Review of Zara Atelier Season Four Ad Campaign by Photographer Tim Walker with model Kristen McMenamy
Zara explores myth and making with the new campaign for its fourth Atelier collection. The campaign was shot by photographer Tim Walker.
The highest expression of craft from Zara, each Atelier season sees its design team focus on a single wardrobe staple – this time, the jacket – and puts its expertise to work in exploring and reconsidering the garment to create new expressions of style.
Walker’s imagery draws inspiration from the Pygmalion myth, in which a sculptor falls in love with one of his own creations and longs to give it life. Exploring the matrix of relationships between artist, subject, and finished artwork, the campaign puts iconic model Kristen McMenamy in conversation with elements of the sculpting process. She emerges from a plaster cast or stands in a wooden crate in preparation to be shipped off to a museum. The neutral color scheme and especially the model’s pale skin and silver-blonde hair helps to push the feeling of a marble sculpture come to life – yet there’s never any question that she’s all human.
Highlighting its Atelier’s status as an expression of excellence in the craft process, Zara brings together a clever concept and cool casting for a striking ode to the magic of creation.
Photographer | Tim Walker
Model | Kristen McMenamy