Exclusive: This Vintage Collector Found Zendaya's 80-Year-Old 'Spider-Man' Dress on Facebook
"Girl, I need that dress."
It's time to add "check Law Roach's Instagram story" to your daily routine. The stylist extraordinaire saves some of Zendaya's best Spider-Man: Brand New Day press tour looks for the most loyal of his two million followers. On July 22, Roach's 15-second clip showcased Zendaya in a knee-length dress from the 1940s, which vintage collector Amanda Suter found on Facebook.
As the founder of Butch Wax Vintage, which specializes in vintage from the 1920s to the 1980s, Suter rarely sources archival looks for herself. The one exception? Anything with spiderwebs on it. Last Halloween, when she still hadn't worn the little black boatneck dress in her closet, she decided to list it online. "[Roach] messaged me immediately and said, 'Girl, I need that dress," Suter tells Marie Claire. That's right, Zendaya's stylist began planning her press tour looks while the Marvel movie was still filming.
On July 22, Zendaya finally wore the vintage spiderweb dress from Amanda Suter.
"I messaged him, 'Holy sh*t, my god. Pardon my French, but you made my morning," says Suter. Once Roach received Z's approval, he wasted no time purchasing the 80-year-old piece, which featured jet-black rayon crêpe, small satin shoulder pads, a flared peplum waistline, and a sweeping bias-cut skirt. He ended up altering it to a cocktail length but, according to Suter, "kept it era-appropriate."
What drew Roach to the design was the bodice's hand-beaded sequin spiderweb. Aesthetically, it is the perfect successor to the actress's vintage John Galliano and Giorgio Armani dresses for Spider-Man: Brand New Day premieres, both of which likewise boasted spiderweb motifs.
Zendaya's vintage John Galliano dress featured a similar webbed back.
Zendaya walked the Rome red carpet in a vintage Armani spiderweb style.
Years ago, when Suter secured the vintage style via Facebook, it didn't have a label. During her research, she discovered that New York designer Jack Herszog created a similar beaded spiderweb motif in the '40s, though she is still not certain of its origins. For Suter, the dress, which was in pristine condition, was an investment piece. "It was pricey at the time, but for stuff like that, I'm just like, 'That's what I save for,'" she says.
This isn't the only '40s-era piece that Roach bought from Suter's "personal collection" of vintage with Spider-Man in mind. There was also "a two-piece cocktail suit [that] has embossed black spiderwebs all over it with a velvet collar. That was another one that [Roach] needed immediately, no questions."
Amanda Suter modeled the little black dress on her Instagram before Roach snatched it.
Roach originally reached out to Suter for a different press tour: Ariana Grande's red carpet run for Wicked: For Good. "It was unfortunate because by the time he would ask me [about certain styles] they would have sold," she says.
Much like the Spider-Man and Odyssey press tours, vintage played a special part in Grande's Wicked press tour. Last November, the Grammy winner posed in a circa-1952 ballgown from the designer of The Wizard of Oz costumes.
Suter says that she is grateful that Roach introduced "this really obscure niche of fashion from the '40s to a really broad audience." Let this dress influence fans of Zendaya and Roach to turn on Instagram Story notifications. Maybe we'll see that spiderweb suit next.
