Zendaya brings ‘The Odyssey’ press tour to a close with a mythological-inspired look that confirms her power as a fashion icon.
Zendaya has once again turned a red carpet into a fashion moment impossible to ignore. After several days of goddess-inspired styling, armour-like pieces and classical silhouettes during the promotion of ‘The Odyssey’ in London and Paris, the actress reached her most spectacular form yet at the New York premiere on 14 July, wearing a white winged dress that seemed designed to close the tour in the most epic way possible.
The actress stepped onto the red carpet in a white strapless design by Matières Fécales, a visually striking piece defined by a dramatic side slit, plunging neckline, strategic ruching and a silhouette that blended sensuality, fantasy and drama. The result was one of those looks that does not simply accompany a film, but builds its own narrative around both the character and the star wearing it.
One of the most talked-about details of the look was the footwear. Instead of her usual Louboutin So Kate heels, Zendaya chose a pair of almost impossible-looking heelless shoes, also created by Matières Fécales in collaboration with Christian Louboutin. The choice reinforced the feeling of a mythological creature suspended somewhere between the human and the divine, an effect perfectly aligned with the aesthetic the actress and her team have been developing throughout the entire press tour.
The look was completed with Chopard jewellery, soft, barely-there make-up and an extremely long braid falling down her back, created by hairstylist Coree Moreno. However, the true focal point of the ensemble was the enormous feathered wings attached to the back of the dress. That angelic structure transformed Zendaya’s appearance into a powerful editorial image, directly connected to the mythological universe of the film.
What makes the look even more striking is that this dress had been waiting for its moment for years. The piece first appeared on the Matières Fécales autumn 2025 runway in Paris and, according to Law Roach, Zendaya’s stylist, it was reserved almost immediately for this occasion. On the red carpet, Roach explained that after seeing the show, he wrote directly to designers Hannah Rose and Steven Raj to ask them to hold the dress for Zendaya.
“I knew she had this film coming up, I do not think the film had even been made yet,” the stylist explained. “I asked them to hold the look for us, and they held the look this entire time. They did not send it to anyone else.” The story turns the styling into much more than a last-minute choice: it was a piece imagined years in advance for one very specific moment.
The designers themselves later confirmed that they had turned down numerous important requests for the dress, convinced that Zendaya was the right person to wear it. That wait reinforces the almost cinematic nature of the look, as though the garment had finally found its natural protagonist.
Throughout the promotion of ‘The Odyssey’, Zendaya has played with a powerful, theatrical aesthetic inspired by Ancient Greece. From a couture Schiaparelli breastplate to a custom Louis Vuitton bolero, each appearance has helped build the image of a modern divinity. But this winged Matières Fécales dress has undoubtedly become the high point of the tour.
In the film, Zendaya plays Athena, goddess of wisdom and war. Although Athena is not traditionally associated with flight, wings are an essential part of Greek mythological imagery and recall divine figures such as Nike, goddess of victory, or Psyche, goddess of the soul. That is why the cascading feathers worked as the perfect visual metaphor for an actress who has managed to turn the promotion of a film into a lesson in mythological glamour.
