I was never much of a tomboy growing up, always insisting on wearing girly dresses no matter the occasion, but I’ve been finding myself reaching for a regular uniform of jeans and plaid shirts over the last year. With the change of the season (sort of) I’ve had to cast away most of those winter items, but I still find myself longing to wear plaids for some reason. Fortunately, I’m not alone. Several designers have featured plaids in their Spring collections for a fresh take on the traditionally Fall textile. Just be sure to avoid the worst plaid-short look of all: Old-Lady-Golfer.

I was just starting to miss my boots and tights when I woke up this morning to a drizzly walk to work. So I guess that worked out… Anyhow, despite environmental evidence to the contrary, Le Train Bleu is starting its summer sale today, with huge markdowns on spring and summer styles. This is my pick, for instance:

This Hedi trench in a mini style and soft lightweight material, marked down to a mere fraction of it’s original retail price. Oh, and don’t dilly dally. Le Train Bleu has a huge online following of shoppers from all over, so there’s plenty of competition.

WHITE JEANS, YES OR NO?

Jesse Rush Champlin, local handbag designer (and BF of our own Marjorie Skinner), just launched a new on-line showcase for his company, Rush Accessories.

I remember starting here at the Mercury last September and admiring Marjorie’s metallic blue bag that Jesse simply made her as a gift. Now, mere months later, Rush can be found at at Seaplane (827 NW 23rd Ave), Denwave (811 E Burnside), and Olive (404 NW 10th Ave).

The Rush bags and belts are creatively made from high quality leathers, snake, and lizard skins and adorned with brass and bronze hardware. Besides looking fabulous, the bags exude fine craftsmanship and quality design.

My favorite right now is the ‘Holly’ in cyan:

But I have a feeling that may change when the ‘Marjorie’ comes out.

Before I enthuse about Sims 2: H&M Fashion Stuff I need to make several thngs clear. 1) H&M sucks. If Forever 21 is the McDonald’s of fashion, H&M is Wimpy. (That’s a European fast food restaurant, in case you don’t happen to have a British person on hand to finish your analogies for you, like I do.) 2) My interest in video and computer games pretty much died after trying and failing for years to finish Super Mario Brothers. The first one. Shut up. Despite these two factors, if I had any time at all to spare for such a thing, I would totally get down with this:

The game allows you to design your own clothes, design a floor of the store, and put on a runway show. I can just imagine whole years of my life being sucked into this dark abyss. One more thing: Is “Fashion Stuff” really the best they could do for a title? Yikes.