I have already noted this on Twitter but yes, today is Dick Van Dyke day, the day where we celebrate the birth of the man responsible for the genius moves to 'Step in Time' from Mary Poppins. Oh, and yes, lesser beings such as myself, who has yet to discover a sense of rhythm, was also born on this day. But, we're not calling it a *shhh* 'birthday'. If I'm still being ID'ed in Tesco's when buying a bottle of cheap Cava, turning another year older is NOT happening... this is all according to my brain of course.
So yes, Happy Dick Van Dyke day and whilst I may not have spiffy straw boater hats or stripy jackets or the most showbiz of grins to bring to the table, I do have this Clare Tough dress. Now let's talk about the Clare Tough sale... did ya go? Was it as good for you as it was for me? Held on one solitary day at Tough's studio, it epitomised what a good London sample sale should be. Lots of rails, plenty of stock going back through quite a few seasons, lots of banter between shoppers (in my case, I think I was encouraging everyone to buy whatever they had in their hands because I was in such a giddy mood...), actual samples that are one-offs and best of all, ridiculously low prices. £900 knitwear reduced to £70? Clare Tough present to talk you through how things should be worn? Bargain bins to rifle through? Yes please...
The only wee problem was knowing when to stop as there were so many pieces I could have scooped up in one big heap and declare to Tough at the till manically "I'm taking it all!". No, restraint was required and in addition to this dress, only two more pieces were bought. I say 'only two more' like 3+ pieces is in no way extravagant but believe me, if you were at the sale, I'm pretty sure everyone was wondering why they didn't exit the sale with at least ten things all bagged up.
This S/S 08 dress was the first thing I picked up just because I couldn't quite get over how amazing this is as a piece of textiles work... you have a marbled knitted dress as a foundation, speckled with red, blue and bits of blue like a piece of marbled paper. Then sitting on top of that is this black and white lattice work that is a mad network of scribbling. This is then all bound together with a velvet piping running up the zipper and some black ribbed edging. EJ of Style Salvage quite rightly said "Jackson Pollock in a dress" except the 'scribble' work looks a lot more meticulous. Woe upon the person (or perhaps it was Tough herself) who had to sew this lattice structure all together. Selfishly (and because it's Dick Van Dyke day), yay for me who gets to run hands over it and wear it out and about, trying very much to step in time.
