It seems every month there’s an update to the Zara website that gets everyone in the office talking — however seemingly tiny or insignificant.
Now, it’s not just the frustrating section showing us which pieces we could have bought in sizes other than XS or L had we looked on our morning commute rather than our lunch break, it's the new Timeless collection.
Another environmental move from the fast fashion brand, after Join Life, it's encouraging people to switch — or at least supplement — their wear-once wardrobes with sustainable styles. It's part of an eco-positive U-turn we're seeing high street wide, from Monki to Weekday.
Judging by the models — Malgosia Bela, Kristina de Coninck and Yasmin Warsame — by ‘timeless’, it’s referring to both aesthetics and age. Malgosia is the youngest of the three models, who’ve walked for countless catwalk shows including Givenchy, Balenciaga, Dior Couture and Dries Van Noten, at a (not particularly ancient but industry anomalous) 40 years old.
In between the campaign pictures, there are punchy quotes from the models, like this from the cheekbone-centric beaut: ‘I prefer myself so much better now than ten years ago or twenty years ago. Obviously it would be nice not to get old and ugly, but the mental process is only for the better. So, it’s a paradox: more confidence, and you’re getting old. But it’s… I kind of like it’.
The trend of hiring someone post-millennial to front a campaign began with Celine and Joan Didion for SS15, then Saint Laurent and Joni Mitchell.
Paradox or not, the ethos of the Timeless collection is positive. And, bonus: it's highly shoppable.
There’s a lot of chunky knitwear, oversized and raw hem denim, androgynous suiting, classic cashmere and statement-but-wearable coats.
Though some of the looks fall into that basics + quirky shoe formula, which has had an inevitable Instagram overkill, overall it’s wearable. Bar maybe the leather glove and shirt combo. We challenge anyone who’s not Malgosia Bela to pull that off.
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