One that got away. Step into an idealized past through these open windows. You're in a 1950's dream of Paris in the 1890's. You might see Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline and her school chums, or find yourself magically transformed into Cyd Charisse. You never thought you could kick so high, or that your office cubicle could become a beatnick hideaway.

Well, that's my attempt at a J. Petermanesque description of this dress. I'll try harder next time. In a recent post, I referred to the catalogue as defunct. I now discover that this is not true. Just like with everything else (me included), it's now online.

This dress just appeared on my radar yesterday and has already been siezed. I am happy to admire it from afar. I couldn't resist posting it because of the blue bricks. They border on abstraction, but still indicate a wall, forming a framework for the windows to pop out of. I wish I could see what is in all the different windows, but the sample photos where not that exhaustive. Perhaps this is a Rear Window dress, where you might witness a murder in one of them? Or perhaps just Alfred Hitchcock playing the bassoon.

Has anyone done an Alfred Hitchcock novelty print? Maybe Witness for the Prosecution? I'd just love to have a dress that evokes the feeling of Marlene Dietrich saying: "Want to kiss me, ducky?"

This dress yearns to be a time machine. I would wear this dress to see Circus Contraption, which is something of a time machine itself. The Seattle-based circus troupe combines aerial and trapeeze work with a band perhaps best described as Tom Waits' grandfather working the midway. Their current show is based upon the dime museum and oddities abound. Their CD even holds its own without the visuals. I've been listening to it for the past week. I find that I am especially moved by the whistling solo on "Over the Rails".

Would it be possible to collect a whistled version of all my favorite songs? I'm a substandard whistler myself so I need to find readymades as opposed to recording them myself. I once heard a version of "Girl From Ipanema" (possibly my favorite tune) with a whistling solo (is there a better term for that?) by a Japanese samba orchestra. All the googling in the world has not unearthed that one. Sighs. Another one that got away.