The extra-special special-occasion dress.

I love imagining the lives my vintage pieces enjoyed before I found 'em. Often, when scrounging in a thrift store or at a garage sale, I'll think to myself: "Hello, 1920s fedora. Perhaps you sat atop a gangster's head as he slung shots over a dame with gams." Or: "Hello, pink polyester box suit. Somebody's drunk aunt threw up on you at a wedding."

The best stories, though, usually come with custom-made garments. I mention this because today's piece is a Pamela Armer, and I happen to know that she is a dressmaker who makes one-of-a-kinds. (I heard she's retiring now, how sad.)

Anyway, my mind went crazy with stories of the original owner when I saw the label on this dress. I could picture the young woman - elegant, slender - walking into the store, a hibiscus flower in her hair. She tells Pamela: "I need a special dress. You see, one balmy summer evening, a few weeks from now, I shall be singing sultry Nina Simone songs at sunset at an open air jazz festival on the beach. On my birthday. Then, my boyfriend is going to propose to me in front of the entire crowd, and I'll say yes. Then, we'll be picked up from the stage by a helicopter and flown to Switzerland, where I'll accept my Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Then I'm having dinner with my future in-laws. Then we might drop by the Oscars. So: have you got a suitable design?"

Or, y'know, maybe it was ordered by the staff of a rich socialite who never wore it.

Either way, it sure is purdy! It features autumnal shades in the softest silk/satin, exquisitely cut with all the floaty sex appeal of a Marilyn Monroe vent dress. (Seriously. This dress has a boob-enhancing halter PLUS gam-friendly cut. Stand on a vent in it and you'll get at least half-a-dozen marriage proposals from slack-jawed johns.)

I recommend you start bidding and/or clawing each other's eyes out to buy it. The TradeMe link is: http://bit.ly/5hBPgj

And Twitter, once again, is: http://twitter.com/vintagemadam

Love and drunken aunts,
The Vintage Madam.

Size on label:	None
Modern size:	Best on a size 8
Label:	Pamela Armer Private Wardrobe
Condition:	Perfect
Fabric:	Silk or satin. I can never tell the difference.
Closure:	Back zip, plus the halter ties at the neck
Measurements:	(all taken with garment lying flat)
Armpit-to-armpit:	45cm
Waist:	38cm
Hips:	Free-size
Length:	Approx 120cm (comes to mid-shin)
Features:	Autumnal colours, leaf pattern, halter neck.