Zendaya's stylist breaks down her best ever fashion looks
his month Zendaya was named as an ambassador for CoverGirl, released a new music video featuring a cameo from Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston and was crowned one of the best-dressed stars at the Golden Globes.
The 19-year-old former Disney actress is one of the few stars on the red carpet with absolutely no fear. She won’t think twice about wearing a warrior-princess crown or a skirt made of plastic. Her long-time stylist Law Roach, who also works with Arianna Grande and Ruby Rose, tells us: “She literally has no fear and that’s the important thing. At this point she just wears something because we like it – we don’t follow trends but wear the stuff that we like. We do it just to entertain each other.”
Her style has certainly evolved from her Disney-friendly denim jackets and baby doll dresses, but she doesn't need to wear nearly-naked dresses to show that she's grown up. Roach says: "No one from Disney ever said 'be careful,' 'not to high,' 'not too short'. Zendaya is conscious about who her core fans are and that is the Disney girl. She’s just real - it’s not her pretending to be this good girl, it’s who she is and there is nothing manufactured about it." He said of dressing her in her teens: "I was conscious to make the correct choices, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t have fun - we could be fashion-forward in the way a 15-year-old could do it."
Zendaya might be able to experiment with riskier silhouettes now, but it's important to her to look tasteful. Law says of the sheer dresses plaguing the red carpet: "The sheer thing gets really boring."
Roach talks through Zendaya's best looks below...
Zendaya in Marchesa at the Golden Globes, January 2016
"She was invited to sit at Harvey Weinstein's table and so it was fitting for her to wear Marchesa. It was different from everything else on the carpet - not that you can gauge that before. You want to be an individual in a sea of beautiful gowns."
Zendaya in Michael Kors pre-fall 2016 at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiere, December 2015
"I was obsessed with that skirt and where else can you wear a plastic skirt than at the Star Wars premiere? Where else would that have made any sense?"
Zendaya in Rosie Assoulin at Rihanna's Diamond Ball, December 2015
"This is one of my favourite looks ever. Sometimes because of her schedule we decide to go with something really last minute. It's so easy with us, I got it and she wore it the very next day."
Zendaya in Ungaro at the American Music Awards, November 2015
"We have a lot of love for Fausto Puglisi, the creative director for Ungaro. He supported us years ago when she wore Ungaro to the Grammys when she was still unknown. We have a loyalty to him and you'll see Zendaya will wear more of Ungaro because of that. To me this was great because everybody else on that carpet was so naked. It was sheer everywhere and she looked beautiful and sexy, but wasn't showing anything except her legs. The sheer thing gets really boring. I'd never say never, but as of right now it's a sheer dress with underwear showing, how exciting is that?"
Zendaya in fringed Tamara Mellon at Paris Fashion Week, October 2015
"We were in Paris and wanted to pay homage to Josephine Baker in our own little way."
Zendaya in Kenzo at Paris Fashion Week, October 2015
"I love when she wears short hair! We were only there [Paris Fashion Week] for four days so it was such an adrenaline rush. She is like my life-sized Barbie doll. I always credit my career to my mother for letting me be who I was at a young age and play with my sisters and their Barbie dolls. Now that I have a real-life Barbie doll it's like playing dress up."
Zendaya in Fausto Puglisi at the Billboard Music Awards, May 2015
"I wanted to stay true to the brands that stood by us when no-one else would. You will always see Ungaro, Vivienne Westwood and Fausto Puglisi on Zendaya because they supported her when a lot of people weren't interested. They saw it before anyone else." She walked the red carpet with Taylor, so did they plan their outfits together? Law says they all did their own thing: "We got to Taylor's dressing room and she wasn't even dressed yet."
Zendaya in Fausto Puglisi at the Met Gala, May 2015
"Fausto asked her to be his date to the Met and it was a process with that dress - there were sketches and we narrowed down the sketch. He wanted her to look like a modern day warrior princess. She was 18 at the time and we wanted her to stay youthful, but we wanted it to be fashion-forward and have a power to it. She felt like a modern day warrior princess with the metal tiara and the armour on her arms against the soft fabric. Zendaya the warrior princess! No fear, no fear at all."
Zendaya in Vivienne Westwood at the Oscars, February 2015
"Vivienne is a brand that we have a really good relationship with as well. That was last minute too! She didn't get the invite to the Oscars until a couple of days before, which is unheard of. People are preparing for the Oscars for months. The cool thing is that this dress is actually bridal."
Zendaya in Donna Karan at the American Music Awards, November 2013
"She wore a pant suit and really, really long hair, and all these silver and diamond accessories because at that point we were obsessed with Cher and Bianca Jagger. We'd be constantly looking at pictures of Cher and Bianca Jagger so we were in that mode. I was like you are going to be very 70s! When you see something and catch a reference that's where we are together and who we are obsessing with, paying homage to a powerful woman from the past."
