So, readers. Can I say readers? I know I have a few, a number I like to describe as “more than three, but less than a bajillion”, and I love all of you dearly. Really! Trust me when I say that every day I spend not posting on here is a day I spend alone, weeping in my room, bemoaning my lack of inspiration and ability to focus while beating myself with knobbly sticks and wearing a sackcloth made of bees.

…or else I spend it eating a solid pound of homemade guacamole, but you know how these things go.

BUT ANYWAY. Dear readers, when the Plaid Trend started appearing in my store last fall, I am not going to lie to you–I scoffed. I laughed. I rolled my eyes and wondered whether looking like a Lumberjack was back in.

So when the plaid started coming in waves of neon yellow and bright orange, I snickered. When the designers started adding random ruffles to said neon yellow and bright orange plaid dresses, I sniggered.

And then, one night, after watching the Ugliest Fashion Emergency I’d ever seen grow for six months, I sat bolt upright in bed and held my hands to my heart in shock because I realized that I liked it.

I liked it a lot.

And I wanted it.

Thus began my determined quest to find a cute plaid dress to, I don’t know, prance around like a billygoat in. My desired colours were jungle green or bright blue, but alas, no matter where I went, the other super cool, ugly fashion loving ladies had always beaten me to what I wanted.

And then, one morning at Ross, while I was struggling to decide between the leggings that said “PEACE” on the butt and the heavy-knit giraffe printed kaftan, I saw it.

A red plaid dress.
With ruffles.
In my size.

I would like to state right now that I am apparently The Blessed One when it comes to shopping, because this is the third shopping experience like this that I’ve had in the last 3 months, and it is amazing. Hopefully though, this doesn’t mean that I have to Save The Fashion World or Take It By Storm or something because being a hero is hard and also I have a blister on the back of my heel, do you have a band-aid in your purse I can borrow?

Anyhoo. I snagged that $10 dress up in an instant and decided to try it at work last week.

Pictured: me, in The Matrix. Not pictured: prancing around like a billy goat.

I paired it (ha!) with a pair of black leggings (because otherwise, HELLO CHOCHA) and my wide black belt. I also wore my red-heel-flipflops which I should probably get rid of but I love too much to do so.

For the first ten minutes I wore it, I felt like I was wearing my Grandma’s nightgown. You know the kind, right?

And then, for the next ten minutes, I felt like I should maybe have an axe or eat some pancakes.

But after the twenty minutes (which I like to call the “Time Of Doubt”) I felt like a rockstar. A night-gown wearing, maple syrup craving, axe-wielding rockstar.

So, the plaid trend? What do you think about it? Like I said, I both love and hate and don’t know what to do with it, but it’s fun and snazzy. I’m honestly just hoping that houndstooth, gold detailing and big shoulderpads come back in soon so that all of my recent goodwill finds will not go to waste.