Nobody commits to the assignment like Zendaya. Deep into the press tour for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, she and her stylist Law Roach have gone back to the archive again, and this time the reference is not subtle.
The dress
For the film's Shanghai premiere they pulled a gown from Atelier Versace's spring and summer 2016 collection, a season Donatella Versace built around sculptural cutouts, latticework, and body conscious draping.
On Zendaya the effect is unmistakable. Sweeping cutaway panels are joined by fine latticed inlays that read across the body as a web, and softly pleated chiffon falls between them, giving the whole thing an oddly Grecian quality. It is a superhero costume and a couture gown at the same time, without ever looking like either.
The brooch is the joke
The finishing move was a dazzling Chopard brooch, worn off centre so that it appears to be crawling across the web rather than fastening it.
That placement does two jobs at once. It draws the eye to the construction of the gown, and it puts a brooch back in play at a moment when fashion has been rediscovering them, without the result looking like a costume from a period drama.
The rest of the look
She wore her hair long, pin straight, with blunt bangs, and kept the makeup graphic: winged black liner, naturally flushed cheeks. Tom Holland, her husband and co star, arrived in a navy and red tie, which is about as far into method dressing as a man in a suit can reasonably go.
Between the two of them, the tie was not the one people photographed.