Catherine’s creates a fashion quandary for me, because everything it offers is a little too “old” but not completely over the edge into dowdy-land. Their clothing isn’t bad, it just isn’t good.

As will recur with a lot of plus designers who fall on the less fashionable end of the scale, Catherine’s detailing falls short. What’s maddening in this case, is that the outfits fall short by just ONE detail. It’s like finding that purse that would be perfect, except for that one unnecessary tassel or decorative braid that just kills its appeal. Now imagine an entire closet full of those purses, each with some unique quirk that stops it short of cute. Do you have it in your mind? Good. That’s exactly how I feel when browsing Catherine’s.

I have purchased from Catherine’s before. Their quality isn’t bad, as far as I can tell but it’s hard for me to determine because I can almost never bring myself to wear something from them more than once. I’d review them for their spring line, but as far as I can tell, the only seasonal change I recognize from Catherine’s is in the sleeve length.

From surfing the site today, here are the dominant trends that jump out at me:

• Head-to-toe denim.

I don’t recommend this unless you are actually doing physical labor where you need a tough fabric. If you’re wearing denim casually, keep it to one piece of denim. I won’t even wear my favorite jeans jacket with my favorite jeans - always mix.

• Skirt sets

Catherine’s actually has a lot of cute skirts. I especially like this one’s design and cut, and I could even live with the top. But here we come to that one maddening detail: not just stripes, but a square pattern. They’ll look like small grid patterns stretched across a plus size tummy. It ruins the cool factor of the fringe, and is one of those things where I see it, I have hope, I enlarge the picture, and I am then inspired to go slam my head into a wall.

Here’s another example of details gone awry: from the front, a classic skirt set. Very nice, very classy, the style transcends decades. It’s not something I would wear ordinarily, but given the right circumstances, should I have to go more conservative, I’d definitely consider it. However, turn to the back and you see unnecessary pleating. It looks wrinkled on the mannikin; on a live person it will look as though there’s no attention paid to detail.

This red and black skirt set is something I might actually wear, and would even actually buy. However, it has one feature that is common in plus size clothing that I loathe, and that I would alter immediately upon purchase: shoulder pads. Shoulder pads are NOT a universal figure fixer, and on most plus women actually only emphasize size. I read the fashion magazine arguments back in the eighties, too: whoever said it broadens the shoulders to make the waist seem thin was taking kickbacks from the polyfoam stuffing company. Eschew shoulder pads if you’re plussy; they’re awful.

Catherine’s is going to get more critical visits from me over time, even though it’s rather painful and frustrating to surf. They, along with a couple other plus size providers, frustrate me most because I can see signs that they’re genuinely trying to provide fashionable, attractive clothing, but are held back by a long tradition of unflattering design; it seems like they know that there’s better choices out there in design, but can’t let go of their hope for a VHI series titled “If They Were Mumus.” It’s a matter of voting with dollars, I suspect; once I have those, I will. Until then, I’m all about the design.