Guido Palau masterminds Zara’s first major haircare launch

Guido Palau requires little introduction. But, with a career in hair as illustrious as his, it’s always worth recapping a little. A session stylist for almost three decades, he has created the hair for some of the most enduring fashion and beauty imagery in history. One of his first jobs was working with The Supers – Naomi, Linda, Cindy, et al – in George Michael’s Freedom 90! music video, before he went on to define the lived-in insouciance of the grunge era with photographer David Sims and Kate Moss.

To this day, he counts the likes of Sims and Steven Meisel among his collaborators, and is responsible for dreaming up the looks for runway shows and campaigns, including Prada. In December last year (2023) Palau brought his editorial eye to Zara, for a range of limited edition festive hair products called ‘Glitter In Gold’, which included a glitter spray and gel, amongst others.

Guido Palau is shaping a new beauty chapter for Zara

It turns out that this was just the beginning of a new chapter for Zara’s beauty offering. On March 4 (2024), Everyday Basics, which is described as an evergreen group of essential products, will cement the Spanish brand as a major player in the haircare space. ‘I wanted the collection to be really easy to use,’ Palau explains over a Zoom call. ‘With all my years of experience talking to people about what they want from hair products, I knew what the big no-nos were. It couldn’t be too sticky, leave a residual, or feel too oily. So the range has a real touchability to it, and they smell amazing.’ (Nose Jérôme Epinette, who has already put his name to several Zara perfumes, is behind the fragrance.)

Palau goes on to explain that Everyday Basics draws direct inspiration from the essential items in his personal session stylist kit. ‘So it’s six key products I felt that people could do multiple things with,’ he says. ‘They can be used on their own or they can be teamed up together. You could use the Blow-Dry Spray and the Volumising Mousse for your heat styling. The mousse is great for root lift, but still has a softness and a shine to it. And then you could add texture to the result with the Dry Texturising Spray, before finishing it all off with the Hair Balm for sheen, nourishment and to tame flyaways. There’s also the Curl Activator, which is great for textured hair and encourages defined curls to form. You can just put it in and just leave it to air dry. The Hair Spray has hold, but brushes out without residual.’

The Everyday Basics campaign was shot by Baron & Baron and comprises models with three different hairstyles, from blowouts to braids. The vivid, multicoloured packaging was also designed by Baron & Baron, who worked with Palau to create an elevated aesthetic. ‘I wanted to make the packaging appealing in a way that you can build up a collection of products that look great on your shelves,’ he says. ‘The product is the minimal part, in that it performs very well and does exactly what it says. But Zara is a fashion brand, after all, so we needed to keep a fashion edge to the design.’

Palau also reveals that whilst Everyday Basics forms the beating heart of Zara Hair, there is much more yet to come. ‘Again, with Zara being a fashion brand, it’s not just about hair products but hair accessories, too.’ Indeed, Zara’s gold hair collection from December contained matching gold bobby pins, that can be used to a rather dazzling effect. ‘We're making further drops of limited-edition products down the line, including some exciting collaborations,’ he says. We’ll be watching. And whilst our breath might be bated, thanks to Zara and Guido Palau, we’ll also have great hair.

The Zara Hair Everyday Basics collection by Guido Palau is available from March 4, 2024 on zara.com.