If the fact that it just snowed on the first day of spring is as confusing to you as it is to us, then you know there’s only one real response: shop!

This weekend’s a particularly good one for sales, so here’s a little guide for those of you who may have missed our sale calendar:

Tomorrow, you can sip champagne while getting 20% off at the new Hayden-Harnett store, then skip over to the nearby Staerk, Built by Wendy, Only Hearts, Libertine, and Abaete sales. And if you’re really into it, you could head west to hit up the Falls pop-up store on Greenwich, before you check out the Alaia, Proenza and Givenchy at the nearby Edon Manor. You also have Michael Kors in Chelsea and Lauren Merkin a little further uptown. Or if you’re in LA, we highly suggest the Kiki de Montparnasse garden shopping party.

Starting Sunday, you could pick up Valentino (and Roberto Cavalli, Blumarine) on 57th Street, or if you’d rather not leave the comfort of your bed and Sunday Times you can have a Blair moment on Colette Malouf’s sample sale online.

Finally, if you feel like feeding your weakness without spending too much cash, the Loomstate event at Kaight today might be the way to go - you get an exclusive, stenciled Loomstate shirt for free with any Spring purchase, which means spring shopping fever is officially in full swing.

Happy Friday.

There’s no shortage of luxury labels diffusing:

McQ, See by Chloe, Libertine for Target, Vera Wang at Kohl’s…

But slowly we’re seeing mass labels who want to trade up.

Forever 21 announced their prestige line this spring, but you weren’t crazy about it - probably because the clothes were awful.

H&M also has a luxe line that’s only available in Europe.

Now J. Crew gets on board, announcing their own upmarket label, called J. Crew Collection. Prices range from $225 (for a babydoll dress) to over $1000 (for an evening gown). The clothes will be sold in a separate store on the Upper East Side, though you can already buy a few pieces online (but they’re not marked J. Crew Collection).

If any mass brand can pull this off, we think it might be J. Crew - their affluent image and dabbles in bridal wear, suiting, and cashmere already give the label luxe touches.

Still, we have to ask what every suburban mom has already wondered:

Isn’t J.Crew too expensive already?

Today’s WSJ brings both tired and shocking news:

The boring news is the Thom Browne for Brooks Brothers collaboration, Black Fleece, will finally hit stores this fall.

The long-awaited alliance has been brewing for over a year, so we know what to expect upon its arrival. Fashionable males will surely snap up Browne’s trademark tight, short suits— just as stylish girls snatched Proenza for Target dresses.

The shocker?

Browne’s Black Fleece line offers dozens of items for women as well, and we’re afraid these pieces will sell slower than Kevin Federline CDs.

Why?

Women are used to seeing designers collaborate for cheaper- than-usual prices (Vera Wang for Kohls, Libertine for Target).

But Browne’s Black Fleece items retail for aristocratic prices. Especially considering what they are.

Maybe we’re being too harsh. But how many women do you know would buy a $4,500 dress made out of gray flannel? Or consider it a wise investment to drop $ 10,000 on a fur cape from Brooks Brothers?

We’re suspect that if you suddenly found thousands of dollars for menswear-inspired fashion, you’d turn to Alexander McQueen or Paul Smith.

Do you agree, or will you covet these Black Fleece pieces like you would the new Harry Potter ?

—NATALIE MATTHEWS

Libertine for Target hit the web yesterday, and with it came the realization that skulls are still here.

There were the original high fashion skeletons from Galliano and Lucien Pellat-Finet.

There were the McQueen scarves co-opted by Urban Outfitters and still worn everywhere (this weekend I reasoned I couldn’t throw mine away, so instead I used it as a beach blouse).

And then there came the inevitable Sunday Styles story, the Damien Hirst diamond sculpture, the plates from Thomas Paul, the Cheap Monday pop-up store, and everything from Insight.

But despite complaints, scoffs, and annoying bedazzled skulls worn on annoying bejeweled MTV stars, the trend still hasn’t gone - in fact, it’s still going.

The kicker: It’s the fad about death that’s refusing to die.

You probably don’t own anything by Libertine, but that might change next week.

That’s when the Los Angeles label launches their first line from Target – a sharp turn from the one-of-a-kind, reworked vintage pieces they create for The Olsens, The Trainas, and the magazines.

But how can the brand Anna Wintour described as “very Galliano� maintain their cool in a store that also sells barbecues and Barbie bedding?

Designers Johnson Hartig and Cindy Greene (who’s also a member of Fischer Spooner, the coolest glitter band ever) explain…

When we heard that Girls Gone Wild was introducing swimwear at Miami Fashion Week, a few things came to mind:

Velcro bikinis that easily ripped off the body…

See-through material for all the one-pieces…

A supplementary perfume line made from Rohypnol…

What we didn’t expect was a pairing with Ashley Paige, the swimsuit designer whose signature pieces are crocheted bikinis and vegan-friendly dresses.

