Zara's Holiday Collection Is Mastering ’90s Supermodel Glam

Faux fur, slinky slips, and a little after-dark drama.

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Zara models wearing the new holiday and winter collection
(Image credit: Zara)

Someone phone all the '90s supermodels, because Zara's new holiday collection has me ready to cancel my sensible family plans and find somewhere fabulous to be seen. This season, the retailer is taking a nostalgic approach to party dressing, trading predictable holiday sparkle for the kind of sultry, subtly dishevelled glamour that once ruled the dance floors of New York—where real women had real fun. Think barely-there slip dresses, decadent faux-fur coats, lace-trimmed camisoles, and the sort of accessories that look best accompanied by an extra dirty gin martini. It's less office holiday party, more Kate Moss leaving a party at 2 a.m.—and frankly, I'm totally sold.

What makes Zara's new holiday arrivals particularly good is their refusal to take the festive dress code too literally. Sure, there's a sequin pencil skirt or two, but the real magic is in the quieter statements: a chocolate-brown lace slip, a perfectly draped black dress, leather gloves finished with plush faux-fur cuffs, and sculptural gold earrings that do all the talking. Even a cherry-red cardigan feels like an invitation to get dressed up. The collection strikes that elusive balance between looking put together and looking like you didn't spend three hours deciding what to wear. Just throw it on, and go.

Zara models wearing the new holiday and winter collection

(Image credit: Zara)

And maybe that's the chicest part of this particular '90s revival: the clothes feel like they will have a life well beyond December. A faux-fur jacket makes jeans feel instantly more interesting, a lace camisole brings a little romance to an oversized blazer, and a satin skirt can just as easily make an appearance at a dinner come February.

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Ahead, shop my favorite pieces from Zara's new holiday collection—because the best party clothes deserve more than one night out.

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Cortne Bonilla-Oliva
Cortne Bonilla-Oliva
Senior Shopping Editor

Cortne Bonilla is Marie Claire’s Senior Shopping Editor, where she decodes the fashion landscape in real time—defining sartorial moments, identifying trends before they reach ubiquity, and distilling an increasingly oversaturated market into the pieces, designers, and ideas genuinely worth knowing. (She’s currently into the Interesting Minimalism aesthetic of contemporary brands.) She has over a decade of experience covering the fashion market, and over the course of her career, which spans previous roles as Senior Shopping Writer at Vogue, Fashion Market Editor at The Cut, and Fashion and Branded Content Editor at Editorialist, she has cultivated an editorial perspective rooted in both rigorous market intelligence and an instinctive understanding of fashion’s cultural vernacular.