By Anna Lim

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The world’s richest self-made woman, a Spanish former seamstress who co-founded the fashion retailer Zara, has died at the age of 69 in August, 2013. Rosalia Mera was the richest woman in Spain with an estimated worth of $6.1bn, although her fortune represented a fraction of the wealth accumulated by her former husband and Zara co-founder, Armancio Ortega. Mera suffered a stroke while on holiday. She died in a hospital in the town where she was born, La Coruna in northern Spain。

Having left school at 11 years old, Mera worked as a seamstress as a teenager before setting up a company with Ortega that would evolve into one of the biggest clothes retailers in the world. Originally, the pair had planned to name the store Zorba, but the store sign was modified to avoid confusion with a nearby bar. Today the rearranged name sits above 1,763 Zara stores around the world。

The Zara model grew up from the idea that first sent Mera into business: producing speedy and cheap imitations of the latest catwalk or pop culture trends. Mera was one of the great pioneers of so-called “fast fashion”. Despite her vast wealth, Mera stayed close to home and was often seen socializing in Galicia’s bars and taverns. According to Forbes magazine, Mera was the world’s richest self-made woman, and the 20th richest overall。

Vocabulary

1. self-made: 白手起家的;seamstress: 女裁缝;retailer: 零售商。

2. bn: 10亿，为billion的缩写;fraction: 一小部分。

3. modify: 修改;confusion: 混淆。

4. imitation: 仿制品。

5. Galicia: 加利西亚，西班牙西北部一地区;tavern: 酒馆。