Aside from the weird stereotype in John Tucker Must Die that all earth-happy girls are sluts, we really don’t see the connection between the designer and the brand.

Ashley’s rockabilly beach designs straddle Ibiza’s band-groupie vibe and California’s easygoing surfer babe. Meanwhile, the women on Girls Gone Wild just straddle each other.

Maybe they saw the designer on The Hills and thought she’d be a good investment?

We love Erin Fetherston.

We love Target.

We love the way Erin put blonde wigs on all her models for this shoot.

And we love this collection, but you’ll have to wait for it:

The beautiful coats, dresses, and leggings don’t hit stores until November, but our secret sources sent us images today.

Enjoy, and get ready: Libertine for Target hits shelves in two weeks!

Though LA Fashion Week has been a tired affair in recent years, it might shape up in October because of their new focus:

Mercedes-Benz and IMG announced today that the week is going green.

That means the Tents will make an effort to conserve energy, and designers sensitive to environmental concerns will be encouraged to show.

Besides being so LA, we think the new green movement for the week is pretty amazing. Not only will it continue the discussion about what fashion can do for the environment, it also might harness some smaller labels like Linda Loudermilk, Panda Snack, and Loomstate (their jeans are at left), whose entire brand platform is built on sustainable energy and organic cotton.

And dare we say it, the initiative might lure bigger eco brands like Edun, Rogan, and Libertine back to California for an official runway show.

One more thing: The move is especially appropriate for LA and the city’s obsessive love of vintage - especially with all the conversation about disposable fashion and environmental responsibility that’s happening lately…

According to the Post’s fashion brigade, the first images of Temperley for Target are up!

Our initial reaction to the line:

“Oh. Really? Okay.”

But then we realized there were some great pieces hidden among the oddly graphic jersey pieces.

We’ve culled our favorite four looks and featured them above, and while we’re still more excited for the Libertine collection, some of these pieces are incredibly forward - we were shocked that Target would gamble on those insane overalls, but also quite pleased.

The clothes do remind us of Alice Temperley’s last fashion show, when British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman told us,

“The thing is, nobody looks better in Alice Temperley’s clothes than Alice herself.”

Yep.

Bitten by SJP might be disappointing, but the first images from Libertine for Target are out, and they’re fantastic.

The line launches this August and includes a striped t-shirt dress in green/aqua or red/pink, several skull print sweaters, and embroidered bags and tees with bugs and tree branches. The clothes combine Victorian motifs with sharp, girly shapes like the points of A-line skirts and the diagonal slopes of cardigans against a blouse. The clothes are the color of Crayola.

We remember the movie Seamless, when Anna Wintour compared Libertine’s Johnson Hartig and Cindy Greene to Galliano. We think maybe they’ve departed from that early prediction, going for less art and more commerce, and far too much fun.

Next up: Chip and Pepper launch their first diffusion line, with J.C. Penny, later this year.

See teeny tease pictures of the whole Libertine collection below.

There are many talented designers in Los Angeles, but the one we’re most excited about is Tara Subkoff for Imitation of Christ. Even if we don’t always “get’ IOC, the decision to show the line in LA is important.

Why?

Each season, amazing LA talent liquidates to New York. Libertine brings their vintage shredded style to the Tents, Jenni Kayne gears up with at least one Olsen, Mishon Schur brings the Kirsten quotient along with its swishy dresses, and Trovata makes every East Coast girl wish she was in California. Even Rock & Republic moves its trash-tastic party to Manhattan, leaving the L.A. runways with a lot of leftover denim, hot pink silk dresses for Paris and Nicky, and small handfuls of substance.

Tara’s L.A. return may inspire some other labels to Los Angeles, too, showing the style community that L.A. is more than Chip + Pepper jeans (though of course, we do love those).

Radar’s got some good info: the next GO! International line for Target will be made by Libertine, the LA label that re-works vintage clothing into new masterpieces for more than almost anyone can pay.

Called “very Galliano” by Anna Wintour, the label is run by Cindy Greene and Johnson Hartig. You may remember Johnson from the documentary Seamless, where he loses a CFDA/ Vogue award to Proenza Schouler, but dances around his studio with Ashley Olsen at the film’s conclusion. Meanwhile, we remember Johnson telling us that once, Karl Lagerfeld ordered him Coca Cola in little glass bottles at the Mercer Hotel, and it felt like Christmas.

As for the new collection, it won’t hit Target until Fall - remember, Patrick Robinson gets his turn first in May - but we hope it’ll include more vintage inspired prints and dresses, and less t-shirts with skulls and slogans. Lindsay Lohan may wear them all over L.A. but that doesn’t mean the fashion hungry kids who raid Target should have to flash back to US Weekly.