This is Connecting the Dots, a series in which writer José Criales-Unzueta looks at how fashion, pop culture, the internet and society are all interconnected.
“Can we connect the dots of how Barbie turned promo tours into Halloween?” read a DM I received on Instagram a couple of weeks ago as Zendaya’s Challengers promo tour gained momentum. The actress wore a series of tennis-inspired looks, as subtle as the pair of tennis balls stuck to her custom Loewe stilettos.
Gone are the days of a nice evening gown being enough for the lead actor in a film to wear to a premiere. Now movie stars dress the part, literally, using their outfits to talk back to their latest film and their own characters. Method dressing as we know it today traces back to Zendaya: well before Challengers, Law Roach dressed the actress in looks inspired by her roles, dating back to Spiderman: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman. Fashion was a way for the then-budding star to stand out on the red carpet as she promoted her supporting roles.
Many up-and-coming actors have since followed suit: there was Halle Bailey in aquatic gowns for The Little Mermaid, Jenna Ortega in dark and gloomy fashion for Wednesday, and Anya Taylor-Joy as a literal Mario Kart Princess Peach for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Margot Robbie’s stylist, Andrew Mukamal, outfitted her in so many Barbie-inspired looks that the duo published a book, Barbie: The World Tour, breaking them all down.
But these looks run the risk of being too literal or too character-specific. They can bend — and therefore flatten — fashion to serve the purpose of a costume, context notwithstanding. This makes us, the public, able to only judge its effectiveness in the context of its adherence to a theme. Fashion can be entertainment, but there’s more to it than that. As the red carpet takes the most literal of cues from the movie screen, has “method dressing” gone too method?
“I Told Ya” it works
Going method is great marketing, particularly when fashion commentary online has gone from niche and insular to a favourite pastime for armchair experts everywhere (see: the Met Gala). On the publicity side, the maths is simple: an actor wears a good outfit related to the film, the look goes viral, ergo film goes viral, meaning more people are likely to make the effort to see it in theatres. In an age of excess content, everyone is willing to do what they need to stand out.
Method dressing can also help make movie stars out of rising actors. Zendaya is the prime example, of course, but Robbie is a compelling instance of how a few good looks can help sway the public opinion of a star. People celebrated the more adventurous and playful looks and the wider variety of brands she was wearing as she branched out from what seemed like an iron-clad Chanel ambassador contract.
It’s also a way for brands to become part of the zeitgeist and jump into the pop culture conversation. Robbie’s Schiaparelli dress, which she wore at the Los Angeles premiere of the film, was based on a 1960 “Solo in the Spotlight” Barbie. It generated $2.1 million in media impact value (MIV), over half of the brand’s Autumn/Winter 2023 show at $4.1 million, according to Launchmetrics. As for Zendaya and Challengers, measured by Launchmetrics between 22 March and 2 April, her Loewe looks generated a total MIV of $8.8 million; her partnership with Louis Vuitton (a custom look and an archival one) generated $5.5 million; and her Thom Browne dress for the film’s London premiere $2.8 million.
Loewe has taken this a step further by taking the “I Told Ya” T-shirt that both Zendaya and Josh O’Connor wear in Challengers and making it merch. O’Connor wore a button-down with the words across his chest to the film’s London premiere, and Zendaya wore the Loewe tee when she did a surprise appearance at a movie theatre in New York to promote the film (I was at that theatre, and one attendee immediately noted her T-shirt as it appeared on screen). The shirt then went up for sale online for $330, as well as a $690 sweatshirt with the same slogan. Several sizes of each have since sold out.
This Barbie needs a new outfit!
The Barbie phenomenon was charming at first, but from the time the first on-set images of Robbie and Ryan Gosling surfaced in the summer of 2022 until Robbie wrapped her promo for the film after the Academy Awards earlier this year, onlookers had grown exhausted. When she wore her final Barbie outfit at the Oscars in March, her fanbase celebrated the end of an era as if she was becoming free from pink, life-sized shackles.
Zendaya’s more literal looks for Challengers, like a tennis-ball green Vera Wang sheath finished with a literal tennis ball on her navel, have also been received mildly compared to her Dune: Part Two Mugler robot suit.
Perhaps it’s due to the fact that with Dune, Zendaya and Roach indulged yet another of the internet’s fashion fascinations: the archive. A Givenchy by Alexander McQueen two-piece and a Thierry Mugler’s famous robot suit charmed online fanatics, but with Challengers, the custom effect was less charming. There is something mystifying about the sci-fi world of Dune as seen through the eloquent sartorial eyes of Roach, contextualised in some of the most iconic and unique archival pieces today. With tennis, however, the effect is merely literal.
This could be why Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have switched up the script. The pair started promoting the upcoming Wicked at the Oscars this year and have been wearing pink (Grande as Glinda) and green (Erivo as Elphaba) for their joint appearances since. At the Met Gala, however, they switched colours, and to great effect. Grande was the main performer of the evening and wore a Maison Margiela Artisanal ensemble in green; Erivo joined her for the final song in a pink archival Thom Browne frock. Erivo and Grande both have a long way to go before the first of two Wicked movies premieres this November during Thanksgiving weekend, making the promotional tour a method marathon, not a sprint.
There’s something to be said about the power of a good red carpet stunt, but whether method dressing remains as the norm moving forward remains to be seen. The looks should be able to stand on their own and leave room for interpretation, lest they become mere costumes.
Never before have fashion credits been as ingrained in the everyday conversations around a film or a TV show. Fashion has regained its power to fuel cultural conversations and catapult the niche into the mainstream, but the ball is still in entertainment’s court. Whether brands and magazines can take this momentum and become the main character rather than a tool will inform what comes after the age of method dressing.
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