Zendaya’s ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ style: 8 clever callbacks to MJ hidden in her looks

At the Spider-Man: Brand New Day photocall at Edge at Hudson Yards in New York, Zendaya delivered the kind of look designed for those who study every frame for hidden references. Wearing an oversized white Vetements blazer with a black button-down, silver tie and thigh-high patent boots, she created a striking monochrome silhouette that appeared at first to be pure fashion statement.

The black-and-white palette, however, carries a subtle connection: it echoes Mr Negative, the classic Spider-Man comic book antagonist whose powers revolve around the inversion of light and dark. By dressing MJ in the villain’s signature contrast, the look subtly reflects her altered reality after the memory wipe—a visual clue hidden in plain sight, rewarding fans who looked beyond the surface.

Worn at a Mexico City fan event, Ashi Studio’s Spring/Summer 2026 haute couture gown marked a dramatic shift from the playful energy of the tour’s European appearances. One side of the look was cut in opaque black silk crepe, while the other revealed sheer web-embroidered lace climbing the neck and left arm. From that cuff, hand-threaded glass tassels and beaded fringe flowed toward the floor, creating a silhouette that recalled Spider-Man’s iconic web-shooters.

Styled with a ’60s-inspired beehive by Ursula Stephen and a sharp micro-fringe, the gown’s funeral black palette added to its sense of mystery. For fans, the look invited speculation that its mourning-like mood reflected MJ’s erased memories of Peter Parker—a fitting example of how Zendaya and Roach continue to use fashion as another layer of storytelling.

Don’t miss: Architectural whites: Zendaya’s ‘The Odyssey’ looks are a masterclass in goddess style

Not every reference requires high drama. At this daytime appearance in Shanghai, Zendaya and Law Roach translated Spider-Man mythology into polished collegiate dressing. She paired a Coach red button-down with tailored navy trousers, a slim grey tie and white Christian Louboutin pumps. The colour-blocking recalls Spider-Man’s familiar red-and-blue suit, but the deeper reference lies in the mood: preppy, collegiate polish reflecting MJ’s new life at MIT, where she is studying alongside Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) after the memory wipe.

That detail matters to the story. MJ’s happiness at college is part of what convinces Peter that she is better off without her memories of him, making the look’s clean, youthful polish a subtle reflection of the life she has built in his absence.

Pulled from Atelier Versace’s Spring/Summer 2016 couture archive and worn later that same day in Shanghai, this ivory gown transformed a classic Versace silhouette into something more mysterious. A semi-sheer, crystal-embellished black net stretched across the draped silk base, finished with harness straps and a high thigh slit that balanced fragility with restraint.

The defining detail came through Roach’s styling: a diamond-studded David Webb spider brooch, set with a yellow sapphire, pinned at the hip as though caught within the gown’s web-like lattice. Paired with long dark extensions and wispy micro-bangs, the look moved away from the tour’s earlier brightness into something moodier and more intricate—a visual reflection of MJ’s fractured reality and the secrets still surrounding her story.

The Los Angeles premiere of Spider-Man: Brand New Day brought Zendaya’s spider references into their most sculptural territory yet. She wore a black satin Ashi Studio Fall 2026 corset gown, its curved shoulder extensions resembling the antennae of a spider, paired with custom Christian Louboutin heels studded with crystal spiders and Boucheron’s onyx-and-diamond Lavalliere Diamants earrings.

Roach described the look as an “abstract” interpretation of the spider itself, making the reference far more explicit than in the tour’s earlier appearances. After looks that moved from the primary colours of Spider-Man’s world toward darker, more architectural silhouettes, the Los Angeles appearance pushed that visual language further, turning MJ from a character associated with Spider-Man’s mythology into a figure with a distinct visual identity of her own.

If Los Angeles brought MJ’s spider symbolism to its darkest point, London offered something altogether softer. Zendaya wore an ivory-champagne Tamara Ralph Fall 2026 couture gown, its sculpted mermaid silhouette traced with delicate crystal chain straps that suggested spun web rather than mourning veil. At the base of her spine, a gold spider brooch—repurposed from an earlier spiderweb headpiece—was echoed by a matching pin on Tom Holland’s tie, linking the pair’s looks.

The styling shifted with the mood. Zendaya returned to loose, natural waves, leaving behind the severe micro-fringe and dark palette of her earlier appearances. At her London appearance, the shift from black to ivory reads as a note of thaw, suggesting MJ’s frozen memory of Peter may not be permanent after all.

For the London afterparty, Zendaya changed into a custom LaQuan Smith halter dress—black-and-white stripes cut close to the body, finishing in a red ruffled mermaid flounce at the calf. Roach revealed on Instagram that the design revives a 1987 sketch by the late Willi Smith, commissioned by Marvel Comics for a Mary Jane Watson paper doll celebrating Spider-Man’s 25th anniversary and published in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21.

Finished with white Christian Louboutin pumps and diamond drop earrings, the look doubled as tribute: to MJ’s comic-book roots, and to one of American fashion’s most influential, under-celebrated Black designers.

NOW READ

Goddess glow: Anne Hathaway’s ‘The Odyssey’ style is rewriting the rules of maternity fashion

The new preppy rules: how Wimbledon 2026’s best-dressed stars modernised courtside style

From Haaland to Mbappé: luxury bags at the World Cup