Glamablog by Anna Christie - Sydney, Australia

For glamorous thinking women, aged 20 to 100.

Wednesday 1 June 2011

Bravo Zara, bravo Kylie


Bravo Zara
Zara is the Spanish fashion brand that has been longed talk about by Australian travellers overseas, which has recently launched well-positioned, large stores in Sydney and Melbourne. Zara offers excellent styled clothes for remarkably low prices, especially considering that it often uses far superior fabrics than most budget fashion labels.
Many of Zara’s garments are also more well-made than comparable brands. How do they do it? Some insights into the Zara business model can be found at a well-researched Wikipedia entry, which records that all fashion clothing manufacturing is conducted in Spain and Portugal, with perennial basics being produced in Turkey and China.
If you are interested in the business model of Zara: 

Kylie in Manhattan
I don’t get to see my friend Kylie very often, because over the past two years she has lived in Fiji, Geneva and New York, rarely returning to Australia. Don’t be surprised however that when we met during my visit to New York, a rendezvous that took place at Bryant Park, corner Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, within 5 minutes of getting together we were in Zara over the road, and deliberating over a floral, sleeveless dress.
Little did Kylie know when she led me across the road and into Zara, that I had admired the same dress just the day before when I had been in Zara’s larger three-storey branch further uptown in Fifth Avenue. In fact I had gone so far as to turn the dress inside out and check out the internal construction, noting how well-made it was, with an unusual detail in the structure, facings and seam bindings. Very, very unusual for a dress costing close to $100.
This was a great buy for Kylie, who is still studying for her Masters of Law in Human Rights and International Law at Columbia University. The style, cut-away armholes, tulip skirt and highish waist, is perfect with her gamine, fine-limbed look. She can wear the dress alone, or with a jacket for a more business-like look.
I loved the floral pattern the minute that I saw it. It is hard to describe what makes a great floral, but this one has it - vivid colour, pleasing blend of colours, nice lustre of fabric, and not “cheap looking”, the latter being a quality hard to describe in words.

I know she will love wearing it for some time to come. 
Kylie in Zara floral dress Spring 2011

Black jacket transforms the look

Kylie's nail varnish is picking up the hints of poppy red

A second sighting
On the weekend I took a train ride to Princeton, New Jersey, and saw a young woman wearing the same dress, in a larger size. She teamed it with moss green suede platform sandals, and looked great. Should Kylie care? Absolutely not. She will customise her look with her own accessories. It can also make a great deal of difference what size the dress is in.
More good news for Kylie
I felt even more certain of the merits of the Zara dress when days later, I was walking through the ultra-fashionable Meatpacker area in the lower west side of Manhattan, where many top ultra-fashionable clothing brands have opened stores, Diane von Furstenberg and Stella McCartney to name just a couple. I came across a dress in a similar, gorgeous pattern in a boutique - by Dolan. It was a very pretty, a floaty, semi-transparent dress of a slippery polyester fabric - HELL in the sweltering New York summer!  
It was more than twice the price (US $220) but half the versatility, and judging by the fabric and finish, half the quality of Kylie’s Zara dress.
Dolan dress is gorgeous too, but more than twice the price
Check out the similarity of the print. Not so distinctly floral, but the colours a close match.
To conclude, you done well girl.
Bravo Zara, Bravo Kylie!


Kylie pictured wearing royal blue silk sleeveless ruffle blouse from Saks Fifth Avenue, with polka dot skirt and gold vintage leather belt, sitting pretty in Bryant Park, Manhattan