Fabulous but quite serious: YSL's new gloss.

Do you know what, I'm thinking about getting back into lip gloss. I know! Sure, it can make your mouth look like an overripe melon, and sure, I know it's hard to walk down the street without getting flies and hair stuck to your glistening lips, but something in me says it's time. Lip-gloss time. I'm working up to YSL's new glosses (Rouge pur Couture Vernis Lvres, 22.50, yslbeauty.co.uk), which are fabulous but quite serious. In the meantime Clinique's Chubby Sticks (16, 0870 034 2566) are a lovely interim gloss, somewhere between a lip balm and your goddaughter's best crayons.

Alternatively...

Stila 15, asos.com
Givenchy 22.50, 01932 233 824
Tom Ford 32, selfridges.com
Clinique 16, 0870 034 2566

Spring jackets. Enlarge for details

This time of year can really try one's patience, temperature-wise. And thus, the importance of a lightweight spring jacket cannot be overstated. Actually, that's not true: "Without a lightweight spring jacket, life is meaningless" would be an overstatement. But still it's good to have one. During a routine rifle through my wardrobe, I had come across a cropped pea coat that I'd forgotten all about. It's cotton and perfect for the prevailing conditions. I whipped it out and popped it on, delighted with both myself – and the jacket. A mere four hours later it was soaked through with salmon water.

Picture the scene: it is 9pm on a Friday night. A former T4 presenter (me) is in the car park of a major supermarket (Morrisons). He is wearing a lovely APC jacket. It is obvious that he likes this garment. For reasons that don't warrant exploration, in his car boot of his car (a Y-reg Toyota Yaris) he has an enormous fresh salmon. It has been slumped in there for approximately 10 hours. Unbeknownst to our hero (still me), it was originally packed in ice. So when he heaves the 5ft polystyrene box out of the boot, he's drenched in a tidal wave of salmon-infused water. The jacket bore the brunt of the fishy gush.

This feels to me like a modern enactment of one of Aesop's Fables: there is a crude morality lesson in there somewhere. About pride in a jacket coming before the near-ruination of said jacket. Anyway, the dry cleaners are now dealing with the consequences as best they can. In the meantime, I am scouting around for a new lightweight coat. Which I will not wear smugly, no matter how lovely it may be.

I have been enthusiastically embracing the current double-breasted trend, but in a spring coat, it can be a bit too formal. So it's worth looking for "unstructured" examples. I'm still not 100% clear what "unstructured" means in the context of clothing, but it definitely works. And can always be dressed up, should you wish.

Percival has a nice array of light jackets – my favourite being the Spy Jacket. Which is not only (salmon-) waterproof, but also has a pleasing contrast collar. And I'm not above finding the idea of wearing a "spy" anything quite thrilling.

On a different tack entirely, it's useful to have a casual blazer. Sling it over any outfit and you're immediately ready for an April evening out. You can't go far wrong with Our Legacy's soft grey blazer that can be worn as a two- or three-button. Which means it's effectively two blazers in one. Which means it's actually half the price. That's right, isn't it?

Fashion: Ice Ice Baby - in pictures

Mellow out in the gently muted colours of spring's coolest palette, with light cotton shirts, linen jackets
and sharp shorts. Peaches and cream for two, please…

Fashion editors: Jo Jones and Helen Seamons
Photographs: Chloe Mallett
Make-up and hair: Ruth Warrior at onemakeup.com using Guerlain Terracotta, Fake Bake for skin and Kiehl's
Fashion assistant: Katie Tillyer
Models: Genesis and Dewi at Select
Special thanks to Shelly and Lenny Pitt for the loan of the Nissan Figaro

Heaven scent: L'Eau de Chloe

You know it's spring because everything smells different. Winter perfumes smell of patchouli and bonfires; spring perfumes smell of blossom and hope, and sometimes laundry detergent and babies. The new Chlo fragrance, L'Eau de Chlo (36.50, 0800 083 6312), smells the way "pretty" looks. It's like grass and camping holidays, and rosewater and homemade lemonade. Also fabulous is White Lotus by Illuminum (175, illuminumfragrancelounge.com), the niche British perfumer whose scent Kate Middleton wore on her wedding day. It smells fresher than the newest thing you can imagine, fresher than a glossy magazine page.

Alternatively...

Chanel Allure Homme Sport 48, 020 7493 3836
Illuminum Haute Perfume 175, as above
Tom Ford Lavender Palm 120, 0870 034 2566
Jo Malone London Blooms Collection 72, jomalone.com
Byredo Parfums Seven Veils 88, liberty.co.uk

Turning back the years: Origins Youthtopia.

