23 Of Zendaya’s Most Sublime Red Carpet Looks
Fearless style plate Zendaya has come a long way since she posed for cameras at Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never showcase as a bright-eyed teenage Disney star—an event that marked the actor’s first major Hollywood premiere. Her love affair with fashion was instantaneous, but not always easy. Zendaya’s stylist Law Roach came up with a long-term plan: “I was like an architect working on a blueprint,” he has previously told British Vogue—to evolve her image from sweet princess to Gen Z trailblazer.
Central to his plan was the Who Wore It Best? column: an archaic fixture in weekly glossies. By dressing his client in the same looks worn by high-profile stars—but “better”—Roach quickly got Zendaya’s name on the map. Emerging designers were happy to lend looks to the rising star and big-name brands started taking notice, opening doors that were previously closed. Now that Zendaya can have her pick of any house, Roach’s mission “to help an amazing girl show the world what I saw in her” seems hard to fathom.
There have been some jaw-dropping red-carpet moments along the way. Zendaya has a chameleon-like quality that makes the concept of a signature look seem positively boring. She gives every moment in the spotlight her all because of the research she and Roach put into a single turn in front of the cameras. “We play dress-up and create outfits to make ourselves happy, or to pay homage to the people we’re inspired by,” notes Roach.
They have deployed science–revisit her mesmerizing light-up Cinderella gown at the 2019 Met Gala to see true commitment in action—and welding techniques–her Versace Met look the year prior was a modern-day ode to A Knight’s Tale—to make Zendaya stand out. Myriad hair transformations—from blunt bobs and waist-length braids to fabulous disco diva curls—have heightened the transportive qualities of her red-carpet moments, which are never anything but a joy to behold (the buttercup Valentino haute couture number she shut down the 2021 Oscars in was happiness personified).
To mark her birthday today, we look back at Zendaya’s 23 greatest fashion hits to date.
Theo Wargo/GA/Getty Images1/23Twisted beauty
Zendaya co-hosted the 2024 Met Gala in two John Galliano designs. The first was a custom Maison Margiela couture dress – an hourglass sage lamé and organza bias-cut gown worn over a duchess satin corset, as pictured here—that she personally paid for. The second was originally look eight of Galliano’s first Givenchy couture collection—spring summer 1996—designed the same year she was born. She swaggered up the museum’s steps like the best of Galliano’s bewitched mesdames, pausing to clutch dramatically at her waist and cast an over-the-shoulder glare towards the paparazzi.
Kayla Oaddams2/23Returning with a bang
How better to celebrate Zendaya’s return to the red carpet than in vintage Versace? Roach pulled not one, but two decadent looks for the actor’s appearance at the 2023 NAACP Image Awards, including a bright green and black gown from 2002—as pictured here.
Noam Galai3/23A knight’s tale
Name another mortal who looks chic in actual armor. Zendaya’s Joan of Arc tribute—all vampy Versace sequins and staggering platforms—was a saintly take on the 2018 Met Gala’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion The Catholic Imagination theme. “Holy” was a hard sell on the style front, but Zendaya went in swinging.
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Matt Baron/Shutterstock4/23Warrior woman in fuchsia
Dialing up the drama at the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards, Zendaya made the most daring look of the spring summer 2020 season—Tom Ford’s sexy-tough breastplate—look like a walk in the park. The entirety of Hollywood bowed down.
Getty Images5/23Alta moda
Faced with a directional Comme des Garçons theme at the Met Gala 2017, Zendaya went her own way in fanciful Dolce Gabbana couture. The tropical ballgown fluttering with parrot prints was a vibrant signifier that you can’t put Zendaya in a corner.
