Zara heiress is the most influential fashion player you've never heard of

Despite being the second richest man in the world, Zara founder Amancio Ortega usually keeps a low profile. But last weekend the paparazzi caught the Spanish billionaire in a rare "display" of mega-wealth in St Tropez, as boat watchers salivated over his £41.2-million (nearly R7-billion) super-yacht.

For the fashion crowd, though, there was something else on board to catch the eye - and, alas, it wasn't 81-year-old Ortega's (inevitably Zara-bought) bathing suit.

His 33- year-old daughter and the heiress to his empire, Marta Ortega, was also present, and flexing her impeccable taste for resortwear.

The appearance has, consequently, given us a rare insight into the woman who is likely behind a large chunk of the contents in a woman's wardrobe.

Marta acts as a senior creative consultant on all Zara Woman collections.

It's thought that she's the one, over her two siblings, who will take over the family business if her father ever retires, and she has been working her way up the ranks since beginning her career at the family firm as a shop girl in the Oxford Street store, during her business management studies in London.

In 2012 Marta married fellow champion show-jumper Sergio Alvarez Moya in a private ceremony on her father's estate. After splitting some months ago, she is now in a relationship with Carlos Torretta, a model agent.

As she continues to rise at the company, Marta Ortega is a name worth watching. In fact, considering the fact that Zara's sales hit £535.2-million in the UK alone last year, she may already be the most influential name in fashion that you'd never heard of. - The Daily Telegraph

• This article was originally published in The Times.