A feminine bow blouse meets what I'm referring to as colour contouring at 3.1 Philip Lim Fall '12.

New York Fashion Week has been an absolute whirlwind and, by the end of a long day running from show to showroom all across Manhattan, the clothes almost all blur into one giant collection. Now as I type from the Newark airport reviewing my notes, however, I'm starting to realize that there's another reason for my haze: the thread of trends. Even calmly looking back, it's easy to see how much certain styles overlap between designers.

Trend reports are, of course, what the fashion blogs and magazines base their monthly lineups on and while the spring looks are now unfolding with loads of colour and sportswear chic, I'm going to give you a quick look ahead to which of those spring trends also carry into fall. This way you can be a smart shopper and skip the trends that will only last a few measly months.

With Groundhog Day behind us and spring just around the corner, we are definitely turning our eyes to spring fashion - bright colors, floral prints and, of course, thoughts of warmer days.

Last week, we were able to attend a spring/summer fashion preview for Mark's. As soon as we walked in, we fell in love with the eye-catching colours and super-cute styles.

Here's a closer look at some of our favourites:

It all begins in kindergarten: colouring in our books, we reach for a skin colour and soon recognize that peach, brown, black, and beige all qualify. That's the beautiful thing about kids, because as we grow older, we often fail to recognize that fashion and beauty companies seem to have lost sight of the spectrum.

One African-American shopper named Tara Raines reached her breaking point on this issue during a recent trip to Victoria's Secret. "I realized the ‘every day’ bras I wanted were only in black, white, and ‘nude’ and I wanted one in BROWN!” she tells Fashionista.com. “They only had very few styles in brown but innumerable styles in ‘nude.’ I got pissed.” Rightfully so, especially when the experience prompted a conversation with her family members and Raines learned that many of them have been forced to dye their bras brown over the years.

Most people who deem themselves fashionable have a *hit list of items they would never ever sport, which includes things like UGG boots, pleather, and crocs. Fashion girl or not (whatever that means, really), I happen to own all three and apparently I'm not the only one.

Remember those tiny bottles of perfume they used to sell out of service stations on the highway? "Smells just like CKOne," they claimed. (I use past tense, but I've no doubt there's a truck stop on the Trans-Canada Highway somewhere with a running dispenser.) Well there's a reason those perfumes managed to smell "just like" other designer brands—it's because they rip off their money-making formulas.

The scene outside Desigual in Madrid. And yes, those are Star Wars underwear.

The term 50% off took on new meaning in Madrid this week. Semi-naked shoppers lined up at the retail store Desigual for an unusual promotion where their cheekiness was rewarded with free clothes.

New Year's Eve hits Saturday night and if you're like me, you still have no idea what you'll be doing as the clock strikes twelve. No matter where the night takes you, here are a few different outfits to suit whatever party or chill session you choose.

POSSIBILITY #1: THE MAJOR NYE BASH

   
Elina Bustier Dress, available at Club Monaco; Acne Miro Biker Jacket, shop.acnestudios.com; Dolce Vita Babette Colourblock Platform, available at dolcevita.com.

Nothing says "happy holidays" like shopping and whiskey! And according to The New York Times, online consumers are combining the two for a tipsy treat that lasts year round.

Gilt Groupe, an online retailer new to Canada, told the newspaper they are adding more sales at 9pm to accommodate their increased night traffic. EBay also reported their busiest time of day at 6:30 - 10:30pm. Given the post-work timing, it's a fair assumption that many shoppers may be unwinding with a drink or two as they click, and the Times has easily uncovered culprits who were willing to admit to their inebriation. 

Last week my friend did a pop-up shop at a second temporary location for her single retail store. She needed an extra set of hands, so I decided to flex my retail muscles and hit the sales floor.

It was actually a lot of fun; I really enjoyed chatting with customers and helping them shop. This time of year, there are two main goals in mind—fancy dresses for Christmas parties and gifts for loved ones. Of those two categories, two customers stood out: one young woman who was searching for the perfect little black dress and a man who wanted a few handfuls of items to stuff in his wife's stocking.

As I scramble with my Christmas shopping, carefully choosing handmade, locally manufactured goods, shoppers on the other side of the world are doing the same. No big surprise, right? But apparently there is one key difference: while I'm proudly boasting about my conscious effort to avoid the big retailers (and I'm doing so quite successfully, I might add), in China shoppers are apparently using counterfeit shopping bags to disguise their local buys as designer chic.