Dreaming in Watercolor

I first saw this image on Miss White’s blog some time ago while I was waiting impatiently for my Vogue UK to be imported.

I love the watercolory pink-and-ceramic print, the snug belted waist, the chunky beads, the headdress, the socks, the shoes—it all looks just right. Of course it doesn’t hurt to have those strikingly wilted colors echoed in the surroundings—the open pink sack, the lavender sack the model’s sitting on, the jolt of pink running through her basket-weave.

I went straight to Marni’s online shop to locate this skirt and top and this is what I found:

I must say, I was underwhelmed. The shape of the dress is so boxy, with the sleeve cut at just what I’d call the universally least flattering length. (Top and skirt = sold out.)

(Sidenote: watch Tom Cruise in summer interviews. His peeps know exactly what cut of t-shirt sleeve to put on him and his bicep is usually flexed a la Rodin's "The Thinker" to show it off.)

There’s no showing off anything in this dress sleeve. I’d be rolling it up to stop my sartorial squirming from the unseemliness of it all.

I did find one wearable “top,” though, in my print of choice: this (very) low-backed tank:

There’s a minor issue of support, with such a plunging back, but if there weren’t, I could see this as wearable, with the right “this-old-thing” skirt, trouser, or even shorts.

So it’s back to the dreaming board, which is exactly where I feel like being right now.