(CNN) — It can’t be easy being Zendaya’s co-star — at least in terms of vying for red carpet attention. While promoting “The Odyssey” this summer, she’s worn an Eiffel Tower-shaped headpiece, a pair of earrings dating back to the 1st millennium BC, a life-size pair of feathered angel wings and a couture Schiaparelli look stylist Law Roach reportedly scooped up off the runway and delivered to her via private jet. There aren’t many stars who can go toe-to-toe with all of that.
But her longtime — and now permanent — co-star Tom Holland and his stylist Crystalle Cox have risen to the challenge, finding inventive ways for the actor to hold his own next to a fashion supernova. To be clear, these clothes aren’t shouting back at Zendaya’s high-octane dressing. The message seems to be more about subtlety and a little quirk, wearing clothes that invite a closer look. In particular, the last few suits Holland wore to premieres of both “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and director Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster deserve another glance.
This week in LA, Holland was brave enough to embrace a Spidey-scarlet color clash with a crimson suit by Jacquemus and a poppy red shirt underneath. With no visible fastenings and no lapels on the front of his blazer, the only defining design feature was the jacket’s asymmetric curved edge. It was a smooth, stealth suit — made more interesting by the absence of traditional tailoring elements. Holland had already worn another of these suits for “The Odyssey” premiere in New York — a collarless double-breasted tailored jacket by California luxe streetwear brand Fear of God that lacked both an undershirt and one more lapel. These are intensely minimalist suits, where the negative space is the design. They create intrigue through their lack, a contrast point to Zendaya’s red carpet opulence.
Similar is the Balenciaga “suit” Holland wore last month for a “Spider-Man” screening in Amsterdam. It was built to command a double take: the basic black pants, white shirt and tie looked a little off, until you realized Holland had subbed out a blazer for a second crisp button down.
Fashion designers have long enjoyed pillaging the traditional men’s two piece. Yohji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo gutted the suit and reimagined it with scattergun pockets and buttons, as well as lopsided hemlines. Hedi Slimane shrunk it down to a wisp. Willy Chavarria has been expanding horizons — particularly in the pants department — with suits that are loud and louche and lavish. But male stars in the past have generally been less emboldened to embrace these alternative styles at press events. Today, the non-standard has become standard as more celebrities see the value in style experimentation: take Joe Alwyn in his slick Ferragamo suit worn shirtless at the 2024 Academy Museum Gala, Michael B. Jordan in his mandarin collar tailored jacket at the Oscars, or Bad Bunny in his Schiaparelli velvet corset tuxedo at this year’s Grammy’s.
Holland’s suits might not be the most obviously dazzling, but with their strange blankness and color clashing they probably made you look twice. When you are permanently stage right of Zendaya, that’s a feat onto itself.
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