Zig Zag Zendaya
The California native is shaking up the front row with her carefully styled
looks, challenging what a star might wear on Hollywood's red carpets.
It's a hot July day at Paris Couture, and Zendaya Coleman sits on the front row at the
Armani Privé show, wearing the designer's cropped tuxedo and exquisitely fitted suit
trousers, complemented by a classic black Louboutin pump. In little more than five years,
the young actress and singer has been catapulted from Disney star at only thirteen on
'Shake it up' to a bona fide fashion player.
Zendaya admits that she wants to do it all. A highly creative individual, The young actress,
claims in typical Californian fashion that her creativity is a "flow" where anything goes.
She has recently been announced as the new face for Lancôme, at twenty-two she is also
the youngest model for the brand. In her own words "It's for a woman, It's me finding out
what that means." in this new phase of her career.
She may be considered an actress with notable works in blockbusters such as 'The
Greatest Showman' and 'Spiderman: Homecoming', but Zenday has evolved to be a
modern polymath working in film, TV, modelling and now design. Due to her career,
fashion has always been a part of her life with red carpets and interviews; however, it was
when she was fourteen that Zendaya met Law Roach. The stylist to the stars and
Americas Next Top Model judge would go on to be her stylist, friend and collaborator.
Law is a celebrity stylist that has worked with the big names in show business Ariana
Grande, tiffany Haddish, Celine Dion, Anne Hathaway and Demi Lovato. But it has been
his connection and works with Zendaya that has cemented his credibility, and their
collaborations have helped move Zendaya into the position of red carpet phenomenon.
Both in a way being a driving force behind each other's careers. They met when he was
working for a store in LA when young Zendaya walked in with her dad, and he helped her
shop for an outfit to wear to the Justin Beiber 'Never say never' premier. From then on,
they were inseparable.
Her most memorable looks have cemented her fashion ranking and illustrated her
willingness to experiment with fashion. The stand out parrot print Dolch and Gabbana
gown she wore to the2017 Met gala. To the same event the following year she wore a
custom Versace, Joan of Arc inspired armour gown fitted with chain mail and neckpiece.
Another memorable moment was the Gold Georgine set she wore to the 2014 American
Music Awards, a gold trench and trousers paired with a simple turquoise bralette.
Zendaya is known for her constantly evolving style, and daring looks, an element of her
ever-changing fashion is the wide variety of wigs, today this is not such a strange concept
however when she started it was unusual. These were not pink costume wigs worn by the
likes of Nicki Minaj and Lada Gaga; Zendaya can be seen wearing more realistic style
wigs. From short blond pixie cuts to full afros Zenday is not shy in Switching up her style.
It was in 2015 at the Oscars that Zendaya wore a dreadlock wig paired with an exquisite
pearlescent Vivienne Westwood gown. As an African American woman, she was
representing beautiful hair that she felt was underrepresented in the media. Giuliana
Rancic, the entertainment reporter, on the tv show Fashion Police she commented "feel
like she smells like patchouli of weed." Zendaya has always been outspoken, and an
activist in many areas, primarily black rights. Her response to the statement was a long
thought out Instagram reply. "There is already harsh criticism of African-American hair in
society without the help of ignorant people who choose to judge others based on the curl
of their hair. My wearing my hair in locs on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in
a positive light, to remind people of colour that our hair is good enough."
She has in the past hit back at publications for retouching images of her. In 2015 fashion
magazine Modeliste published highly retouched images of Zendaya. In the changed
images the editors had trimmed down Zendayas already petite frame to something
almost unattainable shrinking her already tiny waist. Not being something that she was
comfortable with again she took to Instagram showing the untouched imaged next to the
published one saying, "These are the things that make women self-conscious, that create
the unrealistic ideals of beauty that we have. Anyone who knows who I am knows I stand
for honest and pure self-love."
Zendaya's latest fashion venture has been her collaboration collection with Tommy
Hilfiger. This 70's zodiac inspired collection has meant a serious move for Zendaya into
luxury fashion. She previously had a collaboration with fast-fashion brand BooHoo and
her own Personal, affordable, one-off, online capsule collection Daya by Zendaya. The
catwalk show at Paris Fashion week saw an all-black cast of models from all over the
world a celebration of "Black Girl Magic" the likes of Grace Jones, Winnie Harlow and
Veronica Webb and many more famous faces graced the catwalk. A diverse and sizeinclusive
display, which are essential values for Coleman. The show was through and
through a celebration created in the mind of Zendaya with the help of course of Tommy
and Law. The decision to make this collection was made after the success of the Gigi
Hadid x Tommy Hilfiger collection.
Alongside her ever-growing acting career with a second spiderman instalment, mystery
drama 'The OA' and an HBO series, Euphoria an adaptation of the Israeli show all
happening this year. How does she have time for it all? In her own words "If there's not a
seat there, go create your own table!"