Zendaya Bares Her Abs in a Tiny String Bikini Top to Become Halle Berry, and Halle Says She Won

Forget witches and vampires. Zendaya spent Halloween as the sexiest thing to hit a red carpet in the year 2000: Halle Berry.

Her longtime stylist Law Roach shared the photos on Instagram on October 31, and the internet had to do a double take. There was Zendaya, 30, in a teeny butter-yellow, brown and white geometric-print string bikini top with silver trim, a pair of matching ultra-low-rise wide-leg trousers, and her toned abs out for the world to see.

The X-Men look, recreated

If it looks familiar, it should. Halle wore the exact same Lanvin Fall 2000 design to the New York premiere of X-Men in July 2000, back when low-rise was law and belly chains were a personality.

Zendaya finished it the same way Halle did, with tinted rectangular sunglasses and diamond earrings, plus nude pointed-toe heels and red nails. She skipped Halle’s semi-sheer brown shirt and the crystal waist chain, which only made the bikini top work even harder.

Roach thanked Lanvin’s artistic director Peter Copping and comms boss Alix Long for lending the set, so this was no cheap party-shop knock-off. Outlets including Fashion Times note the exact provenance of the pieces hasn’t been confirmed, but it is the real Lanvin design.

That pixie cut

The secret weapon was the hair. Zendaya debuted a cropped pixie at the 2026 Emmys in September, and Roach confirmed it was inspired by Halle’s iconic short cut. Put the two side by side and fans genuinely struggled to tell them apart. “I literally thought this was Halle,” one wrote.

This isn’t even the first time. At the Emmys she wore a sheer, plunging Prada gown that was a clear nod to Halle’s 2002 Die Another Day premiere look.

Halle approves

And the woman herself? Halle, now 60, left a row of red hearts under Roach’s post and, according to ELLE, wrote on X: “She won.” Page Six reports she also declared Zendaya “murdered the night.” Halle has previously said she would love to play Zendaya’s mum on screen, and honestly, the casting tape just made itself.

Scoop’s verdict? A string bikini, a pixie cut and a 26-year-old outfit. Zendaya didn’t dress up for Halloween, she time travelled, and Halle Berry handed her the crown.