Spring/Summer fun - Stripes!

One of the most used 'prints' for Spring/Summer is stripes! You may not realize how popular stripes actually are! And also there are so many ways to wear stripes in the first place.. Add stripes to your wardrobe with your dresses, skirts and tees! And if you think you are 'round' for stripes, then play around with cute accessories!

Here are some lovely striped pieces that are all currently available at Zara..

STRIPED DRESS

25.99 GBP

WEAR THIS DRESS WITH A CREAM/BEIGE BLAZER TO AN IMPORTANT EVENT!

STRIPED KNITTED DRESS

25.99 GBP

WEAR THIS DRESS WITH RED/PINK/PURPLE TIGHTS FOR A FUNKY LOOK!

STRIPED DRESS

25.99 GBP

WEAR THIS DRESS TO THE BEACH!

LONG DRESS

22.99 GBP

WEAR THIS DRESS ON A LUNCH WITH YOUR GIRLFRIENDS!

PRINTED DRESS

19.99 GBP

WEAR THIS FOR 'DATE NIGHT' TO WOW YOUR GUY!

STRIPED SKIRT

29.99 GBP

WEAR A HOT PINK TANK WITH THIS SKIRT!

SHEATH SKIRT

9.99 GBP

WEAR A BOLD COLORED BLOUSE WITH STATEMENT SHOULDER FOR A CHIC LOOK!

STRIPED SKIRT

19.99 GBP

WEAR A FITTED GREEN TEE WITH THIS SKIRT!

MINISKIRT WITH BORDER

22.99 GBP

ADD COLOR BY WEARING A YELLOW OR PINK TANK!

STRIPED BLOUSE

39.99 GBP

WEAR A BRIGHT COLORED SKIRT/PANT UNDER THIS, LIKE IN THE PIC!

STRIPED BLOUSE

25.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH YELLOW CROPPED TROUSERS!

STRIPED BLOUSE

25.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH GREEN HOT SHORTS!

STRIPED TOP

22.99 GBP

WEAR THIS AFTER YOUR SWIM AT THE BEACH!

STRIPED BLOUSE

25.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH YELLOW JEGGINGS!

STRIPED TOP

29.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH FORMAL TROUSERS FOR AN INTERVIEW!

T-SHIRT WITH FLOWER APPLIQUÉ

17.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH YOUR FAVORITE JEANS THE NEXT TIME YOU GO SHOPPING!

STRIPED T-SHIRT

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH A LONG DANGLY FEATHER NECK-PIECE TO WOW PASSER-BYS!

STRIPED T-SHIRT WITH MESSAGE

17.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH CROPPED NAVY BLUE PANTS!

STRIPED T-SHIRT

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS CUTE TEE WITH A GREEN BANDAGE SKIRT!

PATTERNED T-SHIRT

17.99 GBP

MATCH THIS TEE TO AN ORANGE SKIRT/SHORTS!

STRIPED T-SHIRT

19.99 GBP

ADD COLOR TO THIS TEE WITH RED SKINNY PANTS!

STRIPED TOP

19.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH YOUR DENIM SHORTS WHILE HANGING OUT WITH FRIENDS!

KNOT T-SHIRT

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH WHITE SHORTS TO THE BEACH!

STRIPED T-SHIRT WITH PALM TREES

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH JADE GREEN SKINNY JEANS FOR A FUN-FILLED EVENING!

T-SHIRT WITH SIDE BOWS

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS GIRLY TEE WITH LACE WHITE SHORTS!

T-SHIRT WITH TAPERED SIDES

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS TEE WITH A TAN WAIST BELT FOR A BOHEMIAN LOOK, 
DONT FORGET TO ADD A LOT OF BRACELETS!!

BUTTONED T-SHIRT

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH NAVE BLUE SHORTS FOR SPRING BREAK!

T-SHIRT WITH LACE DETAIL

17.99 GBP

WEAR THIS LACEY TEE WITH LEATHER JEGGINGS FOR THE ULTIMATE CHIC LOOK!

T-SHIRT WITH BOW

9.99 GBP

ADD A BROOCH TO THE SHOULDER FOR A LOVELY EVENING OUT!

STRIPED FLAMÉ T-SHIRT

9.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH EMERALD GREEN SKINNY JEANS!

STRIPED POLO SHIRT

15.99 GBP

WEAR WHITE CROPPED PANTS TO PROMOTE THE 'SAILOR LOOK'!

STRIPED T-SHIRT

17.99 GBP

MATCH THE TEE TO ROUGE RED SHORTS!

