Which is only tangentially about print dresses

There's a new TK Maxx on Charing Cross Road! Across from Foyle's where Borders used to be, alas alas. Frankly Foyle's is an immeasurably superior bookshop, and if you're bookshopping on Charing Cross Road you should be checking out the independent places anyway -- the selection's more interesting and the books may be cheaper -- but the sad thing about Borders being gone is that they used to have a decent manga collection, and you could bring them up to Starbucks and spend the afternoon reading manga for the price of a coffee. Never again :(

Still, I'm not one to look a gift TK Maxx in the mouth, and this one is considerably pleasanter than the one on High Street Kensington. Better music and lots of boyfriend chairs (very important when you have a boyfriend who is happy to sit and read forever, but easily depressed by noise). Three floors -- women's on the ground floor, shoes and accessories on the first, and dudes' things on the third.

I tried on a black dress with a painting-like print of grey flowers. The print reminded me of the prints in Prada's pretty '50s-style collection:

Via Vogue

Though the cut was more like that of this charming vintage dress on Oxfam:

Vintage Parigi suit-style dress, £12.99

Sadly it was missing most of the buttons on its front, which made it gape alarmingly, and it was an XS -- too small for me.

Still, it was fun having a poke through the shop. What I like about TK Maxx is that it's a bit like charity shopping -- it's all about the unpredictability. I stuck my hand into a rack and pulled out this attractive shift dress with sailboat print:



Shift dresses and cute prints are my favourite things! "I wonder how much it costs," I said to myself, and checked the tag. It was Stella McCartney: discounted from £755 to a derisory £130. (Prices approximate, because ridiculous.)

"Eh, it's not that cute," I said, putting it back on the rack. I was totally lying: it was that cute. But who's got £130 to burn on a cute shift dress? I went across the road to Foyle's and bought the latest Scott Pilgrim instead.

- Zen