Shift Dress, Crazy 1960s Birds

FROM CANDY DARLING'S CLOSET

What? Really? That print is... Some kind of wading sea bird in brown stepping all around many piles of... Of... Well it is, isn't it? Hilarious, ridiculous, surreal. A talking point for any party. It's a simple A-line shift shape with a couple of darts at the bust and a piecrust trim at the crew neck. There's a generous 4" in the hem if you want it longer. It's size 8, but it's more a 6. By The Vested Gentress, hand screened. 

Measurements: bust 36", hip 38", shoulder 14", length 38"

STORY: This is by the small quirky husband-and-wife firm called The Vested Gentress that operated in Pennsylvania from 1961 to the mid-1980s, whose hand-screened animal-centric prints were the work of Bud Jackson, the husband. In fact I'm not completely sure this is not later than the 1960s, because the styles didn't change very much. I had to get this, for obvious print reasons, but it should really be worn, and it looks dreadful on me, being both white and shifty.