She is a “fangirl” of Valentino, according to one profile, and is a regular at the brand’s shows. “I think it’s important to build bridges between high fashion and high street, between the past and the present, between technology and fashion, between art and functionality,” Ortega Pérez told the Wall Street Journal. Celebrity stylists and fashion photographers have been enlisted to shoot campaigns for the chain under her watch. She launched premium lines like Zara SRPLS - twice yearly collections of catwalk style pieces - and Charlotte Gainsbourg by Zara. Ortega Pérez is credited with connecting Zara’s vast production and distribution capabilities to the realm of high fashion, serving haute couture looks to shoppers at reasonable prices. Hyman, who has toured Inditex’s facilities, said: “I’ve visited many, many retail businesses in my time and I don’t think I’ve ever been as blown away.” That ability was built over decades by Amancio. Whereas rivals could take whole seasons to turn around new designs, Zara could do it in less than half the time. Zara has long been renowned for its ability to quickly churn out vast amounts of on-trend items, pioneering ‘fast fashion’. He is said to have settled on the name Zara after finding out his preferred option Zorba was taken. Then in 1975 he opened his first store to sell the goods he was making directly to consumers. In 1963 he set up his own manufacturing business making quilted bathrobes. Growing up poor, he left school at 14 and found work at a local shirtmaker in La Coruna, northern Spain. His father was a railway worker and his mother a maid.

Amancio was born on the eve of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the youngest of four children. This is all the more unusual given his estimated fortune of $75 billion, which makes him the second richest man in Europe, according to Forbes.īiographers, both official and unofficial, have pieced together his background. Amancio, 85, is notoriously private - he is said to have never given a press interview and the first public photograph of him only emerged in 1999. Richard Hyman, a long time retail consultant, said Ortega Pérez’s profile in the industry was “not huge” but this was not unusual given her father. New West End Company BRANDPOST | PAID CONTENT.

Marta ortega perez wikipedia