When Zara released this mustard yellow number for Spring/Summer 2018 it screamed ‘summer at the office’. I fell in love with this beauty and a number of their other brightly coloured suits. However, I have a bone to pick with Zara.
If you follow my instagram or saw my last post, you may have noticed that my thoughts have started to explore a number of issues people are facing in the corporate world.
Interestingly, in my current job I have become very present to the lack of diversity in my division: often in meetings I am the only ethnic minority and the youngest in age. It’s strange. That’s not to say the company is not diverse, but I feel as though my team and the two floors I have worked on are lacking in diversity! I am now seeing diversity or the lack of it in many forms, inside and outside of the office…. and this mustard suit got me on a right train of thought!
I completely get that this suit has loose flowy fit with a long flared trouser style. However, I had spent £39.99 on these trousers, and additional £12 to have them altered. Even after taking them up by 3-4 inches for my 5’5 frame, and wearing 4-inch heels, this pair of trousers still managed to sweep the streets of London pristinely clean. They were not just altered; they were changed into a whole new bloody leg length!
So yes, I get the style, but when trousers are that abnormally long for an average woman’s height there is only so much you can take the hems up before they distort the flared effect of the trouser. This is precisely what happened to my pair which looked less flared compared to the models on Zara’s website.
And here we have the issue. How the hell is the fashion industry still based on one body type; that 5’9 plus tall and skinny model? I would consider the model body shape to be a minority body type, and even if the fashion industry continues to use the model body type on the runway and for fittings (which I hope is going to change for the next generation of women) then that DOES NOT EXCUSE huge brands like Zara for not providing alternative leg lengths to consider shorter and average height women!
If Topshop can do it then Zara can. Topshop has petit, regular and tall ranges. As does Next. I have met many women who say Zara’s trouser never fit them and that the trousers are too long. It’s a shame because this wouldn’t be a huge dent in Zara’s costs to provide a petit or regular fit and make Diversity and Inclusion part of their mission, given the brand is adored by women from all over the world.
If anyone is as YouTube-beauty-obsessed as I am, then you maybe be aware of the social issues beauty Youtubers are presenting around lack of diversity in the beauty game. Top brands with huge profit margins are not providing enough foundation shades to include darker skin tones. The biggest controversy came when American beauty giant Tarte released their Shape Tape foundation with 15 shades, where only 3 were for deeper skin tones (one for very dark). It was obvious to see they considered a huge range for lighter skin tones highlighting the lack of diversity. Large brands like that have no excuse; as we saw with the release of Rihanna’s own range Fenty Beauty. Her foundation has 40 shades with 10 shades per skin tone group of Light, Medium Tan, Deep. Therefore, representing and including everyone EQUALLY.
Why shouldn’t we hold the fashion industry to the same standards? I discuss the beauty industry, as being Indian, one of the biggest issues is finding the right shade of foundation for my skin tone. With so many beauty brands in the market that shouldn’t be hard, but it is. Similarly, with so many ‘fast’ fashion brands, it is still so difficult for me to find the perfect pair of trousers for my non-model body shape.
In my view, fashion and beauty is for everyone. When someone reached out to me on Instagram asking what size I went for in the trouser and how the fit was for this suit, I had to be honest. But it does make me wonder if brands look at their analytics to see what people are buying and returning. For me, I have a huge number of blazers from Zara, but very few trousers, and I wonder if other women experience the same?
So come on Zara (and other Inditex Group Brands), be a cause for change and start to include everyone in your size and fit considerations. It will only be a positive thing, and it may just reduce the number of returns you process everyday!
Zara suit | Zara | Topshop cami | Chanel bag | Gianvito Rossi shoes
Photos: Emma Pharoah
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