I always think of this time of year as the schmatte season: summer clothes are made of lightweight, often flimsy materials and end up trashed by Labor Day, so I don’t like to spend a lot on them. Fortunately, cute options abound, and for starters, I’m liking this fancied-up tee, which would be aces with an A-line skirt.

A striped popover in a nice light material that would look equally good tucked in or out.

This airy blouse is part of a new collection from Everlane, but it reminds me a little of an Isabel Marant top I own.

The ruffly bits here are nice and subdued, which is just how I like them.

This cowl neck tee is awfully simple and chic.

A pleat-neck top that you could dress way up or, alternately, wear with your most broken-in jeans.

I love the hit of red on this leopard print top—so graphic.

A peasant-y top with a bit of very appealing embroidery on the sleeves.

This attractive twist-hem top is from Universal Standard, which means it’s available in just about every size imaginable, and it’s a really good blue.

This drapey top looks very Maria Cornejo to me.

An organic cotton top that looks like it’d be great half-tucked into white jeans.

This poppy yellow floral with frayed details has a nice, relaxed vibe.

This rich blue top is a perfect, polished, throw-it-on-and-go kind of piece.

I really kind of want this slouchy polo shirt: it’s chic in an uptown preppy kind of a way.

A romantic little shirred tee that’d be cute under a blazer.

The same thing that makes T-shirt bras good at their jobs also makes them not very pretty: All of the lace and other bits of frippery that make bras appealing make them lumpy and bumpy when worn under a tee. Mostly they’re very boring specimens, and that’s what I usually go for. But since we have just embarked on T-shirt bra season, I thought I’d go searching for exceptions, and the best one I found was  this sexy plunge bra.

This number is from Thirdlove, a newish brand about which some people rave, and it’s pretty minimal, but I think the striped stitching detail is very chic and modern.

If it’s tough to find an attractive T-shirt bra, it’s doubly hard to find one that’s (my) flesh-colored. But the lace here is very pretty.

The mesh bits on this Chantelle bra are rather alluring.

This is just rather vampish, but in a nice, subdued way.