ZARA ATELIER is an imaginatively progressive Zara project that is dedicated to unleashing fashion’s infinite potential to express individual personality via expert craft and mindful design. Intentionally specific in focus, every season ZARA ATELIER challenges its creative team, alongside its studio of specialists dedicated to tailoring and craftsmanship, to concentrate on one category of garment: following seasons dedicated to the dress and the coat, for this third instalment, that garment is the skirt, showcased in a series of images by photographer Nick Knight.
The Atelier team has created six variations of the skirt, designed with unbridled creativity to unlock a multitude of wearable attitudes. Limited only in number, the fabrication, construction, and embellishments are all of the highest standard. The result is a capsule collection that subverts any standardised, cookie-cutter approach to defining clothing. Instead it reflects an inherently diverse approach to fashion that amplifies the exceptional uniqueness of every individual character who wishes to engage with it.
One garment, six ways, unlimited possibilities.
The Skirt – 1
Inspired by the physical architecture of technologically-driven advances that emerged during the 1940s, this skirt embodies an attitude of modern feminine independence. Featuring hand-set corsetry and boning and crafted in various shades of off-white both sheer and opaque, this organza and satin design features hook-and-eye tie details, ribbon edging, and a discreetly tonal floral pattern. Fitted high and close to the body, Skirt 1 transmits sensual self-possession.
The Skirt – 2
Epitomising ZARA ATELIER’s mission to catalyse worn uniqueness, each example of this full, asymmetrically pleated skirt was first cut and sewn in blue taffeta, before being individually screen printed by hand in brushstrokes of soft silver. Designed to appear different from every angle, and in its every limited individual example, the design enables pleats to play against draped pouf as movement generates a constantly changing platform for those unique patterns. Abstract and softly structural in form, Skirt 2 is a mesmerisingly wearable canvas that rises and shifts beyond the body within.
The Skirt – 3
A satin waistband-suspended gathered balloon miniskirt in black georgette is the striking starting point for this party-perfect third chapter in this season’s ZARA ATELIER portfolio. Down across the left hip rests an irregular half-moon section of individually embroidered golden tubes that ripples with reflection and gently sounds as the wearer moves. Draped from the right side, meanwhile, is a full swathe of fabric set with gently reflective microbeads that twists, shimmies and cavorts with more sinuous wearer-generated movement. Dynamic, alluring and demonstratively tactile, Skirt 3 is a captivating catalyst for restlessly expressive spirits of the night.
The Skirt – 4
Framed by two laterally pleated folds of fabric, this skirt is layered with a subtle pentimento of hand applied pattern. Crafted in pale vanilla cotton, the piece is painstakingly embroidered with an embossed botanical relief which is delicately emphasised with crystal tubing. To create a contrast between the highly fashioned main body of the design, its waistband and hem are defined by a raw finish: this also telegraphs the non-mechanised handicraft that was central to its creation. Sophisticatedly understated, Skirt 4 is a piece whose deeply considered design features are not cosmetic but inherent.
The Skirt – 5
This long and loose, delicately narrowed A-line skirt in light, hand-treated leather is a striking assemblage of patched sections and panels in five complementary patterns. Featuring one accented ruffle, also in leather, that falls from the left thigh down diagonally to the right knee, the skirt plays polka dot against ditzy floral against color block. Inherently bohemian but distinctly modern, Skirt 5 has been designed to transmit character, while acquiring ever-more character as it is worn, lived-within, and loved.
The Skirt – 6
The finale piece in this six chapter section of self-contained exercises in fashion storytelling is fittingly ebullient. Designed to amplify an already irrepressible personality, this skirt is crafted from rivulets of sequin strips, all hand-applied, that fall in a shimmering stream from the waist. Skirt 6’s wearability is bound only by the sense of adventure, daring, and freedom possessed by the woman who chooses to possess it.
[Photo Credit: Nick Knight/Zara]
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