Delft-y

Vintage blue travel print dress, thrifted Christian Dior scarf, Anthropologie Ocean Tubes necklace

Ah...at last, a full-on summer heatwave.  I love it!  I have two favourite strategies for keeping cool (and hopefully looking less frazzled)- wearing cold mints and blues, or the alternative, which is embracing hot, hot intenso blasts of colour.  Both are great!

I pulled this vintage travel-print dress out of a pile at the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam (for 5 euro!)  Though the print may be more Italianate in character, the Delft-y porcelain tones are all Dutch to me! This dress has been obviously much loved over the years, with delicatedly darned patches where holes have formed in the soft, soft cotton.  It's slightly large for me, but that makes it just a touch more comfortable when it's hot, hot, hot.

I indulged in a little milk-maid styling since my hair is now just long enough to coax into a semblance of braids.  I have had super long hair in the past, but sadly it doesn't gain much more volume than this.  I think I'll try and stick with the mid-length hair for a bit before chopping it all off again!

So, for year, I've been steadfastly proclaiming my dislike of pale blues, asserting that though I may relent to other tones (pinks and lavenders and even a touch of purple) a soft sky blue could never be for me- yuck, so weak and colourless!  Well, after flirting with navy last year, plus a healthy dose of chambray, and coupled with an entire spectrum of mint tops, I now find myself appreciating this colour for the first time in my life.  weird!  I blame it on the porcelain prints.

Once I'd let the colour in, I started thinking about all the pieces I'd missed out on over the years (oh, Mompos dress...) and so I allowed myself this bit of vintage whimsy from Etsy.  It's divinely soft and quite wonderful in the heat. Okay, now there really are no colours outside my comfort zone!  Can my closet afford it?