Afternoon tea at a posh hotel, a fashion show, and a chance to impress Mom with your savvy eye for secondhand fashion, all for $20? Sounds like a Mother’s Day trifecta to me. Book your seats now for the Salvation Army Thrift Store Fashion Show, Wednesday afternoon (May 14) at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver (791 West Georgia Street). On top of tea and the show, there’s a silent auction, gift bags, and door prizes. Tickets are available at all Sally Ann thrift stores.

After launching scents whose names start with A, B, C, and D, Canadian-born “nose” Ineke Rühland has created—well, no prizes for figuring out that it begins with E. Her Ineke line’s evocative Evening Edged in Gold has top notes of plum and osmanthus, features night-blooming midnight candy and angel’s trumpet, and finishes with bass notes of leather and wood. I’d call it “delicately sensual” but if you want to get technical, it’s classified as a “woody oriental”.

Using kids at play on a merry-go-round as a source of power is just one of the bright ideas at SWELL 2008, an ecodesign exhibit that’s part of 30 Days of Sustainability. Other innovations being presented include the LifeStraw portable water purifier, which lets people safely drink directly from rivers, and a program aimed at closing the digital divide between rich and poor by providing low-cost laptops to children.

Logically, good skin-care products should come from places with cold, dry climates that suck out every bit of moisture. Rocky Mountain Soap Company (3057 Granville Street)—based in Canmore, Alberta, in the lee of the Rockies—has a new line of face and eye creams, soothing toner, and cleansing oil ($24.99 to $39.99), all 100-percent natural and sustainably packaged.

Just write old hoodies and designer shoes on your calendar. This Saturday (April 12) starting at 10 a.m., new store Orb (2028 West 4th Avenue) hosts the Hoodie Swap Charity Clothing Drive. Be among the first 100 to donate your old one (it’ll go to Kitsilano Neighbourhood House) and get a brand-new Orb special-edition hoodie in exchange. On Wednesday (April 16), get your running shoes on and roar over to the legendary shoe sale at Army & Navy (various locations). Major labels like Ric

Love his funk ’n’ fantasy shoes, not just for their cool, irreverent style but for the good conditions they’re made in, and the fact that you can get them fixed (which you can’t say for a lot of brands out there). So general rejoicing that shoe designer John Fluevog has opened a second Vancouver store in Gastown in the former Richard Kidd location (65 Water Street).

Yucky hair? If you don’t have time to go the whole shampoo, conditioner, volumizing-mousse route, Schwarzkopf’s OSIS Dust It is a quick fix.

A kid’s name on a bedroom door, food spelled out on a kitchen wall—let the god of creativity guide you in displaying the vintage sign letters sold at Stepback (3026 West Broadway). Owners Chris Switzer and Robin Muxlow have gathered boxes and boxes of letters salvaged from a variety of sites, including old service stations and cinemas in Georgia and New Mexico.

There’s only one company that could dream up wince-inducing names like Get Me to the Taj on Time, ElePhantastic Pink, and Keys to My Karma. For their latest collection, the OPI nail-polish peeps have looked to India for inspiration. The vampy Black Cherry Chutney and orange-red MonSooner or Later are a couple more of the dozen new colours, with my pick, Lunch at the Delhi, being a go-with-everything coral ($9.95 at salons and spas).

“She’ll be wearing silk pyjamas…” Slithery in charmeuse and beautifully tailored, PJs by Christine Vancouver would be for idling around the honeymoon suite the morning after. Not Oprah Winfrey. She wore hers on a recent cover of her magazine. The big O’s are lavender, but this style also comes in ballet pink, fern green, and other colours, as well as a red “geisha” print. The price is $350, and they’re designed and made right here in Vancouver.

It’s February—time to think spring. To spur you on, annual mega-shopping event Spend on Trend hooks you up with all the new Canadian designers. Labels you’ll see are Adhesif, Dahlia Drive, Dear Pony, Fiveleft Leather, and dozens more attached to one-of-a-kind duds and accessories. Where and when: Heritage Hall (3102 Main Street) on Friday (February 8, 5 to 9 p.m.), Saturday (February 9, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.), and Sunday (February 10, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.). Admission is $5, with $1 earmarked for the St.

What? You don’t pay a daily visit to on-line fashionista Susie Bubble? Do it once and you’ll instantly be addicted to her stylish but nonattitudinal blog, found at www.stylebubble.typepad.com/. A London-based former Hong Konger, Bubble breezes around Europe the way Vancouverites tromp off to Kelowna. Arcane design magazines, thrift-store tricks, and international names are all gathered in, as is—the best bit—Susie’s personal wardrobe, which she invents one outfit at a time.

The felted flower pins Jessica de Haas creates from hand-dyed silk and wool ($16 to $38) are a cute way to dress up a cardigan, a sweater, or an otherwise plain jacket. Hats too. Some are plain; others have beaded centres. No two are the same, and colours–rusts, reds, blues, purples–span the rainbow. Go browse through them all at Funk Shui (1375 Railspur Alley, Granville Island) and choose a gift for a friend or for yourself.

If bargains flutter your heart, hare down to three-month-old Yokoyaya123, at International Village (88 West Pender Street). The 123 refers to the price of merchandise in dollars, although everything I saw cost a toonie. This mini Daiso is worth the trip for the cosmetics alone: wild nail polish colours, eye shadows galore (including an 18-colour palette, and a trio that includes the sparkly gold that's so hard to find right now), mascaras, lipsticks, and scads of other cool stuff.

On Friday from 7 to 10 p.m., the Velvet Room Boutique showcases one-of-a-kind clothing by Jason Matlo, Jolie Couture, and Ropena Creations as well as... [read more]