Nina Garcia goes slumming at Zara and H&M

Look at what November Elle has brought us: a Nina Garcia essay on how to dress chic on a budget. Nina has discovered that things under $100 can look... not half bad! Accompanied by her fashionable friends the editor ventured out on a feild trip to Zara, H&M and J Crew unearthing items that were inspired by--get this--actual designers! Groundbreaking.

We realize that Nina is a magazine creature and receives gifts from designers...but has no one told her that Zara has been passing for YSL since 1999? Or that people go to Forever 21 for thirty dollar Marc-inspired sweater vests? Hola, bienvenido to the real world!