KEY DETAIL IN BAD BUNNY'S SUPER BOWL OUTFIT RAISES QUESTIONS—'DISAPPOINTED'
- Melissa Fleur Afshar
- Feb 10
- 5 min read
Newsweek Exclusive Feature
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl outfit choice in Zara has sparked debate online about accessibility and ethics in fashion.
Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show delivered spectacle on the field, with vibrant dance performances, variations of his biggest DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS hits and a spot of salsa with Lady Gaga—but it was his outfit choices that have sparked an unexpected conversation online, amid the intense backlash the 31-year-old Puerto Rican star has faced since being named the event's headliner.
The global superstar appeared in a pared-back Zara ensemble, an unexpected move that has prompted both praise and criticism in equal measure from fashion creators who argue that platforming a fast-fashion label on the biggest entertainment stage in the U.S. raises uncomfortable questions about ethics and accessibility in style.
“Disappointed to learn Bad Bunny wore Zara, effectively promoting the brand to millions,” menswear writer @die_workwear shared in a blunt verdict to Threads on February 9.
Their comment set the tone for a fast-moving debate that has since spilled across platforms as fashion watchers digested the Super Bowl's biggest style moment.
“Although Zara has made admirable strides to address labor conditions,” the post continued. “Fast fashion can never be ethical [because] it depends on fast production and cheap prices, which results in labor exploitation…Issues have come up as recently as last summer.
"It’s difficult to adjudicate every single claim [because] Zara will always have some excuse. But ask yourself: why has this company attracted so many claims for so long? [In my opinion], the issue is structural: fast fashion is exploitative.”
Attached to the post were several articles that linked evidence of exploitation and poor labor conditions to clothing brands including Zara.
Bad Bunny’s Zara Outfit
Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show appearance delivered what many viewers expected in energy and aura—yet, in clothing, it offered something much more grounded.
Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, the star wore what has been described as "custom Zara" for his entire set, a surprising choice given that the singer had stepped out in Schiaparelli Haute Couture on the Grammys red carpet earlier in February. As the date of the event drew near, fans speculated who the artist might wear. Jacquemus? Gucci? Or would he wear a dress? The latter speculation nearly broke the internet back in January.
But on the history-making night in his career, Bad Bunny's styling read as intentionally restrained when he emerged wearing the high-street brand.
Designed by Zara and styled by frequent collaborators Storm Pablo and Marvin Douglas Linares, the outfit was a minimal, head-to-toe cream ensemble featuring a collared shirt and tie, slightly flared chinos, sneakers, and a sport-inspired jersey bearing his family name
“Ocasio” and the number 64. He finished the look with a marquise natural diamond stud in a honey Desert diamond shade set in yellow gold, from A Diamond Is Forever.
Online, the clean lines and neutral palette were praised by some eagle-eyed fans as elegant and understated—while others questioned the brand behind the cream-toned getup.
What’s Actually Driving the Backlash
The conversation online has centered on what it means for a global superstar—someone who could presumably partner with nearly any fashion house—to collaborate with a mass-market fast-fashion retailer at the most-watched live TV event of the year.
To critics, the Zara reveal raised questions about labor, ethics, and the ways fast fashion borrows the language of luxury. To others, the debate is more complicated: they worry the fashion discourse could be weaponized into yet another attack on an artist who has already been a magnet for outsized hostility.
Some commenters who acknowledged the criticism under @die_workwear's post also voiced a different concern: that the “fashion faux pas” framing would be taken in bad faith, feeding the online vitriol already aimed at Bad Bunny.
Rage among MAGA supporters about his Spanish-language headlining of the Super Bowl had led to Turning Point USA staging its own
Halftime Show. In that context, they said, even a legitimate conversation about fast fashion and labor conditions can feel vulnerable to distortion.
Still, the Zara debacle did not remain confined to one post.
Accessible or Unethical?
On TikTok, one creator who goes by @romy_talks_fashion framed the look through the lens of expectation versus intent.
“After seeing him at the Grammys wearing Schiaparelli, I think we all expected him to wear couture,” the creator said in a post from February 9. “Instead, he wore something that felt simple and accessible.”
They added that because Zara is Spanish—and “like most of his songs”—they believed the singer made “a conscious choice to wear a neutral look that felt accessible.”
Others analyzed the same facts differently.
Another creator @elizabethdotnet, in a post from February 9, said that Bad Bunny wearing Zara to the Super Bowl shows that fast fashion is increasingly trying to align itself with luxury—not only through design cues, but through proximity to the culture-making machinery of major, trendy celebrities.
Another creator, @twinbrett, while praising Bad Bunny as a musical talent, pushed the argument further: “This could have been an opportunity to platform a Latina designer like Willy Chavarria who has consistently spoken up for vulnerable communities.”
They pointed to a comparison in their February 9 Instagram post: “Like how Lady Gaga wore a dress by a Dominican designer, Luar by Raul Lopez.”
In their view, even the phrase “custom Zara” helps the brand push a narrative that it belongs in the luxury, limited production conversation— “And the publications are obviously pandering to it,” they added—before ending on a sharper note: “So, please tell me where the workers in slave-like conditions in Brazil are from 2011.”
What Is Ocasio 64?
Bad Bunny's conversation-driving outfit was finished with a cream jersey bearing his surname “Ocasio” and the number 64. The significance of the number has not yet been confirmed, but his fans were quick to speculate that it referenced 1964, the year his mother, Lysaurie Ocasio, was born.
As the conversation continues, another detail has also started trending online.
Zara employees have reportedly been gifted a copy of the star's jersey alongside a note reading: "Thank you for the time, the talent, and the heart you put into this. Thank you for making it real. This show was yours too. I hope you enjoy it. See you soon! Benito."
Newsweek reached out to Zara and Bad Bunny's representatives for comment via email.
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