Alison M. Reed sends this wonder in, saying: "I have always loved to dress up and am often the only one at work to wear both skirts and dresses on a regular basis (about 1/2 the time). My favorite period to dress as is a 1930's to 1940's style working woman. Love it. So here is my link. I found this dress while blindly searching for a dress to wear to a wedding and I found this lovely and still affordable dress. Yes I know that I cannot wear it, because it is most certainly white, but I did have visions of flirting about in it on the grass…. and it looks so lovely and delicate. Alas, it is also slightly too small for my frame."

You can't tell from this picture (click through for more) but it's made of dotted swiss. I am a big fan of old-style dotted swiss — the kind that is woven, not printed. So pretty! Right now you can only buy it, at great expense, from places that cater to those folks who make heirloom party dresses for little girls. But really, it's just as nice for grown-ups.

This would be a lovely informal wedding dress (for the bride, not a guest). It's only $100, so if this is your size (B34/W24), check it out.

This one from msbelle, who says: "Not only is it a fabulous 40s dress, but THE HAT! THE GLOVES!! And there is most certainly a story there, look at the face of model #2 in the flowered dress, she’s upset about something. The hands on hips alone is pretty clear body language: she has been wronged. And Ms. Hat sure does look pleased with herself, doesn’t she?"

Click on the image to go to the Ebay auction for the pattern.

Just because I couldn't wear this without looking like Margaret Dumont (not that there's anything wrong with that) doesn't mean it's not one of the loveliest dresses to ever grace a pattern envelope.

This is a contest submission from flea, who says "I like the lean shape but with the volume in the lower skirt, I find little cap sleeves very flattering, plus you get an attached platter collar, and are those pintucks at the throat? I also have a silly fondness for a dress with a zipper in the side seam. I can see this in a navy with while polka-dot, a dark red crepe for evening, or a pale purple linen (though oh, the ironing!)"

I second all those and add "a cream silk georgette with an abstract geometric design in brown … " To wear with your brown linen cloche and cream-and-brown spectator pumps, of course! Thanks, flea!

Click on the link to see the rest of the pattern envelope and a back view (the pleats are there, too). It's from the Vintage Vogue repro series.

This dress was submitted by TWO Dress A Day readers — can you see why?

Margaret says: "I love the shawl collar (which description says is a halter), the sheen of the fabric, and I think (if the top buttons were buttoned) the bodice would lay so smoothly. I adore both the pockets and the swoony full skirt. It reminds me of the elegant50s, not the 50s of the poodle skirt, but the 50s of the cocktail hour and piano bar and trousseaus. Yummy!"

Ladiva52 says: "Why do I love this particular dress? I love the bronze — a color without being too far out of my pretty much black-only wardrobe. A halter that is still demure, the collar is charming, a full skirt for the dance floor and, above all, pockets!"

They really knew how to push my buttons — full skirt, collar, and pockets! Good work!

So: same dress, two winners! I went back into my Closet of Doom and realized that I made yet another dress from the same pattern as the contest dress, so Ladiva52 can get that one, if she likes. It's a very soft mouse-gray faille, with a much longer skirt. (Margaret emailed the link first, so she wins the actual prize.) Will you both send me your mailing addresses, please?

All of the links sent were astounding, so I'm going to post them over the next week. There will be runners-up prizes. Watch this space!

This just makes me SO DAMN PROUD to be an AMERICAN.

I don't know whether the fact that this is intended to be a Jon-Benet-style pageant outfit is an excuse or further proof of damnation. Click on the link to go to the site, where there are many other fantastic examples of this kind of thing. Man, this woman can sew! Who will make her use her powers for good, and not for evil?

Confidential to Mr. Dress A Day: Happy Anniversary!

Why? I can hear you asking. It's an adorable dress, right? Well, yes, yes, it is. Absolutely adorable.

However: it's rayon. It's $158. It's at one of those pretentious online boutiques that only carries clothes up to a (small) size 10. (Click on the image if you want to go there, but don't say I didn't warn you. )

It's a great dress, though. Check out the little tucks that take up the fullness at the bust, especially. There's a melon.jpgnk colorway, too, although not a blue one, which I would have thought would be a no-brainer. A silver-gray and charcoal one, too, would have been quite elegant.

I don't wear spaghetti straps and I'm wondering if this colorblocking would work as well with the pattern at right (Vogue 9668). In a lightweight cotton, right? With the center-front seam skirt replaced by a circle skirt, of course … and after changing the single underbust dart to a soft gather. This pattern is lined, but I've always made it unlined, and finished the sleeves and the neck with bias tape or a facing, depending on the fabric weight.

I'll add it to the running list of Future Dresses that lives in my head …

I just bought this on Ebay, while ostensibly doing research for today's post. Ahem. It's not the world's greatest picture, but what a cool dress! I'm thinking of doing pin-on buttons so that I could change them at will.

I probably wouldn't wear it with the scarf. It's just so perfectly 2001: A Space Odyssey without it. The temptation to make this in white double-knit is strong. However, I'm thinking — blue or black denim! With red topstitching! And a bandanna scarf! It would also be cute in bright green twill. Right? Right.

Can't wait to see how this is put together. I haven't made one like this (with no waist seam) in a while; we'll see how it goes.

In her Dada Poem Wedding Dress, Lesley Dill presents one of her enigmatic paper dresses, stamped with an image of a real biological heart (a votive) amongst black letters (Dada-style, in that the varied size and boldness of the typography suggest sound), which spell out what is only implied in Hawarden's corseted dresses: Dickinson's "The Soul has Bandaged Moments". A dip at the waist gives way to a body (there and not there), with the words "MOMENTS OF ESCAPE." Up and down the sleeves, letters straight and reversed (looking-glass-style) puff out and suck in the heaves and sighs of "THE SOUL HAS BANDAGED MOMENTS." The tight fit of the dress's bodice, coupled by its impossible wedding-dress train, gathers paper whispers of inescapable dirt and tears yet to come. This "aloof beauty" can do nothing more than wait for her dirt to be collected, wait for the rips to mar her perfection. Loose threads tangle their way off the skirt's hem and at the wrists–inviting the shredding, the ruining yet to take place. They catch me in pain with each inconceivable step, with each unforgiving gesture, like tendrils of hair caught on an unfastened hook and eye. Minuteness is all.

from Becoming: The Photographs of Clementina, Viscountess Hawarden

Mina's dress from the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. Click on the picture to go to the site where you can order a custom reproduction gown from a movie. Examples on the site include Somewhere in Time, Ever After, Titanic, and (of course) Star Wars. (Amidala, not the Leia Slave Girl Costume. If you want that, go here. Not quite sure that last link is SFW. Or actually a dress, but hey.)

The Mina-dress maker says she's happy to work with you to get you what you want, even if you don't see your favorite movie on her site. So perhaps my fantasy of having all the Doris Day outfits from That Touch of Mink can become reality, after all …

So cute. So cool. So bright! (Bright is good. Not everything has to be a neutral color, you know.)

At $85, this is fairly reasonably priced for vintage. I've seen stuff much worse than this go for more than $100.

Click on the link to see the back view, and while you're at it, check out the rest of this guy's site — some things seemed to be really cheap! (Haven't purchased from him myself, so can't say anything about quality.) The site is not so fun to navigate, though, so pick a time when you're not in a hurry or cranky … Guys (and I know there's one or two of you reading this, it's okay, I'm glad you're here) check out the Men's 40s and 50s selection because there's an excellent gray wool car coat there …