Sunny California.

I'm in Pasadena, it's 70 degrees outside, and there are palm trees, and azaleas in bloom, and roses everywhere. (Not to mention fish tacos.) Considering I left a frigid, gray Chicago where the appearance of a single wind-scoured snowdrop was cause for jubilation, can you fault me for rubbing it in a little?

This dress is 100% pure California, to me. It's all of old-Hollywood sex appeal distilled into five yards of fabric. (Thanks to Li in Malaysia for the link!) It's from Whirling Turban. There are no prices on the site, so I emailed them for their price list, which is a TEN PAGE WORD DOCUMENT. But it's worth reading, because for what you get, their prices seem very reasonable, and there's a ton of valuable information about what body types will be best suited by which dress -- I think it's a good sign when a business doesn't say "Oh, sure, we can please everyone!" because, of course, that's impossible. Better to say right out "This doesn't work for a D cup" than to get the D-cup's hopes up, and deal with the angry D-cup returns. It's much less "buyer beware" than "buyer make an informed decision."

Anyway. Prices. It looks like most of their list will set you back about $200, although some styles are much less. They also say that they welcome special orders and requests, so if you have something you want copied, or sewn up from a pattern, it might be worth dropping them a line and seeing what you can work out.

Seventy degrees. Roses. Dresses like this. Mmmm, California.