The Background: Creating the most inclusive beauty brand in the industry
When global retailer Zara approached Baron & Baron to guide the concept and creation of a new Zara Beauty brand in
collaboration with legendary makeup artist Diane Kendal, the ambition was simple and fearless—to create a beauty line for
everyone; regardless of gender, age or personal style.
Before approaching the packaging design, The Baron & Baron team crafted a strategy inspired by an analysis of Zara’s brand
DNA, and its unique offering within the fashion industry.
Where high-end fashion is built on exclusivity and a singular point of
view, Zara’s range of styles speak to everybody in many languages—all with a democratic price point and elevated aesthetic
that ensures no matter what you pick, you’ll be on trend.
If there’s one thing the fashion and beauty industries share, it’s the fact they’re built around stereotypes—seen even more
blatantly in the beauty space, with makeup brands’ muses often feeling like caricatures as opposed to authentic individuals. With the new Zara Beauty, the Baron team sought to translate the radical inclusivity of Zara’s fashion proposition into
cosmetics.
Built on Zara’s core tenets of inclusivity, pluralism, affordability and on-trend design and quality, Baron & Baron encapsulated
this bold new beauty perspective in a tagline for the brand: “There is No Beauty, Only Beauties”. This ethos informed all
touchpoints, from launch campaign to packaging design for the collection—which made its debut in May 2021 with over 130
colors for eyes, face, lips and nails.
The Packaging Design: An invitation to infinite expression
The team at Baron & Baron began with something that is recognizable to everyone – the Zara logo – and deconstructed the
“Z”, to create a signature slant as the uniting element across primary and secondary packaging. Turning up at the base of a
brush handle, the line of a lipstick cap, and the silhouette of the secondary packaging, the slant became a chic and playful
wink to insiders; while adding a fashion-forward architectural edge to the collection.
The packaging itself is a clean white, with an exceptionally subtle tone-on-tone logo on the primary packaging (and the
sparsest of elements on the outer). Sleek, gender neutral, and unerringly stripped back—the lack of overt branding and
messaging becomes a statement unto itself. It is both a blank canvas for the consumer’s expression, and a showcase for the
vibrant array of colors that define the formulas.
The Experience: Refill, Reinvent, Reduce
In designing the packaging for Zara Beauty, the team at Baron & Baron saw an opportunity to innovate through a simple-touse,
refillable system that’s crafted to keep—thoughtfully constructed to not only reduce waste, but also increase the
pleasure and experience of the product itself. Through this versatile system of primary packaging, the Zara Beauty collection
also offers the option to repurpose the same case across multiple product categories.
For example—a lipstick case can hold three different lip products, with finishes in matte, satin or balm. A compact case with
interchangeable trays can hold either a single bronzer, a trio of face shades, or a 6-eyeshadow palette. Mini cases can hold
Zara’s eye color duo or a single cheek color. And the Stiletto Lipstick case can hold their signature Stiletto Lipstick or an Eye
Color Stick. Refills are merchandised beautifully, and at a highly accessible price point, that encourages consumers to refill and
experiment rather than repurchase.
The refillable aspect of the packaging offers consumers an interactive experience with the collection; and reinforces the ethos
of experimentation, personal expression and individuality driving Zara Beauty and its dedication to “beauties” of every
definition.
Products that are not refillable, such as brushes and glass containers, use as much post-consumer or recyclable materials as
possible, and can also be collected in select stores after use.
A Final Word: What it means to the team
For 31 years, Creative Director Fabien Baron and his team have been the force behind groundbreaking work for the world’s
most notable beauty brands. With each project, perspective, moment in time, and cultural context, the definitions are
dramatically different—but the question that drives the team is the same: What is beauty?
Capturing new, often-surprising, and always-compelling answers to this question is what has made Baron & Baron’s beauty
work resonate long after times and trends have come and gone.
In some ways, the team’s work in bringing the concept and design of Zara Beauty to life serves as the embodiment of this
ethos—a testament to the elusive, impossibly subjective nature of beauty.
In Fabien Baron’s words, “It is so easy for beauty to be built on stereotypes.
Often, makeup brands’ muses feel like
caricatures, not authentic individuals. With Zara Beauty, we wanted to create a collection that rejected those stereotypes, and
refuses to target any one market. Makeup that inspires by expanding the scope of possibilities, invites everyone, and thinks
bigger about the boundless definitions of beauty.”
