Zendaya’s Minimalist Outfits Hide a Secret in The Drama

Warning: Mild spoilers ahead for The Drama

In The Drama, A24’s provocative new rom-com, Emma (Zendaya) throws her relationship and impending wedding into crisis after a drunken game of “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” with friends. To the shock of her straight-laced fiancé, Charlie (Robert Pattinson), she confesses to a dark plan she once considered as a bullied, isolated, and depressed teen. Now a literary editor, Emma rarely talks about her past, but her understated wardrobe—oversize silhouettes in somber hues—hints at her traumatic childhood.

“She’s trying so hard to fit in, even as an adult. She’s not looking to stand out—she just wants to blend in and not rock the boat,” says A24’s go-to costume designer Katina Danabassis. “She doesn’t really have many friends, and it’s still a challenge for her.”

But Emma and Charlie, a museum curator, find an immediate connection after a coffee shop meet-cute. Their ruggedly urban “gorpcore” aesthetic reflects their lives as young Boston creative professionals, while also channeling director Kristoffer Borgli’s offbeat—if not unsettling—sensibility, hinting at the tension to come.

“I had this ‘dark academia thing’ going that was extremely on the nose, but in a relevant, appropriate way,” says Danabassis, also referring to Charlie’s vintage Eddie Bauer parka and grungy plaid shirts. “There’s a loose, effortless naturalism that runs through the story—it needed to feel lived-in, real, and true.”

Emma drops her bombshell during a tasting at their stately wedding venue with Charlie’s best man, Mike (Mamoudou Athie), and his wife, Rachel (Alana Haim), also Emma’s matron of honor. For the celebratory occasion, Emma wears an unexpected yet very true-to-herself outfit: a slouchy navy sweatshirt by The Great paired with the low-slung nylon 6397 maxiskirt she wore to their first dance rehearsal earlier.

“We just were like, ‘What's the effortless choice that is also off-kilter?” asks Danabassis.

The morning after her reveal, Emma reckons with a raging hangover and a barrage of questions from Charlie about the part of her life she’s long hidden. The couple then suffers through the most awkward wedding-photo test-session ever. Charlie, in a white oxford shirt, can’t hide his panic and apprehension, while Emma forces a smile in all-black: a boxy YMC sweater, barrel-leg YMC jeans, and her go-to Ralph Lauren flats. Danabassis imagined Emma—feeling pretty rough—just throwing on the easy, comforting outfit. But the black-and-white contrast also represents Charlie’s conflicting feelings about a future with Emma post-revelation.

“He’s projecting what’s ‘good’ and ‘bad,’” says Danabassis, also noting how Emma’s sweater echoes the oversize navy sweatshirt her younger self (Jordan Curet) wears in a flashback and in Charlie’s spiraling fantasy sequence.

As the wedding day quickly approaches, Charlie’s imagination runs wild, and he envisions a disturbing sequence that loops back to his first date with Emma, more dressed up than usual in a black Róhe Frames vest. In Charlie’s unsettling reverie, blood spatters Emma’s white sleeveless top as they sit opposite each other in the same restaurant.

“They’ve switched spots. It’s almost like an upside-down world,” says Danabassis, explaining that Charlie’s khaki suit is also an anomaly. “It also just signifies a very misplaced feeling.”

When Emma wears bright colors, it also telegraphs something, like when she first caught a blundering Charlie’s attention in a fine-knit chartreuse green sweater by 6397 in the opening scenes. The bright hue speaks to that pivotal introductory moment, but Danabassis also admits to “some color psychology.” She points to the film theory book If It's Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling, which features two chapters dedicated to the complex meanings behind green, including danger and psychological unease.

Perhaps foreshadowing, Emma repeats the acid green on a quarter-zip by MHL x Mizuno as she brainstorms her vows with colleague Alice (Hannah Gross) and Rachel—and shares with her judgy friends that Charlie is her first love.

No spoilers, but the couple makes it to their wedding day. Emma walks down the aisle in a minimalist but flowing Jenny Yoo Lawrence Gown with a ballet-scoop neckline, low back, and customized illusion panels at the sides.

“In my heart of hearts, I think a girl like her would have worn something much more statuesque. But you're making a movie,” says Danabassis, who understood a “cake topper”–esque ballgown as shorthand for a climactic wedding scene. So she found a balance. “We just went for something super classic, simple— nothing too lacy or gaudy—with clean lines and still a little bit austere.”

Zendaya, who’s been toying with us in real life by wearing wedding white on the red carpet, suggested the sheer-mesh side cutouts, which add an elegant edge to Emma’s streamlined silhouette.

“We made it so snatched for her,” says Danabassis, who also enjoyed giving Emma “something blue” with her vintage bag and dainty earrings.

The minimalism of Emma’s wedding look continues her everyday style—and the message she sends to the world.

“It’s that safe thing where she's trying not to rock the boat in any way. She's just trying to be normal,” says Danabassis, evoking Emma for a moment and asking, “Wait, this is normal… right?”