Marisa Berenson creates a collection for Zara: from Schiaparelli pink to swimwear and jewelled dresses

Madrid – Zara has announced the upcoming launch of a capsule collection designed with the renowned New York actress, model and socialite Marisa Berenson, generating considerable anticipation and surprise. She is one of the most recognised figures in the fashion and film worlds of the 70s. After many years as a regular collaborator with Inditex's main fashion chain, she has finally taken the step to create her first fashion and homeware capsule for the brand. The actress and model is making her design debut with Zara at the age of 79.

From a business perspective, it is necessary to highlight the strategic value of this initiative by Zara with Marisa Berenson. Although it may seem repetitive, it demonstrates how carefully planned each collaborative step is at Inditex's main fashion chain. The model and actress has appeared as the face of the brand on several occasions, most recently for the 50th anniversary of its first store opening. This collaboration further strengthens her ties with Zara and the Spanish fashion multinational, chaired by Marta Ortega. She is designing a fashion and homeware collection for the first time in her life, reflecting her personal and professional journey. This is a milestone for the actress and model. It also highlights how Zara is steadily progressing towards its goal of transforming from a brand where everyone wants to shop to a brand with which everyone wants to collaborate. This presumed strategy was noted following the launch of its collaborative collection with Bad Bunny just over a week ago.

Following that launch, FashionUnited analysed how Inditex and Zara seem to have placed collaborations with Bad Bunny and the signing of John Galliano at the core of their immediate strategies to reactivate Zara's growth. The capsule with Marisa Berenson does not contradict this analysis; it confirms it. It confirms how the renewed collaboration policy is becoming an increasingly strategic and differentiating lever in Zara's business model. Óscar García Maceiras, chief executive officer of Inditex, highlighted on March 11 during the presentation of the 2025 annual results that in 2026, they “will continue” to develop collaborations “with global figures from the world of design, culture and art”. In this specific case, the launch of an eclectic and intergenerational womenswear and homeware collection demonstrates Zara's focus. The brand aims to become “the firm everyone wants to collaborate with” while also reinforcing its goal of being “the firm where everyone wants to shop” and is able to.

Under the influence of Elsa Schiaparelli

This combination of complementary purposes reveals a collaborative capsule collection based on a dual strategy that Zara seems focused on to reactivate its growth. On one hand, the brand aims to collaborate with cultural figures to connect with today's audience, as seen with Bad Bunny. This even led Inditex's chairwoman, Marta Ortega, to dance on stage with the Puerto Rican singer. On the other hand, Zara seeks to establish itself as a fashion house, not just a clothing chain, through collaborations with influential industry figures like Gibraltarian designer John Galliano. These strategies converge in the figure of Marisa Berenson, a fashion and film icon of the 70s. Through this intergenerational collection, the chain once again seeks to validate its status as a fashion house. The collection is created with none other than the natural heir of the great Elsa Schiaparelli. She was the founder of the house of Schiaparelli; a historic rival of Coco Chanel; a pioneer in fostering a collaborative and symbiotic culture between different art disciplines, with collaborations with Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau; and Marisa Berenson's maternal grandmother.

Berenson confesses that this family relationship and the intimate influence of her grandmother have most marked her style. This, in turn, has shaped the pieces the actress has created as part of this collaborative capsule collection. The collection includes references to some of the most striking outfits she has worn over the years, both on and off the big screen and in photoshoots. She has worked under the direction of artists, photographers and film directors such as Irving Penn; Stanley Kubrick; Andy Warhol; Bob Fosse; Clint Eastwood; Luca Guadagnino; and Luchino Visconti. She made her big-screen debut with Visconti, playing the wife of Gustav von Aschenbach in the cult film 'Death in Venice'.

“I have created a capsule collection” that is a reflection of “my life and my films,” says Marisa Berenson in a statement provided by Zara. The statement, collected for the brand by none other than Hamish Bowles, global editor at large for Vogue magazine, highlights how “it has been an exciting adventure to bring together this multigenerational universe” that she holds dear, to create this collection. It is markedly influenced by her personal style, which is in turn an inheritance from the tastes of the great Elsa Schiaparelli. “What I learned from my grandmother was independence and a certain originality, as well as an eclectic taste,” she acknowledges, while also recalling how nervous she used to get when she had to visit her. “I would start to tremble just thinking about it,” she recalls, because “she couldn't believe the way I dressed in the 70s,” and “she thought my generation was the most vulgar, and that there was no elegance or style anymore.”

From 'shocking' pink to swimwear and jewelled dresses

Proving the perception that the past always seems better, and that in fashion, the past has a patina of elegance and style that outshines the contemporary, the collection responds to the ideal of an “endless summer,” from Capri to Saint-Tropez, notes Marisa Berenson. It is a timeless interlude built on reinterpretations of 60s, 70s and 80s fashion from a modern perspective. This gives rise to “The House of Marisa” collection of womenswear and homeware, which is also peppered with references to her own wardrobe and the unique universe Berenson has always showcased over the years.

Focusing on the offering, and starting with womenswear, the collection is built on a colour palette dominated by black, emerald green, and gold and silver finishes. 'Shocking' pink, the emblematic colour of the house of Schiaparelli, serves as a tonal accent. This chromatic symphony gives way to garments such as gold lamé shorts; a short, balloon-shaped cape; a silver lamé bomber jacket; a pink linen dress; cardigan-style jackets; and various tunics, dresses and shirts in coral orange or Nile green tones. The clothing collection is completed with jewelled swimwear adorned with beads and snake motifs—one of the main iconographies of the collection—and a full range of footwear, hats, turbans, and costume jewellery. The presence of 'jewelled' finishes and pieces is one of the most distinctive elements of this collection. It seems to establish a direct dialogue not only with Berenson's personal taste but also with the striking photographs of her nude—'dressed' only in a link necklace—that Irving Penn took for Vogue magazine. Hamish Bowles claims these photos caused Elsa Schiaparelli to stop speaking to Diana Vreeland, the historic American editor who was then director of the Condé Nast publication.

As for the homeware collection, it presents a similar style that flirts with the surrealist heritage of Elsa Schiaparelli. Key pieces include cutlery with coral-shaped handles; glassware decorated with zodiac signs; as well as candlesticks; tableware; embroidered scarves; decorative plates; notebooks; and pillows. All these pieces are decorated with coral motifs or references to the world of constellations and stars, similar to the snake motif in the clothing. These are as characteristic of Elsa Schiaparelli's imagery as the 'shocking' pink found in pieces like wrap skirts and dresses in this collection.

“Marisa has created 45 pieces for an endless summer,” which include “everything from beachwear, dresses, jackets, and trousers... to homeware,” with “rugs and tableware” and even “cutlery that, in Marisa's words, is ‘formal but beautiful and whimsical’,” Zara remarks. Influenced by her grandmother's “so eclectic and haphazardly arranged” residence, “this eclectic approach to decoration would mark her life,” and “it also defines the homeware collection that Marisa has conceived for Zara.” The collection is described as “an intoxicating mix of influences, offering colour, embroidery and pure splendour,” while also dialoguing with the clothing collection, which is “although slightly evocative, also fully modern.” These are “light and seductive” pieces with which Berenson “revives the 70s style for those girls who have only dreamed of it, who have only imagined it.”