While it's not a treat in the sense that a whole chocolate mousse cake to oneself is a treat, or a day watching old 30 Rocks while pretending to your boss that you've got a dicky tummy after eating a whole gone-off chocolate mousse cake is a treat, rich day moisturisers are certainly on the treat spectrum. Origins's Youthtopia range (Ultra-rich Firming Cream, 45, johnlewis.com) is perfect daily for dry skin and excellent twice a week for normal skin – or, if you've got the cash, Perricone MD's Nourishing Moisturiser (60, perriconemd.co.uk). It's like chucking a glass of water straight on to your face, but less drippy.

Alternatively

Simple 3.89, boots.com
Chanel 50 (020 7493 3836)
Rodial 75, rodial.co.uk
Clinique 30, clinique.co.uk
SK-II 265, harrods.com

Fashion Statement: Ballet pumps, Acquascutum collapse and readers testing trends. Photograph: Hulton Archive/Guardian /Martin Karius/Duffy/Rex Features

Dare to bare? Our readers did!
Well, sort of. Four Guardian fashion readers volunteered to Test the Trend this month, which involved wearing Warehouse's sheer grey top and letting us know how the style worked for them. Three of them liked it, and one most definitely did not, so overall it was a thumbs up for Warehouse from the ladies. If you want to take part in a forthcoming Test the Trend feature, please email us with your full name, dress and shoe size, age, occupation and location.

A photoshoot for Aquascutum menswear, 1960. Photograph: Duffy/Getty Images

Acquascutum falls into administration
"In a tale of two trench coats, Aquascutum collapsed into administration as Burberry posted an 11% rise in sales," wrote Josephine Moulds and Zoe Wood of the demise of the 161-year-old business. "Harold Tillman, owner of retailers Jaeger and Aquascutum (the name means 'water shield') had ambitions to follow in the footsteps of Burberry, another classic but antiquated British label which had reinvented itself as a worldwide luxury brand. The dream came to an abrupt end after Tillman on Monday sold Jaeger in a rescue deal and appointed administrators FRP Advisory for Aquascutum." Read the full story here.

Samantha Cameron, Elle MacPherson, Kate Moss, Pippa Middleton Composite

Ballet pumps? That will be a flat no.
Apparently ballet pumps are so popular that they're being blamed for damaging Marks & Spencers' profits. Yep, so good it's ... bad? "There were 100,000 pairs sold in the first quarter of 2012 – a whopping 76% rise on 2011 – but the retailer says that it should have bought more stock, and could have sold 7,000 more pairs," writes Jess Cartner-Morley. "The figures confirm what John Lewis reported last August, when it announced ballet pump sales were up 129% on the same month in the previous summer: the ballet pump is over."

Photograph: Jen Petreshock/Getty Images

Getting dressed when you're getting old is tough - literally
The Guardian's Invisible Woman knows a thing or two about balancing out the inevitable ageing process with looking good. But what about wear and tear? And she's not talking about clothing. "The four cuffs in my left shoulder are deeply and profoundly unhappy – and deeply and profoundly painful. In short, I can't move my arm to the side or behind me, or push, or pull, or carry anything heavier than a paper clip. It's not uncommon," she writes. "It's wear and tear, and I'll bet a pound to a penny that lots of you have suffered from the same condition. It's a debilitating unpleasant thing and it's pulled me up short because there are lots of things I can't do easily. Like putting on a bra, for example. I've been given a premonition of my old age, and I don't like it." Who would? Plenty of readers offered practical advice, but the tea and sympathy was appreciated just as much.

Models display creations by designer Agi and Sam of MAN during a fashion show at London Fashion Week, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Men's fashion is all the rage in Britain
Two stories this week prove that British menswear is at an all time high. First comes this buzz generating video from London Collections: Men announcing the first ever dedicated men's fashion event in London, which will kick off in June. Details of the schedule are expected any day now, but as the video in question shows, it's high time British menswear got the props it deserves. Speaking of which, our second exciting British men's fashion-shaped feature comes via assistant fashion editor, Simon Chilvers, and his inspiring interview with newcomers Agi & Sam. Roll on June, we say.

Illamasqua makeup: would you wear blue lipstick? Well, would you?

• If you want even more fashion-related things to read, head to guardian.co.uk/fashionfor Jess Cartner-Morley on sparkly trousers, the very same JCM interviewing Tinie Tempah on his new clothing range and Anita Bhagwandas on daring to wear blue lipstick this summer.