This is what it was all building to – the big Hollywood premiere of Spider-Man: No Way Home happened last night and as far as Zendaya’s looks have been concerned the last few weeks, it was the one we were all waiting on. Custom Valentino. Slinky. And, yes, a spider print. Perfect, it’s just always perfect.
Like, yeah, she can wear just about everything, I get it. She’s tall and lean and things fit and fall properly but it’s also about choice – which dress for which night and why. For Zendaya and Law Roach, it’s never just about whether or not something looks good, it’s about surprise and theme and setting and the performance of what she’s wearing. Last night’s fashion performance also featured a mask, meant to look like a spider’s head, to go with the webbing detail on the dress. This is a style flex only she could pull off.
Lately though, there seems to be something extra going on. Zendaya is never not a knockout but is it just me or is there an added vibe, like radiating from within? It’s probably just me reading into how f-cking cute she and Tom Holland have been through this press tour, now that it’s no longer a secret that they’re dating, a thing offscreen (again), they seem to be really kinda just rolling with it. Going through this kind of whirlwind is not easy when you’re alone. What bonds them too is that they’ve been able to navigate it together – for three movies. So there’s a real celebratory energy happening here. They look close, right? Her hand on his chest, the way they constantly crack each other up, and at the same time it doesn’t feel like they’re in their own little bubble, to the exclusion of others like some couples are when they’re super into each other.
Z, Tom, Jacob Batalon, and Benedict Cumberbatch were on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night before heading over to the red carpet and you can see how familiar they all are with each other. Zendaya and Tom may have been seated up front but there was opportunity for everyone to engage and exchange with everyone else, and Jacob, who’s been on many stops of the press tour with Z and Tom, wasn’t a third wheel here at all. I loved what he said about needing a lot of personal tickets for the premiere for his big family because he’s “Filipino as hell”. So while Z and Tom may be the media main attraction for this movie, behind the scenes, from what we’re hearing and seeing, this was a team set. Watch yourself and see if you get the same read I do.
To go back to Zendaya’s fashion, though, this outfit she wore for Kimmel, with the gold tank and the white jacket and matching pants and all those straps and strips flying around…
It just never stops, you know? There’s no end to her style excellence.
