The New Markets Enjoy Decent Fashion Designs

 London Fashion Week | Reuters.com
London Fashion Week | Reuters.com
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The New Markets Enjoy Decent Fashion Designs

 London Fashion Week | Reuters.com
London Fashion Week | Reuters.com

There are certain fashion designs that surprise us and make us question whether they were inspired by a personal concept of fashion or designed in favor of a certain environment that shall be promoted in the coming 6 months. Long sleeve dresses, high necklines, long skirts with scarves, hats, and turbans that cover the head might merely be an idea inspired by the designer after a movie or a romantic novel, or they might also be a concept that carries out whole cultural and ethnic features imposed by markets and customers that enjoy remarkable purchasing power.

In all cases, the consumer is the first benefiter in general. Over the past years, runways have been overshadowed with designs that are both decent and elegant with eastern inspirations that sometimes focus on rich fabrics and other times on ethnic prints and embroideries.

Designers expound that time has changed and the concept of attraction has changed with it and thus no longer concentrates on revealing body charms. As a matter of fact today, attraction is based on intellect and culture. Although it seems the new concept flatters the East, and particularly Arab women, it has succeeded in attracting women from all over the world regardless of their nationalities.

Ten years ago, Channel’s designer, Karl Lagerfeld said that fashion is part of people and all ongoing events around the world; pointing to the incidents taking place in the Middle East. Years have passed and many collections were introduced by different designers who adopted and reflected the same “decent” spirit, however some of them only aimed at achieving financial profits by introducing typical and stereotyped attires that lacked uniqueness and did not fully respond to the demands of modern conservative women.

Valentino, which is partially owned by the Qatari firm “Mayhoola for Investments”, was the best in embodying the trend of decent fashion and in introducing designs that feature femininity as an equivalent concept of attraction. Obviously, the new fashion styles have served the Arab woman’s taste, as it showed that femininity doesn’t mean the revelation of body charms and body details.

Professor Reina Lewis from London College of Fashion (LCF) implemented many researches in this field and discovered that decent designs were increasingly spreading among the young generation regardless of factors like religion, ethnicity, and nationality.

Lewis also found that young ladies are imposing their styles in the market, like the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, who insisted from the beginning on waiving seduction and choosing a classic elegant style, including her royal wedding dress and attires she chose in her official appearances.

Designers say that the success and self-esteem of the modern women, who don’t feel that they need to reveal their body charms to fulfill their ambitions, has encouraged them on adopting this style in their lines. They add that while women in the past used to wear revealing attires to feel appreciated and attractive, the new generation insists on choosing comfortable and flexible clothes to wear.
Jamila Halfichi



Zara Opens Flagship Store in China’s Nanjing with Cafe and Content Creation Studio 

People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)
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Zara Opens Flagship Store in China’s Nanjing with Cafe and Content Creation Studio 

People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)
People walk outside a newly opened Zara flagship store in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China March 20, 2025. (Reuters)

Inditex-owned fast-fashion retailer Zara opened what it dubbed a new-style Asia flagship store in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing on Friday as part of its global push to cut underperforming shops and double down on larger retail formats.

The Spanish company has put in place more digital integration and spaces designed to encourage shoppers to spend more time in-store, with the new features to be trialed in China before it decides whether to expand them to other markets.

The need to revitalize Zara's retail network has been particularly apparent in China. Multinational brands targeting the country's middle-class consumers have been squeezed by a broader spending slowdown as well as increased competition from local brands with nimble domestic supply chains and strong digital presences.

At 2,500 sq m (26,909 sq ft) spanning two floors, the Zara store in Nanjing's central business district of Xinjiekou includes a salon for private shopping experiences, complete with a lounge area and personal change rooms.

It also has a "fit check" studio with multiple cameras and lighting settings where customers can shoot their own video content and download it directly to their phones. Both are available to book via popular social messaging app WeChat.

The downstairs area also features the first Zacaffe coffee shop concept outside of Spain.

It is not the first time Zara has experimented with new concepts in China before exporting them to other markets. Its popular series of livestreamed shopping shows on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, last year led the brand to experiment with similar livestreams in Europe and the US.

Inditex has been shrinking its store footprint globally over the past few years, seeking to optimize its selling space by focusing on flagship outlets in prime locations and ramping up online sales.

As recently as 2019 Inditex had 570 stores in China, its biggest physical footprint after Spain. That number had fallen to 132 as of January 31 this year.