Stefano Pilati’s one-off collection for Zara will go on sale globally on Oct. 3, priced from $17.90 for a pair of socks to $399 for a leather jacket.
The Spanish retailer is hosting an event Thursday night during Paris Fashion Week to unveil the collection, and to celebrate the campaign by Steven Meisel, which features Pilati modeling the menswear and Gisele Bündchen the womenswear.
The Italian designer and the Brazilian supermodel also appear in the look-book images by Stas Komarovski, which highlight the voluptuous tailoring and sensual drape of the clothes.
According to Zara, the Stefano Pilati collection draws on his renowned personal style, and his career designing for brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Ermenegildo Zegna and his upstart project Random Identities out of Berlin.
Strawberries, a feature of his spring 2010 collection for Saint Laurent, are reprised in miniature, with miniature bananas dappled over men’s trousers. The overall mood, however, is soigné, telegraphed by the dark palette and dressy fabrics.
“A quiet sensuality is expounded through tailoring and fluidity, while a focus on silhouette, on fabrication and cut, result in pieces with eternality at their core,” Zara said in a statement about the Stefano Pilati range, his first designs under his name. “Transgressions allow rules of dress to be challenged: crêpe softens suiting, evening proposals slipstream to day.”
The collection spans accessories, including soft chukka boots and moccasins, circular bags, and chunky costume jewelry.
WWD broke the news on Sept. 3 that Zara had tapped Pilati to translate his much-admired personal style into a capsule collection.
The designer first came to international prominence when he succeeded Tom Ford at Yves Saint Laurent, where he served as creative director from 2004 to 2012, later becoming creative director of Zegna and Agnona. Earlier in his career he worked in senior design and fabric development positions for a number of Italian fashion houses, including Miu Miu, Prada and Giorgio Armani.
Zara has pursued an eclectic, more niche approach to collaborations that have helped elevate its brand image. It’s done ones with personalities including Meisel and Charlotte Gainsbourg; cultural phenoms Barbie and “Stranger Things”; sustainable textile firms Circ and LanzaTech, plus a range of in-the-know fashion labels such as Good American, Studio Nicholson and Korean streetwear label Ader Error.
