I knew it. I just knew there was a delftware tile print out there. Or maybe my fantasy about it on Weds. Oct 18th was enough to conjure it up. But there’s only 35” by 36” of it. Alas, not enough to make a shirtwaist dress. Next time I will have to dream bigger.

I would not wear my delftware frock with wooden shoes. Mostly because wooden shoes are uncomfortable. I would pair it with earrings made of blue and white porcelain though. I’d probably add a wide sash or cummerbund in a lovely blue Indonesian batik with touches of copper, just to comment on Dutch colonialism and exploitative ventures of those ships in the print.

Does anyone remember Van De Kamp’s Bakery? Van De Kamp’s was a Dutch bakery chain in Los Angeles, now defunct. They even had neon windmills. Being a native Angelina, I remember the blue and white uniforms, topped by the peaked white lace Dutch cap (what on earth are those called?). They seemed magical to me as a kid, though in practice maybe they were demeaning to wear. But then as a kid I also liked the wench-themed cocktail waitress uniforms at the Jolly Roger, a pirate themed Denny’s-type chain with a full bar. I remember telling my mother that I wanted to be a cocktail wench to wear that outfit when I grew up. This made her really mad. I remember the word she used was “demeaning”. Poor mom was cocktailing at the time at a place called Ireland's 32. Costumey servers uniforms have gone the way of the 3 martini lunch, probably for the best. But is wearing a logo-ed baseball cap and golf shirt really all that much better?