Bring the smelling salts, goslings, for I am undone by this print. Absolutely undone.

The background of grey text is not easy to read in this closeup. I can only make out "Chevalier de, "Chasse Grand" and "Apres", and what look like perhaps Roman numerals for the year. But there they are, striding over the letters, these nattily dressed little Bonapartistes, with canes and plumes. Faithfully drawn in a style to mimic etchings of the time period, the ladies promenade with soldiers in smart uniforms. The figures are whimsical enough on their own, but together with the text, this is one of the most unusual prints I've seen in quite a while.

And to delight me even more, the fabric is lightweight polyester, the silky sort. Maybe even the kind that can go in the washing machine without complaint.

But, of course, it's too small for me. Oh, I thought of cutting it in half and just wearing the skirt but that would be wrong. Utterly wrong. The print would be less remarkable if it was relegated to a mere skirt or a blouse. I've seen blouses and skirts from the early 70s with some very lovely print reproductions of old etchings (even along with mod text graphics like this one), but never a 50s-styled shirtwaist dress with a full skirt. It is its very dressness, its all-overness that thrills. Go get it now.

If only I could collect the most outré and eye searing of 70s print fabrics and re-print them on silk. And then make a series of 50s dresses out of them. Is there a grant for this somewhere? A slush fund for people with lots of ideas but no hope of deliverability?

Did I mention that this dress is overwhelmingly inexpensive? $7.99 BIN!