The Simplicity of Low-Stakes Shopping
Or, I Ventured Into Zara
I have been strategizing heavily about the sale season this year. With a limited budget, I’ve been weighing my options: should I buy this or that? How much wearability will I get? Should I wait until Tibi shoes go on sale? It also did not help that I decided to bring more color into my life, which added yet another layer of strategizing. Overall, I got quite tired of it and decided to stay still and not purchase anything.
And then, somehow, I found myself browsing Zara.
Now let me be clear: I don’t generally like Zara. The only time I usually go there is when I am looking for something for my kids. Primarily because every top seems to have bust darts two inches above my actual bust, the materials are of poor quality, the designs often assume you are bra-less, and every piece screams at me: “This is not for you, this is for a skinny teenager!” And yet, this time I somehow found some interesting pieces from their ZW Collection.
Since Zara is everywhere, it is pretty easy to go in and try things on, which I did. As usual, many pieces did not fit, but I did find some gems. What struck me most, however, was how different the shopping experience felt. There were no advanced CPW calculations, no massive deliberations, no “I will buy this now and save for that later.”
Zara pieces are very affordable for me at this point, so there is much less emotional noise around buying them - and much less scarcity brain. I can get most things at Zara without much deliberation, and as a result, paradoxically, it makes me crave less and shop less. Even though it was easy, I did not buy anything immediately. I waited a couple of days to see if I really wanted the pieces, and then purchased them without much drama.
The first piece I got was this beautiful eggplant Zara suit. This is how it looks on the model and on me. To be honest, the silhouette of the blazer is a bit too flared, but I still feel extremely relaxed in this suit, and the color is just amazing. This is the only suit - and actually the only blazer - that I wear while working from home without feeling completely out of place. It has been three days, and I have already worn it multiple times.
Zara suit, Aeyede green heels, Daria Deh green dress, Le Monde Beryl shoes, Uniqlo tops in wine and white, Tibi debrancus’d Brancusi jeans.
The second piece is this simple and easy skirt in a pale blue color. The skirt itself is very simple, but I love the interesting color and the styling opportunities it creates. I have worn it a couple of times and I love the color-blocking possibilities it offers - there are just so many options.
Zara skirt, Cos vest, Uniqlo tank, Flattered slides, Arket orange T-shirt, Le Monde Beryl shoes. Gray Matters pumps.
The quality level of these pieces is what you would expect from Zara. One button looks like it might fall off soon, and I also have the sustainability and business practices questions in the back of my mind.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the designs: they feel pretty modern, use interesting colors, contain no polyester, and are overall much better than I anticipated. Let’s see how they hold up after a bit more wear. For now, I can enjoy them while I strategize my future purchases from the Tibi sale and Resort 2027.
What is your take on Zara and fast fashion? Do you ever buy fast-fashion pieces - and more importantly, are you ever happy with them?
I think you say it all when you say “the quality level of these pieces is what you would expect from Zara” and note that the blazer is a little too flared, the button is about to fall off. I understand fast fashion as a necessary evil, for those who cannot afford the insane prices in regular or luxury fashion. Or who are sized out. The industry is broken. But I have never owned a piece from Zara that I haven’t ultimately given away, whether I bought a thoughtfully or not. The lack of “a full body yes” as Allison Bornstein calls it, is baked into the very model, in that “for Zara” line. And for what it is, I think it’s very often expensive. In times when I’ve had to be very cost-conscious I preferred to reuse what I have, find things in thrift stores or secondhand, and shop sales when I could after being disappointed with a $69.99 or $89.99 purchase and feeling like I’d flushed that down the drain. These days I notice I hold onto my things - or find them easy to sell so they keep circulating.
I have some leather shoes from Zara that I really love, one pair bought new and two secondhand. I have 3 other Zara pieces, all natural fibers and made well. Due to price and size I've gotten good at finding quality things at mall and fast fashion brands. When I find a good item, like linen shorts.from a few seasons ago at Old Navy, I look for them secondhand. I've recently changed sizes and can fit into some of the largest items from Tibi. I have a few secondhand pieces. One, a blazer, is clearly more cleanly made than something less expensive. The other, a skirt, is a really great design, but quality wise similar to my other clothes.