Now this is how you promote a movie.
Zendaya wore a custom bedazzled dress showing the movie poster for her film Challengers for its opening weekend. The minidress with flared sleeves was made by Greek designer Celia Kritharioti and shows the actress’s character, Tashi Duncan, looking over the rim of her purple sunglasses with her love interests in the reflection facing off in a tennis match.
“Turning posters into fashion statements!” Kritharioti wrote in an Instagram post.
Kritharioti’s video showed shots from the design process, including the poster being laid out over the dress pattern on a computer. The trick was getting the crop just right and giving the poster enough room to breathe at the shoulders.
The retro-style poster was made by Gravillis Inc., a Los Angeles studio that’s also done movie posters for films like Avatar, Beyoncé: Life is but a Dream, and The Post, as well as the branding for this year’s Oscars. The airbrush look of their illustration impressed movie fans when it was released earlier this year, and the concept drew comparisons to 1980s movie posters that also used a close-up shot of characters looking over their sunglasses, like Risky Business and They Live.
Gravillis Inc. CEO and chief creative officer Kenny Gravillis tells Fast Company the goal for the poster was to “come up with an image where Tashi felt in control.”
Like Margot Robbie during the press tour for Barbie, Zendaya’s red carpet dressing has helped reinforce the aesthetics of her films, but straight up wearing a movie poster as a dress is on a whole other level. In other hands and with a different poster, the concept might have come across as overly conspicuous. For Kritharioti’s take on the Challengers poster, though, it’s a work of pop art.
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