Zendaya in Eden
As I swiped through the February issue of Harper’s Bazaar, I came across this Bvlgari ad and was halted. I became fixated, staring at and zooming in on every detail. There was something arresting about this image. Full disclosure: I was under the influence of herbal supplements at the time…so, my synapses began to fire and make connections. The botanical backdrop and floral shapes of the earrings and ring, the reptiles coiled about her neck and slithering around her wrist and fingers which hold the proverbial forbidden fruit: “Zendaya in Eden,” I thought. But this is a different Eve; this is an Eve for a new day, a new era.
The ad campaign, dubbed “Mai Troppo” or “Never Too Much,” features Zendaya, Naomi Scott, and Lily Aldridge as the new “It” girl, nay, woman in town. The campaign shows each woman owning her agency, status, and sexuality. There’s a part where she’s described as having a boyfriend, a girlfriend, and another boyfriend. Of course, I personally reveled in that tidbit. Basically, the ad’s message is one of strong and modern womanhood; women defying the status quo, which I always love to see.
What strikes me about this particular image though, is the retelling of the story of the Garden of Eden. This Eve is a new creature, literally. The glimpse of devilment behind her eyes and in that ever-so-slightly hoisted brow and the poised languidness of the serpent is telling: You think the snake came to tempt, but she is the temptation. This is Eve unleashed and unbound by society’s expectations of her, and she invites you to follow suit.
This rusty orange gown and the fact that the setting is Rome took me back to Sean Kelly’s finale collection for season 13 of Project Runway in which he uses the hue to tell the story of the betrayal of Caesar. As the story of the Garden of Eden goes, Eve is seduced by the serpent into tasting the forbidden fruit, essentially betraying God’s trust and damning humanity…blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard Eve’s transgression used to propel misogyny. Well, to me, this ad says, “fuck that. Yes, I did it and I’ll do it again because no man tells me what to do,” or something like that.
Photo credit: Johan Renck / Bvlgari
