My latest flame

I've always been a terrible one for fads. Since last summer I have been very much taken with tie neck blouses and dresses.

Here are three vintage examples from the early 1960s. They tick all the boxes for me: tie neck, abstract print, murky colours, button-through. The middle one came first and I wore it backwards for a while: it wasn't until I noticed the darts that I realised the tie and buttons (on this one) should be at the back.

I do like those "pussy blow" blouses that have had a revival over the past couple of years, but nowhere near as much as I love these.

As if by magic, the shopkeeper appeared

Walking along the street today I saw a woman with a clothes rail. Right there in the middle of the busy pavement with all the people passing by.

There was a psychedelic A-line shift on the rail, the woman told me she was selling the dress on behalf of her friend in Germany and that the friend had made it for herself. I bought the dress and when I came back along the street she was gone. No sign that she had ever been there.

Great dress though, but not home made at all.