no Gas for Families with Dependent Children. There's no Gas for Tots program at Christmastime. If you want gas, you have to have money. High gas prices are going to take a big chunk out of the pockets of the people who can least afford it. Rising gas prices are going to mean hungry and cold people all winter long.

I am not talking about gas companies' profits, or gouging, or whatever. I am not talking about whether gas prices should be high, to discourage people from driving, or to encourage public transit, or whatever. Sure, people like me can drive less, walk more, conserve. For other people, the choice isn't between a job far away and a job close by: the choice is between a job far away or no job. That's not a choice. The single mom who has to drive to the suburbs to work or else her kids need to spend three hours before AND after school in care? That's not a choice.

So, please, give what money you can to Katrina relief now. But please also make a resolution to give what you can to your local charities, now and all winter long. I've just put a repeating reminder in my calendar on the 29th of each month for the next year, to remember to see what I can give on that day. Call it Katrina Donation Day.

So, after being in China a few days, I am completely obsessed with the gorgeous, slim, almost-but-not-quite traditional dresses I am seeing on the street. Where on earth these women are getting these dresses, I have no idea, as every place I've been has been a tourist nightmare of rayon satin, but hey. They're allowed to keep their sources a secret from me.

However, the internet, as always, provides. Check this one out, at chinasprout.com. So pretty, so inexpensive ($42!), so orange! (I like orange. There also seems to be a blue one I couldn't edit out. Blue's just … okay.)

Oh, and folks, you're gonna love this. Dress a Day reader Eevin Hartsough sent me this link: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/fold.php. [warning: flash animation] Fold a shirt in two counterintuitive and swooping movements! It's fun and provides a tremendous sense of accomplishment (okay, it did after I practiced it a few times). If you don't feel joy upon seeing this you might need a joy recalibration. See your doctor.

Okay, so I've been thinking about a more 1970s look for this fall — narrow-shouldered dresses in deep jewel tones with vee necklines, bell skirts, defined midriffs, and bohemian trims — but just in case I come to my senses and remember that I'm nowhere near tall enough to pull those off, I bought this.

Click on the image to go to Miss Helene's Vintage Sewing Shoppe on Ebay — lots of nice patterns, nicely priced, too. Maybe you'll find the 1970s pattern I was looking for.

I probably won't go back to the Yuanlong Embroidery and Silk Store in Beijing today and buy four more meters of the Darth Vader mask print silk (I only bought two meters), so that I can make the dress on the left in Darth! Vader! Silk! I mean, I'm pretty sure I won't do that, as hysterical as it sounds to me right now. I'm mostly sure.

So. It seems that not only can I get online in Beijing, but I can do it from the comfort of my hotel room. (Also, I need to keep myself awake for another hour or so unless I want to be really screwed tomorrow, jet-lag-wise.) Here's a cute dress that's listed on eBay right now. Click on it to bid. (B33)

It's in a lot of four patterns, but this one is the cutest one. Go ahead and check out the other ones, but you'll see that I'm right.

I love cheongsam dresses: they're so pretty and elegant and fairly easy to wear (except for the no-pockets thing). This one in particular I adore — it's cotton, so easier to wear than the usual silk/rayon versions, and it's in a big English-roses print, which is another step away from the traditional. There's a brown colorway, too, which looks even more like a sofa. (That's a good thing, in my opinion. I like upholstery prints.)

Click on the link to buy it; I'm really tempted because it's only $35! But I won't buy it today, because I leave for China in a hour or two and who knows what cheongsams I might find there?

Yep, that's right, I'll be gone through Labor Day. (For work, not pleasure, but how can I avoid taking pleasure in a trip to China?)

If I have internet access I will update from the Forbidden City. Otherwise, this space will remain static until Sept. 5. Aren't you glad you have this dress to look at until then?