I am intrigued by this cover, and the choice to basically show it for what it is: a piece of cloth on a block. It's a photo set. Nothing fancy except the dress; just a puddle of fabric at her feet. I actually think some of the other photos are better, but I can see why they went this way -- the color, the sheer visual dominance of the dress. The latter must have been a fun experiment in posing. The mood is a bit chilly, though also VERY 2020 -- it's this notion of trying to glitz up and get fancy and find some joy that way, but ultimately being like, "Ugh, we're still sitting in the middle of some serious B.S." In that sense this cover hits it right on the head.
Law showed a variation on this as a second cover, and I think it shows off her face better and I might prefer it. There's a tiny bit more joy in it, although in large part it hits the same emotional note for me that the first cover does: the notion that there is this desire to celebrate again, to dress up and go big and find that kind of excitement again, but that ultimately it's still melancholy. This end to 2020 has been unlike any other, and it's full of emotional contradictions, and pushes and pulls and fears. So again, if that was the idea, well, they hit it.
I do not insist that Zendaya smile if she does not want to, but she has SUCH a brilliant one -- I wish one of these had caught her lighting up the room that way. Or even pensively half-smiling, reaching for hope. Having said that: I like this dress. And the OTHER really 2020 thing about these is that she's wearing sneakers in all of them. When we left L.A. (temporarily, we think), I put all my heels in storage and brought only boots and sneakers. I predict 2020 will be the year I finally completely forget how to walk in anything but flats.
Law called a version of this "the cover that almost happened," and I think they made the right choice in keeping it inside the mag. It's fun and weird and funky for an inside spread but the cover version just feels like backwards mask messaging or something.
I also love the kicks with this outfit. Law picked good ones.
This has such an interesting behind-the-scenes feel, exposing the mechanisms of the photo shoot while also centering the dramatic and frivolous gown. She must have had a lot of fun playing around in this one. I wonder if they tried jumping (too cliche?) or just throwing her arms up in the air and seeing where the spangly strings fell. I want this to take up MORE space, almost.
BUT LOOK. How did she DO this? How many shots did it take? This is perfect, to me. The fanning of her hair plus the fanning of the dress, the pose... it's tremendous composition.