Zara Beauty will officially be released soon, online and physically in stores. The brand has promised to be “clean and inclusive.” Like every other new beauty brand these days.
The success of the launch and the timing, is already being questioned. We are in a pandemic. So many people have nowhere to go, because of the lockdown. Those who would like to go out, are low on cash, because jobs have been lost or salaries have been reduced.
Zara Beauty must be counting on European and the USA for its sales, because those are the only countries that have had access to vaccines, meaning lockdown has started easing up. Meaning people will start going out again. Meanwhile developing countries are left fighting to lift patents on vaccines, so economic activity can pick up again.
Overall, the state of the world right now, is what made people doubt the timing of Zara Beauty. Along with the fact that other fast fashion brands, such as ASOS and H&M- have tried it and failed, to make their makeup as big as their clothing.
Zara Beauty promises to be accessible; their prices will not be anything above $30. Another reason why people cannot seem to trust the idea that Zara Beauty will be “clean” as it promises. Being a fast fashion giant means using cheap labor and resources to create products and consumers are skeptical about how Zara will achieve “clean” makeup without doing all this.
To bring hype around the brand’s launch, Zara has hired British makeup artist Diane Kendal, to help develop the upcoming range. Zara Beauty will consist of products for the lips, eyes, face and nails in over 130 colors at Zara prices.
Diane Kendal is based in New York City. She has worked for Marc Jacobs Beauty as a beauty product consultant and makeup artist. She has also developed product lines for Calvin Klein Cosmetics. So, she has extensive experience, which is probably why Zara chose her to lead the project.
To create enticing images for us all on social media, Zara went and hired various bug names in the photography. Steve Meisel has been brought on board, along with Marilyn Minter and Mario Sorrenti. Marilyn Minter is described as “a contemporary American artist whose personal brand of Photorealist painting examines contemporary notions of beauty.”
Which is inline with Zara’s slogan “clean and inclusive” which is about embracing beauty in all forms and not trying to have one idea of beauty purvey.
Mario Sorrenti has shot for publications such as Vogue, French Vogue, Italian Vogue, W Magazine, and The New York Times. His fashion and beauty clients that he has worked with are Chanel, Bulgari, Estee Lauder, Tom Ford, Revlon, Dior Beauty and Yves Saint Laurent.
The next challenge is actually convincing people to buy their makeup products from Zara. This is not a re-brand, from clothing to make up exclusively, but rather an integration into their brand. They want to be the go-to for clothing and beauty at the same time. Whether this will happen successfully, remains to be seen.
Gen Z is a generation obsessed with being able to do their makeup from a very young age- they also make up the majority of Zara’s target market. Quality is something they are looking for, even in affordable makeup products. If Zara can deliver on all fronts, then the transition into beauty will be successful.
They managed to do this when they introduced perfumes. Even collaborating with high end brands like Jo Malone.
