Don’t get me wrong, I still love Proenza Schouler, but I’ve been waiting for something that stands out a bit more than the usual. Yes, I want to continue adding Proenza bags to my collection, but I haven’t seen one in a while that got my credit card hand twitching. A variety of colors in the classic designs continue to be released, but it wasn’t until I saw the ombre effect on these bags that I started to feel the buying urge.

Face it: we’ve now entered Mother’s Day gift crunch time, wherein you try to surreptitiously find out what mom likes these days and pray that whatever store carries it also offers expedited shipping so that you don’t feel like a disappointment of a child when Sunday rolls around. To expedite that process on your behalf (and avoid tipping mom off that you’ve waited until now to search for a gift), we have a suggestion: get her something luxe that doesn’t require you to guess her size.

For a trend that’s going to be very easily identifiable as “so last season” in a year’s time, holographic bags are expensive. With brands like Celine, Stella McCartney and Proenza Schouler leading the way into a more iridescent future, getting the look for a price that feels commensurate with the trend’s staying power (or probable lack thereof) has been challenging.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2013 Costume Institute Gala, which will take place next week in the very un-punk location of New York City’s Upper East Side, is set to celebrate punk fashion, where it came from and how the aesthetic influences designers of all types to this day. On the one hand, punk and high fashion are somewhat unlikely bedfellows; punk, by its very nature, is rough-hewn, grimy and hard-edged.

Proenza Schouler is a brand that’s followed a very lucrative handbag pattern, road-tested by innumerable other handbag brands in the past: fine a few basic bags that people love and then capitalize on their success for seasons to come by remaking them in different sizes, proportions and structures. Proenza’s primary example of this strategy is the PS1, of course – it comes in every version imaginable, from a billfold to a weekender.

While searching through pictures of sun-dappled celebs clad in their best boho finery at Coachella earlier this week, I found myself wondering why I had yet to take an in-depth look at the bag collection of Kate Bosworth. Then, of course, I remembered that I’m the one in charge of these things, and if I wanted to make this post happen, then I could just do it myself.

It seems like we’ve been talking about black-and-white bags forever, but based on the current slate of neutral, bicolor bags that have now arrived in stores for spring, the trend has only just begun. We gave you a rundown of nine styles to get you started on the right path back in January, but now we’ve got another dozen that you should consider now that spring has arrived.

Welcome to April’s first Roundup. We finish off this busy week with an interesting collection of threads and conversations. We found have a new home under construction, lots of “charming” reveals in Hèrmes and the glory of springtime. Come on in and see what else we found for you this week!

It’s time to go shoe shopping! What better place to get inspired than the Newest Shoe Purchases thread in the Glass Slipper?

I wish it were an April Fool’s joke that April is already here, but it’s not. 2013 is flying by, and while I sometimes wish it would slow down, I’m also ready for Mother Nature to bring on spring and warm weather, please! A new month also means a new slew of birthdays, and I think April birthday babies are pretty lucky – their birthstone is the coveted diamond.

Dakota Fanning was spotted two days ago on the first day of spring in NYC, toting her “Light Peacock” blue Proenza Schouler PS13 Bag. Kudos to Dakota for rocking the bright seasonal hues at the first available opportunity, despite the less than spring-like NYC weather. (We were just gushing about the new “Peacock Blue” Proenza Schouler blues last week!) You can grab this bag in 5 different shades for $2,250 at Proenza Schouler.