Zendaya’s latest take on archival? A Twilight-era Robert Pattinson T-shirt.
At a surprise appearance at Electric Cinema in Notting Hill, where Zendaya dropped in on a screening of her new film The Drama, the actor arrived solo but not without a pointed nod to her co-star. Her accessory of choice: a “vintage” tee featuring Edward Cullen, mid-brood.
Oversized, black, and printed with Cullen’s pale, high-contrast likeness, the shirt carried the franchise’s gothic typeface — a relic from the peak of Twilight-era fandom, now recast as ironic, or perhaps sincerely nostalgic, merch.
The allegiance, it turns out, is not incidental.
In an interview with Canal+ ahead of The Drama, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson were asked to revisit the franchise that first made him a household name and the familiar binary resurfaced: Team Edward or Team Jacob.
“I’m Team Edward all day,” Zendaya answered, without hesitation.
Pattinson, for his part, met the question with mild disbelief. “No one’s Team Jacob,” he said, laughing. “That was just a marketing thing.” When the interviewer confessed their own allegiance to Jacob, he offered a quick, amused “sorry,” before adding, “That’s crazy.”
Zendaya leaned in. “I need to get the merch,” she said. “The whole thing.”
Which, in hindsight was now an indication of a plan already in motion.
It also places her in familiar company. Increasingly, appearing opposite Pattinson comes with an unofficial dress code: archival Twilight merchandise, worn with varying degrees of irony. Jennifer Lawrence marked her collaboration with him on Die, My Love in a Breaking Dawn: Part 2 cap, while Timothée Chalamet took a more contrarian route, posting in a Team Jacob tee.
Zendaya, for her part, kept the styling customarily considered. Tailored black trousers and Maison Margiela Tabi ballet flats grounded her look, making the case that even the most referential pieces can be recontextualised with restraint.
The look arrives as Zendaya embarks on a triple-film press run. With The Drama now in full promotion, early momentum building for Dune: Part Three, and Euphoria set to return on April 12, we find ourselves, thankfully, in the midst of an extended Zendaya press tour.
