Up for Auction: A World Trade Center paper dress

I've seen a number of extraordinary paper dresses: showing Warhol's Campbell's Soup print, for example, and another touting Nixon for President.

But this one tops them all. Isn't it ironic that dresses like these, meant to be the ultimate in disposable fashion, wind up becoming objects to preserve at all cost . . .

(WTC paper dress, Lot No. 1372, to be auctioned tomorrow, October 26th by Kerry Taylor Auctions, London. If you're interested, get in touch with them here, right now).

Why I Love Ebay, Part 2

It's not often that fashion leaves me gobsmacked, as the Brits so charmingly say. But get this. People who know costume history have usually heard of paper dresses: disposable, fluttery, A-line sheaths that emerged as a brief but surprisingly popular fad in the late 1960s. You see them in museum collections, for sale in retro shops, and occasionally up on eBay.

I did some digging and learned quite a bit. According to Samantha Marcelo's fantastic article on the history of the paper dress, all sorts of varieties were introduced after the initial basic model proved such a strong seller. 

In a stroke of genius, one company even embedded seeds in the fabric. You watered it, they sprouted, and presto, you become a mobile Chia pet.  

Fashion designers: get busy. This is one revival that's long overdue.