‘A Statement on Shifting Power’: Why Bad Bunny Wore Zara to His Super Bowl Parade | Bad bunny

HeyAmong the many cultural flashpoints of Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday, one that few observers expected was his decision to wear not one but two outfits from the Spanish brand Zara.

As the most-watched event on American television, the halftime performance represents a marketing moment for the stars. From Rihanna’s pregnancy reveal to Kendrick Lamar’s show-stealing jeans, the 13-minute show was often filled with luxurious fashion.

Few musicians are as connected to this world as the Puerto Rican superstar, who has appeared in underwear campaigns for Calvin Klein and the French brand Jacquemus, and on February 1 attended the Grammy Awards in a black velvet Schiaparelli hourglass suit with a gold corset fastened to the back of the jacket.

As the most streamed musician on Spotify in 2025, Bad Bunny is as popular as can be for a musician. But he’s also one of the most visually intelligent artists in the industry. Just as the Super Bowl’s all-Spanish lyrical content reflects the fact that English is no longer the lingua franca of pop music, the decision to wear streetwear at the most-watched event on television suggests that high fashion isn’t necessarily the natural fashion choice for pop music, either.

With its affordable interpretations of runway trends, Zara remains a model of budget-friendly – ​​if unsustainable – fashion. – Elegant, while also referencing the runway’s pipeline to the main street. Almost anyone can wear Zara.

Bad Bunny’s first look featured a collared shirt and tie, off-white shorts, a pair of Adidas Resilience sneakers and a cropped quilted soccer jersey with the word Ocasio (part of his full name, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio) on the back.

At the start of his performance inside a sugar cane field surrounded by dancers wearing the straw hats worn by rural Puerto Rican farmers (Benito also wore a jibaro-style rope as a belt), his outfit initially sparked further speculation about the meaning of the number 64 splashed across his front, which has been variously identified online as the year of his mother’s birth and the US Congress that granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans in 1917. Magazine, it was actually his uncle’s football jersey number.

It wasn’t until he reappeared midway through his 13-minute set in a duet with Lady Gaga wearing a broad-shouldered suit and tie in the same off-white hue that Zara confirmed it was behind the look. Designed by Storm Pablo and Marvin Douglas Linares, both of Zara’s looks were custom-made. Apart from the binding, a Zara suit costs around £250.

“The suit is still seen as authority, but the authority comes from Bad Bunny’s cultural position, not from a luxury house’s stamp of approval,” said Andrew Groves, a professor of fashion design at the University of Westminster. “Although Bad Bunny doesn’t wear an animal suit.” [the wide style worn by young Black and Latino people in the 30s and 40s that became a symbol of rebellion against marginalisation] It uses the same relativistic logic: exaggerated size as a way for black and Latino communities to claim public space when visibility is policed.

“On the stadium stage it reads as a controlled presence, not an ornament. Zara on the Super Bowl stage is a statement about the transfer of power.”

The suit’s streamlined cut even prompted comparisons to Francisco Goya’s anti-war masterpiece May 3, 1808, which depicts a French firing squad executing a Spanish civilian wearing a puffy white shirt.

Other cultural references were less ambiguous. Lady Gaga wore a custom blue ruffled dress with Flor de maga The brooch (Puerto Rico’s national flower) is made by Luar, the New York-based brand overseen by Dominican designer Raul Lopez, and represents the colors of the Puerto Rican flag. And within a pink design set Casitabased on traditional candy-colored homes found in Puerto Rico, some dancers wore knitwear made by Puerto Rican designer Jomary Segarra’s brand, Yo+.

Super Bowl halftime shows have a tradition of being an elegant moment, but they sometimes veer into politics. Beyoncé’s Formation performance in 2016, which celebrated the Black Panthers, made headlines around the world.

After he said “ICE out” at the Grammy Awards last week, there was speculation that Bad Bunny could make another political statement. He was not wearing an Ice Out pin. But he wore something his fans could afford, a tribute to a popular culture that is increasingly multilingual, global and accessible at its heart.