My Mamma Told Me...

You'd better shop around!  For some time, I've been looking for a very specific item to wear to a very special family wedding.  The wedding will be in an unfamiliar geography in an unfamiliar venue, so the jacket and dress need to span a range of 'formal attire' definitions and cultural interpretations. Yes, I want a black, heavy Venetian lace bolero jacket, unlined, to go over a deep jade green evening gown.  No problem. Because it will double for some other duties, including summer travel (stuff in a shoulder bag to slip on before touring churches or cathedrals if wearing sleeveless shirts) it also needs to be mostly synthetic without looking like it,  so it will dry quickly if washed in a sink along the way. Oh, and it needs to be around $100, but look like a designer item.  No sweat.

Finally, through the magic of the Internet, I found one!  So what's the big deal?  Here's the designer item that came closest before I found the one. On eBay, it was $1700, used. Welllllll, I don't need an extra $1600-worth of name (Prada), ever. Drat, keep looking.

Thanks to eBay, I've ordered one that I like even better (nicer neckline and beautiful medallion back), though I took an unusual risk, at least for me.  I made an international purchase from...Malta!  Thoughts of Knights Templar fill my head. Once it arrives, I'll let you know whether it is a good thing to engage in commerce directly with the Maltese. 

Sounds like my own Bogart movie in the making,

just a few  decades too late!