SLEEVELESS FRILL T-SHIRT

9.99 GBP

WEAR THIS CUTE FRILL TEE WITH A WHITE DENIM SKIRT THE NEXT TIME 
YOU GO SHOPPING!

STRIPED T-SHIRT

9.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH GREEN TROUSERS!

LONG STRIPED T-SHIRT

9.99 GBP

WEAR THIS PINK TEE WITH RED HOT SHORTS FOR A QUIRKY LOOK!

STRIPED T-SHIRT

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS WITH WHITE LOW RISE CROPPED PANTS!

STRIPED COLOUR T-SHIRT

9.99 GBP

WEAR BLACK JEANS TO NEUTRALIZE THIS 'RAINBOW' TEE!

POLKA DOT SCARF

15.99 GBP

WEAR THIS SCARF WITH YOUR RED TANK TOP!

FADED STRIPED SCARF

39.99 GBP

BRING COLOR TO A GREY DRESS WITH THIS SCARF!

STRIPED SCARF

17.99 GBP

WEAR THIS SCARF WITH AN ELECTRIC BLUE TEE SHIRT!

SAILOR SHOPPER

39.99 GBP

CARRY THIS BAG FOR A PICNIC!

SAILOR BOWLING BAG

39.99 GBP

BREAK RULES BY CARRYING A BoWlING BAG TO WORK!

The man behind Zara

Further to yesterday's post about Zara, there's another piece on its reclusive founder, Amancio Ortega Gaona. It's worth reading it all. Zara spends almost nothing on advertising, which itself keeps costs down. There is no 'face of'' Zara. As I said yesterday, I think its design is amazing, but the quality control is dire:

The 72-year-old son of a railway worker is now, according to Forbes, the seventh richest man in the world. He is astonishingly reclusive - only one known photo of him is in existence. He is thought to be deeply involved in all areas of the business, including design, but little is certain. Zara was one of the first to bulk-buy Chinese fabrics at a time when rivals dismissed them as of low quality. Zara legend has it that Ortega himself felt the cloth and made the decision, but as he has never given an interview we can't be sure.

He opened his first store in Galicia in 1975 and expanded slowly across Spain. In 1984, he met computer whizz Jose Castellano, who developed a production and distribution system that allowed clothing to go from drawing board to shop floor in as little as 10 days. Zara recruited a team of young designers - 200 at the last count - who created clothes inspired by the catwalk as well as adding their own ideas.

"So-called 'fast fashion' is now common in the high street," says Maureen Hinton, lead retail analyst at Verdict Research. "But before Zara arrived in the UK in 1999, all retailers offered three or four seasons. Zara introduces new stock every week, which caught our stores on the hop.""Zara has absolute control of the design, manufacturing and distribution process," explains Robert Clark, senior analyst at Retail Knowledge Bank. "Fifty per cent of its product is made in Spain, 26 per cent in the rest of Europe, and 24 per cent elsewhere. With others, 50 per cent or more is made in Asia. Fast-fashion items, roughly half its sales, are made in company-owned factories in Galicia. It's the basic T-shirt staples that are outsourced."

Although Zara owns its factories in order to speed up the process, this has also allowed it to dodge many of the sweatshop accusations that hound the likes of Primark - although in June it closed a textile supplier's factory in Dhaka over poor conditions, insisting that the factory introduce unions if it wanted to remain a Zara supplier.

Zara has overtaken Gap

In sales, that is, not style, which happened light years ago. But I have stopped buying Zara, however affectionately I remember its badly made dresses:

Unlike Gap, there isn't a definitive Zara look - it is so dedicated to following the twists and turns of fashion that its very lack of definition is key to its philosophy. It is as hard to pin down and as fast-moving as mercury. But it does do directional, it does great winter coats, (one of my most memorable buys was a bright yellow swing coat which reminded me of Courrèges in the Sixties) smart trenches and brilliant tuxedo evening trouser suits. It is capricious and fun. I don't always find something there, but I wouldn't dream of going more than a fortnight without a visit.

While Zara innovated, Gap never responded imaginatively to the arrival of the internet and its instant catwalk reports, or to the globalisation of production and demand. (Meanwhile, Zara was zipping from "inspiration" on a catwalk in Milan to a Zara production line in Spain and back to a store on the King's Road.) Or to the fact that we have all started dressing up more; we are all ladies who lunch now and, if necessary, invent events where we can dress up - just like Sex and the City - indeed the queues to get in to that movie were red-carpet gangs of girls wearing you-know-what.