At headquarters, the “Zarina” does not have an office. The one that the Spanish media nickname works in an open space, with the Zara teams. This is what his father, Amancio Ortega, the first fortune in Spain and 85-year-old fashion mogul, who founded the Spanish brand with his first wife Rosalia in 1975, then the Inditex group in 1985. The employees of the firm know this pure Galician, 37 years old, who will take over the Spanish clothing empire as non-executive president, from April 1, 2022. She is the boss's daughter, obviously. Her passion for minimalist fashion, enamelled with colorful nuances, has also made her one of the best ambassadors of the group. Her understated, fashionable, and effective outfits are easy to copy. But above all,behind her black eyes and her slightly hazy blond square, the story of a crucial succession takes shape, against the backdrop of a family dynasty.
For years, everything indicated that the youngest of Amancio Ortega's three children (Sandra, Marcos and Marta) was the one chosen to inherit the Galician Empire, valued at around 87 billion euros.
The Patriarch had thought about it for a long time, but the subject remained a secret.
However, Marta's recent appointment sounds like the culmination of a long family handover that began in 2011, when her father, Amancio, left the presidency.
Marta Ortega and her father Amancio Ortega.
(La Coruna, June 20, 2018.)
Getty Images
"She knows fashion better than her father"
It has been fifteen years since Marta Ortega cut her teeth in the company, which today has more than 175,000 employees. This allowed him to know the inner workings of the Inditex machine. She went through all departments, or almost, without really occupying an official position. In recent years, she oversaw women's fashion at Zara alongside the head of collections, Beatriz Padín, while developing the brand's image. From her, the journalist Xabier R. Blanco, author of several books on Inditex including
Amancio Ortega. From zero to Zara
, says she "knows fashion better than her father".
This translates into shooting, since 2017, the brand's campaigns by photographers Steven Meisel and Mario Sorrenti, big names in the sector. By opting for a visual aesthetic close, henceforth, to that of a fashion magazine. Or by launching premium collections with personalities; recently it was with Charlotte Gainsbourg. Marta Ortega also works on her network, in particular through fashion events where she involves her name. As recently as the beginning of December, she welcomed the entire fashion intelligentsia to A Coruña, where the first retrospective of Peter Lindbergh was held with her “personal support”. Naomi, Kate Moss, Linda Evangelista, Claire Waight Keller, Emmanuelle Alt ... In total, a hundred designers, artists, stylists, photographers, actors,models and influencers rushed to pay tribute to the photographer who died in September 2019. Proof that the time when Zara was despised by the greats of this world is long gone.
Charlotte Gainsbourg's collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
An oversized denim shirt, a must-have in the feminine wardrobe.
Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
A round-neck, short-sleeved t-shirt that works well with any outfit.
Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
The low-cut slipper, perfect under a shirt or sweater in winter.
Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Black cigarette jeans for a casual and chic look.
Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
Charlotte Gainsbourg imagines a very personal collection for Zara
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The dice for Marta's ascension were rolled when she was 23 years old. The father secretly missioned her to London for a job as a saleswoman in a Zara store, located a stone's throw from the European Business School where she then studied business "without much success but with tenacity", indicates the Spanish daily
El Pais.
. She will explain later to the
Wall Street Journal
that the first week, she did not think herself capable of "surviving". "But then it's like you get hooked on the store." She will say nothing about her identity to her colleagues, even if some have spotted the Rolex she wears on her wrist.
No wonder: secrecy is the hallmark of the Ortega clan.
This will not prevent the youngest, in the years that follow, from appearing as a media figure, anxious to glamorize the image of a family that refuses to play with the codes of pageantry.
His parents prefer to stay away from the curious and lead a normal life in their neighborhood, in La Coruña.
Marta Ortega at the Peter Lindbergh retrospective, accompanied by Pierpaolo Piccioli, Naomi Campbell and Carlos Torretta.
(December 1, 2021, A Coruña.)
Getty Images
Jesuits and jet set
In August 2021, Marta broke for the first time one of the sacred rules of the father: not to grant an interview to the press.
She breaks the silence in the
Wall Street Journal
, where she is presented as "Zara's secret weapon". The supplement of the American economic newspaper devotes its front page to her where she appears immortalized by fashion photographer Steven Meisel. If this interview, carried out at the headquarters of Inditex, in La Coruña, does not return to the accusations of forced labor of the Uyghur minority in China of which the group is the object, it does however have a very specific goal: to officially induct the girl. d'Amancio Ortega, who does not occupy any managerial position in the group (she does, on the other hand, in the real estate divisions of the family empire), like the one who could take his place. In fact, the article rules out any speculation on the role of the rest of the siblings, the two eldest of the father, born from his first marriage to Rosalía Mera,died in 2013 following a stroke which occurred during a summer vacation in Menorca.
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Little is known about the type of relationship Marta has with her half-sister, Sandra, 15 years older than her, and her half-brother Marcos, the businessman's youngest son, who has severe cerebral palsy.
But you only need to pay attention to the details to see the rift that exists between them.
The fact of being born Ortega is not a guarantee of equality in education.
Sandra did all her schooling in the public sector while Marta studied with the Jesuits in La Coruña, then passed her baccalaureate in an upscale establishment in Switzerland.
While her sister, Spain's second stronghold, seeks absolute discretion - her media outbursts are non-existent - Marta appears regularly in Spanish social pages.
Passionate about horse riding, she participates in professional show jumping competitions.
She also appears in the front row of the haute couture show of Valentino, of which the designer Pierpaolo Piccioli is a close friend.
And takes part in many gala evenings where Charlotte Casiraghi and Queen Letizia of Spain are also present.
Marta Ortega and Carlos Torretta, her second husband.
(June 12, 2018, Madrid.)
Getty Images
Two marriages
Marta therefore took media liberties in the face of her father's legendary ostracism. And even managed to convince him to do the same on the occasion of his two weddings. One, with jockey Sergio Álvarez Moya, in 2012, where he appeared dashing and all smiles (the couple gave birth to a little boy and separated in 2015, without uproar or noise). The other, with the model Carlos Torretta, in 2018, on the occasion of which Amancio Ortega put the package: the festivities were celebrated with the musical performances of Chris Martin, Norah Jones and Jamie Cullum.
Everything suggests that Marta's second husband has found his place. Besides the fact that he is the father of his second child, he shows himself to be more and more involved in the business of his in-laws, where he now works in Zara's communication. The Spanish press says they are accomplices, and not only on a private level. Carlos Torretta always appears alongside his wife: no public appearance without his presence, and at Zara, he is never far away. The man wants to be an unwavering support for the heiress, like a secret weapon in the face of the challenges that await him. Because there are many of them.
When his appointment was announced, the stock fell 6%.
The transfer of power went badly among investors.
Their message?
After the departure of Pablo Isla who has held the presidency for ten years, Marta Ortega must convince of its capacities to lead the growth of the ready-to-wear giant heckled by the health crisis, to arm itself in the face of new aggressive competitors, like Shein, to impose a demanding sustainable development program, to face the accusations of forced labor of the Uyghur minority in China ... So many obstacles that could be the work of a new life.
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