A FINNISH FROCK

Anti-clutter wisdom has it that if you don't wear a thing for a year, throw it out because you're never going to wear it again. For the most part, this is true but not for this dress.

I have had it almost forever. I did not wear it last year but I did the year before and who knows, maybe it will get an airing this year.

It has been to a wedding at Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, it has been on a plane from San Francisco to New York, indeed on a plane from New York to Prestwick where it proved too skimpy for the chill air. It has, of course, been to garden parties, lawn lunches and at home as a quick cover-up.

Its Mondrian-like design is not for the faint hearted but even when faint of heart, I've never tired of it.

It was made by Marimekko in Finland many years ago. This is a firm that began in 1952 and quickly became known for its brilliant fabrics. (The dress is not that old, I assure you.) I used to have other Marimekko dresses but since they were short, and since I almost never wear dresses now, they have been caught up in clear-outs. I'm sort of sorry, now. I was reminded of Marimekko by Nina54 who went out and bought a dress there only a day or two ago. She sent me the link for it and I spent a happy time there looking, not so much at the dresses but more at the wonderful bath and bedroom stuff.

I was too idle to blot out the evidence of hanger slung onto a wardrobe. The dress is not yellowed at the top. That's ceiling light versus window light on the rest of the dress.