Feeling majestic? A panoramic circle skirt with views of the grand canyon is available from Vintage Lucy (http://stores.ebay.com/Vintage-Lucy) . It's got a 25 inch waist, though the seller notes that it could be easily let out. The starting bid is $245 (ouch!). Miss Lucy has a number of nice novelty print items, and not all of them are quite that tiny or pricey.

Now normally I run in the opposite direction whenever I see Americana prints, for reasons both political and aesthetic. I made an exception in this case since the Grand Canyon is simply naturally occuring in the United States through no fault of its own. While there is no consensus on the 7 wonders of the natural world, the Grand Canyon appears to be on every proposed list. This has me fantasizing about a skirt printed with Mount Everest (complete with sherpas), or Victoria Falls. Or a shirt-waist dress with all 7 wonders of the ancient world. I would settle for a repeat print of the Colossus of Rhodes, the Lighthouse of Alexandria or the Great Wall of China.

Just contemplating that brought about a cinematic dream sequence of a novelty print showing the Library of Alexandria on fire intercut with text from Ray Bradbury's Farenheit 451. Or maybe even stills from the 1966 Truffaut adaptation. I'd print it on a poly-cotton blend, turn it into a shift dress and sew a label in it that says "Dystopia". I'd wear it whenever my world gets too Orwellian.

Okay, back to the dream within the dream and the novelty print at hand: As always it is hard to see the actual colors in the photo, but if that is sky blue I see in the water and above the cliffs, I would pair this skirt with a light blue blouse. I would wear it on days with fine weather when I am trapped indoors. In short, on a day very much like today.

I'd be sorely tempted to pair this skirt with one of those plastic (or were they fiberglass?) purses from the early 80's that look like rocks. I've trawled all over Internetlandia in search of one but haven't found anything (not for sale, not even for derision.) But this brings up a very important topic: can a novelty print item of clothing be paired with a complementary novelty handbag without implosion from cuteness factor?