Picture the pancultural individual. That creature of connectivity, bombarded daily with a cacophony of multimedia and noisy headlines. That creature is most of us, or at least those of us plugged into the panoply of available media outlets ー news, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify podcasts and all. At this rate, we need all the quiet we can get. 

It is this protective repose SR_A Engineered by ZARA aims to defend. The first edition of an on-going multistage sartorial exchange, the latest venture between multidisciplinary studio SR_A (Samuel Ross Atelier) and Zara functions as a preface to an alternate means of design focused on refuge and self-enabled curation. 

“My intersection is sited in the overlap between culture and youth culture, art and fashion,” Samuel Ross, founder of SR_A, mentions in the collection notes. “It’s about bringing these elements together to create the tension of connection…these are clothes for navigating cultural spaces and spaces of work and play, as well as moving between them.”

Outwear envelopes, insulating wearers from external elements, rain and radio alike. Jackets crafted in naturally finished fabric are topped with hoods ideal for sheltering within, while faux fur trapper hats neutralize and protect. In an effort to trade the micro for the macro, ready-to-wear functions as sanctuary, a grounding force in an epoch endlessly changing.   

Drawing on a fusion of ancient world and futuristic influences, Ross relies on a classically fashioned line of footwear complementary to the polished silhouettes. Hefty sandals are reinvented with a Japanese shiso stitching and the new runner silhouette is strikingly sleek. As for accessories, overdyed cotton and velcro closures lend the collection’s bags an air of prescribed utilitarian ease. 

The collection of contemporary classics is captured in a broodingly colored campaign shot by Gabriel Moses and featuring Luka Sabbat and soccer player Jules Koundé. Distinctly Ross, the capsule is comprised of garments designed to empower the self-curator ー the aforementioned creature looking to ground themselves amidst the cultural blitz ー and the lookbook highlights a mix-and-match reflective of just that.  

Through a series of site specific curated installations in Paris and New York, the partnership widens audience access to Ross’s minimalistic grandeur and ways of interpreting the mass of ever-changing contemporary trends. 

SR_A Engineered by ZARA is now available on sr-a.zara.com and at ZARA’s pop-up store in NYC: 45 Grand Street, New York, NY 10013.