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.
