The Yuppie Lifestyle: Summer Picks From Zara for Less than $40

I bought this skirt from Zara last weekend. I don't usually wear things with floral patterns but I thought the flowers were small and abstract enough and I really liked the combination of orange and yellow over a soft cyan. The store is currently filled with great pieces for the summer—lots of bold-yet-bright colors and light fabrics. It's really too bad that Zara doesn't have an online store for those of us who are Stateside because I'd probably have a lot more Zara items in my closet if they did.

Zara is a label that has always baffled me because some of their stuff is very reasonably priced while other items will give me mild sticker shock. I wouldn't expect a thin, polyester-rayon T-shirt to be $60 but I'd expect to pay more than $40 for a well-constructed, 100% cotton, pleated skirt. I know they have the more casual, youth-oriented Trafaluc line that is priced lower overall but their main collection also has plenty of dressy items that are half the price of similar items at, say, J.Crew. These are some of my favorite summery items from their site, and they're each less than $40.