Dream dress: Harmony life dress from Nice Things

I work with some pretty fabulously dressed ladies. So when I saw a colleague sporting a fantastic 1950s-style patterned shirt, I just assumed it was a typically savvy vintage purchase and complimented her on her find. But no, she told me, it was a contemporary design, courtesy of a Spanish company called Nice Things. This news sent me into a bit of a spin - a clothing company that hadn't yet seemed to have been caught by the Domestic Sluttery radar. And lo, I went straight to the internet and a new obsession started. I was in lust with the pattern on this shirt.

My colleague told me she bought her shirt in Fenwick - a store I've never been to in my life, and also annoyingly one without a e-store, while the Nice Things website only seems to list European stockists. The best range I've found online in the UK is from Fashion Dispensary. They don't stock the shirt but - possibly better - they do have the pattern featuring on this adorable shift dress.

With the bow at the neck line and the flirty flip to the skirt, I think this is probably the perfect holiday dress for a sunny holiday in Spain. It's also reduced to £59 in the sale, making it quite a bargain. The sweet shape of the dress forms the perfect foil to the slightly kitschy nature of the pattern...

...Ah, yes, the pattern...

Well, it's been pretty hard to find an adequate image of the pattern too, but here's one courtesy of Beg Bicyles's blog. You can see why it caught my eye, and how it completely upgrades the dress' status from mildly diverting to utterly dream worthy. Covered with cute 50s style gents and gals, gorgeous poodles and hat stands, it's a fabric that's full of fun and got so much more about it than you might guess from the image of the dress shown above. In fact, it lives up to its claime and is a very nice thing indeed. Come over to the UK properly please Nice Things - I want to see what else you've got up (or on) your clever Spanish sleeves.