Zara Partners with French Designer Ludovic de Saint Sernin to Elevate Luxury Appeal

Zara takes another step forward in its approach to the world of design. The Spanish group has announced a collaboration with Ludovic de Saint Sernin, the Belgian designer consecrated at the Paris Fashion Week with the work of his eponymous brand and after a brief experience as creative director of the cult brand Ann Demeulemeester. The launch of a joint collection follows the line of recent initiatives to raise the brand’s positioning, from the opening of flagship stores under new premium and sophisticated concepts such as the one in Serrano, Madrid, to high-flying alliances on selected collections, such as the one launched with Italian designer Stefano Pilati.

The Ludovic de Saint Sernin x Zara capsule, which will go on sale on November 17th in selected stores and on the brand’s website, will transfer the creator’s language, an androgynous and Parisian sensuality characterized by shiny fabrics and precise structures, to Zara’s global scale. Inspired by the cinematic energy of New York, the proposal will combine the severity of the eighties with the casualness of the nineties, reinterpreting the queer imaginary and nocturnal luxury from the perspective of contemporary accessibility.

“What we have created together is my idea of the perfect closet: garments of exceptional quality that I want everyone to wear,“ explains the designer, who defines the project as an extension of his own universe, transposed to an unprecedented scale. The collaboration follows in the wake, moreover, of the project of alliances between niche and luxury brands with the giant H&M, which has come to democratize the designer fashion of renowned brands such as Balmain, Isabel Marant or, just this year, the Belgian Glenn Martins, at the helm of the creative direction of Maison Margiela.

The project with Saint Sernin, the brand explains, is the result of months of joint work between Zara’s design team and the designer’s studio, whose identity is defined by leather work, metal eyelets and a clean silhouette. In this capsule of accessible premium positioning, its codes are rewritten in an industrial key with chrome studs that run through leather coats, mini-dresses, overlapping belts and gloves; a light metallic mesh developed especially for the collection or wide tailoring in satin wools and silk satin.

Zara stars in one last collaboration with designer Ludovin de Saint Sernin

The strategy to raise Zara’s positioning is reflected, as usual, in a careful campaign typical of the codes of luxury brands. Directed by Gordon von Steiner, it has counted with the participation of some of the most sought-after models on the scene, such as Alex Consani and Amelia Gray, who in some images have posed with the designer himself.

The alliance between Zara and Ludovic de Saint Sernin comes at a key moment for Inditex, which has made France its symbolic laboratory to test its future identity: more elevated, more sophisticated, closer to design, more intellectual and more luxurious. In recent months, the group has deployed a series of moves that reinforce its desire to dialogue with the world of design and luxury from a cultural perspective.

Coinciding with the last fashion week in Paris, Zara celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a pop-up at 40 avenue Georges V, in one of the areas usually reserved for designers and luxury houses. The show was also curated by Sarah Andelman, founder of Colette. In it, the brand brought together fifty designs by as many international figures (from Rosalia and Pedro Almodovar to Pierpaolo Piccioli or Annie Leibovitz), reinforcing its link with contemporary culture and its ability to generate desire beyond the product.

In October, Zara Home closed its pop up at 117 Rue du Bac, installed in the former premises of The Conran Shop, to open in the coming months a new permanent apartment at number 83, consolidating its presence in the axis of Parisian design, where brands such as Cassina, Ligne Roset or Silvera coexist. The space, conceived in collaboration with Vincent Van Duysen and the Patrick Seguin gallery, operated for a year as a sensory laboratory integrating art, coffee and ephemeral floristry, marking the first international incursion of the Apartment concept.

In the first six months of the year, Zara’s sales, in which Inditex also records the turnover of Zara Home and Lefties, amounted to €13.15 billion, an increase of 0.89% over the same period of the previous year. The combined turnover of the three concepts accounted for 71.63% of the group’s total, which increased its sales by 1.6% to €18.35 billion.