Everyone sets goals for the new year. Some people start journaling. Some join pilates studios they’ll stop going to by February. I personally planned on fermenting pickles and becoming the kind of adult my Notes app thinks I am. Zara, meanwhile, (a new cultural force) started flirting with luxury, and, well, Bad Bunny. First came the custom-made looks for the Super Bowl halftime show, a phrase that still sounds slightly AI-generated. Then came the Met Gala, where 80-year-old Benito looked Zara enough for the internet to immediately start conspiracy-threading a collaboration into existence. Fast forward a few weeks and the Benito Antonio collection is here in 150 pieces and a campaign shot (by STILLZ) in Puerto Rico, enough to briefly soften the Zara of it all.
And with a little help from Benito’s longtime creative director, Janthony Oliveras, the breezy pieces made their way to San Juan’s Plaza Las Américas, where Zara set up a pop-up just days before the official launch, fully embracing its love for mint green and pastel pink interiors. Cropped blazers, relaxed long-sleeves, boxy shirts, oversized hoodies, flared jeans, and an alarming amount of shorts filled the shelves. Swim trunks, shopper bags, washed caps, silk bandanas, pastels and brights, checks and stripes had their Zara moment too. A rather efficient way to get pink past the male ego.
Now back to the annual goals. For a brand whose name is basically shorthand for fast fashion, making people see anything else isn’t exactly easy work. Stores started looking so minimal you half-thought you had accidentally walked into Kim Kardashian’s living room. Price tags, on the other hand, went fully maximalist. People who used to work nowhere near fast fashion ended up behind the scenes, Steven Meisel, David Sims, John Galliano, Willy Chavarria, even Bad Bunny. Accessibility can be the starting point, but million-dollar boardrooms decide what it becomes. And a coin always has two sides, even when it’s being sold as one in pastels.
