Zendaya’s style evolution: A seem back as she wins the CFDA Manner Icon award
Table of Contents Prepared by Megan C. Hills, CNN Zendaya has secured her position between…

Table of Contents
Becoming a member of the ranks of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, who have all been given the honor in new a long time, the 25-yr-outdated “Euphoria” star has arrive a extensive way considering the fact that her “Shake It Up” days. From a saccharine teenage wardrobe to a boundary-pushing trove of designer robes, she reworked herself into one of Hollywood’s most stylish ladies.
Shaking it up
Zendaya sporting a denim jacket and gown to a 2010 screening of “Tinker Bell and the Terrific Fairy Rescue.” Credit history: Valerie Macon/Getty Images
As she moved into her teenage many years, she took actions toward getting the trend-forward lady she is currently. Modern blazers and on-pattern luxury products, like Valentino’s rockstud sneakers, appeared in her wardrobe. Her outfits also took on far more of an edge as she matured, with assertion bucket heels and a desire for darker shade palettes. Nevertheless, she even now had time for the occasional tulle princess costume — albeit a single paired with a leather biker vest and hot pink heels.

As a teenager, Zendaya’s wardrobe began using on extra of an edge — like incorporating a biker vest into this outfit for a 2012 charity function. Credit history: Allen Berezovsky/WireImage/Getty Images
“She was a Disney woman, and not a large amount of Disney ladies have been highly regarded,” he is quoted as saying. “Nobody needed to dress the Disney woman, so I arrived up with this program of assault for her.”
“I would only set her in outfits that other folks experienced worn mainly because I understood at that time, (journal capabilities on) individuals who experienced worn all the weekly styles had been really well-liked,” he extra, a gamble which “worked out” as she received elevated media awareness and designers started using see.

At the 2017 Met Gala, Zendaya created a statement in a Dolce & Gabbana parrot-print ballgown. Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP
Leaving Disneyland
The actor scored her to start with invitation to fashion’s most significant and most distinctive night time, the Met Gala, in 2015 — her to start with of a lot of. She began experimenting with grander, artistic pieces, this kind of as her Fausto Puglisi Satisfied Gala gown, and sleeker variety-fitting outfits.
Though her aesthetic once fell firmly into the woman-up coming-doorway camp, she commenced bringing things of streetwear into her wardrobe. She also began spending stylish tributes to Black icons of the earlier, including Diana Ross and Aaliyah — one thing she proceeds to this working day — and mastering the art of viral trend times.

Zendaya frequently channels the spirit of her movies via her outfits — as found with the Moschino butterfly costume she wore to a 2017 premiere of “The Best Showman.” Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Photographs
Just one of the earliest social media successes arrived at the 2017 Satisfied Gala, exactly where she stepped out in a voluminous parrot-print Dolce & Gabbana dress. As she trailed up the stairs of the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, the grandiose ballgown landed her on “most effective dressed” lists and signaled a significant shift in her type.
Other statement-creating hits that 12 months provided a flamboyant Moschino butterfly gown that correctly captured the spirit of “The Biggest Showman” at one of the movie’s screenings, and the crimson and black sequined gown she wore to the premiere of “Spider-Guy: Homecoming,” a reference to the superhero’s iconic costume.

At the 2021 “Dune” premiere in Paris, Zendaya wore a midriff-baring Alaïa outfit. Credit score: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images
It was all around this time that Zendaya started donning more couture, functioning with lesser-regarded designers and turning to sculptural parts, these types of as the chocolate bell-shaped August Getty gown she wore to the 2018 MTV Film & Tv set Awards and the horse-silhouette minimize out Vivetta robe she sported at the 2017 Manner Awards. And regardless of transforming into Cinderella in a light-up Tommy Hilfiger robe for the 2019 Fulfilled Gala (accompanied by Roach dressed, properly, as her fairy godmother) it was clear her Disney days had been guiding her.

Legislation Roach exposed on Instagram he and Zendaya had been impressed by supervillain Poison Ivy for Zendaya’s 2019 Emmys appearance, with the star carrying a inexperienced Ralph & Russo robe and dyeing her darkish locks crimson. Credit history: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Pictures
As the pandemic brought purple carpet activities to a halt, Zendaya however observed approaches to impress, donning a tailor made Giorgio Armani gown to acknowledge an Emmy about Zoom and landing a superior-profile gig as a Bulgari brand ambassador. She also ongoing breaking new ground about the training course of her extremely expected “Dune” push tour. Kicking off the circuit in fashion with an on-craze wet-glance robe by Balmain at the Venice Film Pageant, she later on channeled the sci-fi-meets-fantasy spirit of the film at its London premiere, wherever she wore a futuristic gold breastplate by Loewe and a sculptural Rick Owens robe.
Scroll via the gallery above to see Zendaya’s evolving fashion via the many years.