Athletic-inspired anoraks were fringe fashion last year, but are now mainstream. They’re a super lightweight, casual cover-up that’ll give your look a sporty edge with lots of style. You’ll find them shiny or matte, long or short, and neutral or coloured. Fabrications like nylon, polyester and acetate give them a particularly authentic active appearance.

I like anoraks best when they’re contrasted with dressy attire, like a little black dress, dark jeans, slacks, swanky walk shorts and fancy shoes. This is a rather avant-garde, high fashion look, so it’s a little tricky to pull off if you don’t get the components right.

I’ll bypass this trend – the less sporty trench is more my style. But If you’re an active zip-up-and-go kind of gal, than the fashion anorak look might be for you.

The best thing about the American retail industry is its lenient and convenient return policies. The luxury of being refunded for unused items months after acquiring them is the height of customer service and quite unprecedented. This is not common practice in Europe or Asia, where full refunds are few and far between and returning items is generally tricky. Certain retailers in Hong Kong and Singapore won’t even let you try on an item of clothing before you’ve purchased it, let alone return it later.

But the ease with which we can return items has its drawbacks. I have met people who get into a cycle of continually buying and returning items without keeping anything. They don’t wear their purchases because they might need to return them. And the option of making the return sparks doubt and buyer’s remorse. More often than not, the item goes back because there might be something slightly better. This is what I call “the return rut” and it’s a frustrating shopping strategy. More trips to the store and fewer successful purchases are the result.

Returning items because they don’t fit or match is perfectly acceptable, but constant returns because we can’t commit to our purchases is quite another thing. Are you in the return rut? How often do you return items? Do you frequently experience buyer’s remorse?

There’s a lot to like about the ongoing voluminous trend, but I continue to see voluminous pieces worn and advertised in unflattering combinations. It’s the retail industry’s responsibility to inform and educate consumers about new trends and how to wear them. The latter is severely lacking.

It’s imperative that you wear only one voluminous piece at a time (volume on volume does not work). Keep it sleek and fitted on top if you wear volume on the bottom and vice versa. This season’s resurgence of the wide-legged pant alongside swingy tops and trapeze jackets is interesting. These items are not meant to be worn together and yet it’s happening on mannequins in stores and on models online.

The model in the blue Rachel Pally outfit looks awful. Add a row of pompoms to the front of this outfit and she’s Bozo the clown. The pants should have been paired with a streamlined top, and the top would look better with a pair of straight or skinny jeans. I don’t like the wide-legged jumpsuit on the model on the right either, but at least the top part of her outfit is sleek which complements its voluminous bottom.

I’m surprised that the blue Rachel Pally outfit has made Oprah’s list of favourite things. Not so stylish.

If you like the structure of a jacket but the comfort of a sweater, then the knitted jacket or “sweater jacket” is for you. Some styles look more like cardigans while others are more like jackets. Either way, these items are knits, which makes them stretchy, soft and relaxed. Tailored or trapeze, collared or collarless, classic or trendy, smart or casual and plain or patterned, there’s a style to pull together your look in a cozy and comfortable way.

Knitted jackets won’t work if your Springs are warm. But they’re ideal for chilly Spring days, which are plentiful in Seattle.

An assortment of knitted jackets.