an artist of the floating world

I've recently noticed how incredibly difficult it is to buy the perfect floaty top.

I had my eye on this cute one from Forever 21, a cheap buy from the website, but then as luck would have it, it was out of stock. And the shops don't seem to have it.



Since then, my attempt to find something similar has been a minor disaster.

The Topshop offerings were either made of fabrics too shiny -



prints too ugly -



or cuts too voluminous -



Either that or they came in a jersey material, which isn't floaty enough, and can look kind of cheap -



I finally settled for their cool new riff on the T-shirt -



I supposed it's sort of babydoll-inspired but it wasn't as sickeningly coy as babydolls usually are. Plus it's really comfortable and gives you room to stuff yourself without getting all conscious about the tummy bulge.

(Their new website is far better organised by the way, and they got rid of that annoying horizontal scroll thing, so do check it out. It's the best way to cheer yourself up if you're stuck in front of the computer all day and can't actually go shopping.)

I really want something like this -



This one is from Chloe, and naturally, out of my budget.

And I don't fancy the traditional white shirt, so when I saw this, I thought it was such a perfect expression of my desire for a white shirt without the uptight crispness and a touch of whimsy -



This one from Marc by Marc Jacobs is very pretty, but minus the annoying boho vibe of those caftan-like things everyone was doing a while back -



And this top is just great when you don't feel like dressing up but don't feel like just wearing a T-shirt either -



What I want is a top that doesn't cling, isn't too strict, not too frilly, gives me room to move, but doesn't make me feel frumpy either. Hmmm come to think of it, I'm being a little picky here, but then if you want to spend on something it makes sense to spend it on something you love right?

Pictures from net-a-porter.com; topshop.com; forever21.com