Zendaya’s fashion evolution: A look back as she wins the CFDA Fashion Icon award

Composed by Megan C. Hills, CNN

Zendaya has secured her put amongst fashion’s elite, thanks to a string of eye-catching purple carpet appearances and partnerships with manufacturers like Valentino and Bulgari.

With outfits from the new “Dune” marketing tour going viral on social media, the previous Disney star has tested herself a sartorial pressure to be reckoned with — and in doing so has caught the awareness of the Council of Fashion Designers of The us (CFDA).

This Wednesday, she will develop into the youngest at any time receiver of the organization’s prestigious Trend Icon award. Describing her as the purple carpet’s “reigning monarch,” the CFDA introduced the information in advance of its yearly award ceremony, expressing that, “without having exception,” Zendaya “will make a style assertion as quickly as she steps out of her automobile.”

Signing up for the ranks of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez, who have all obtained the honor in current years, the 25-yr-previous “Euphoria” star has appear a extensive way since her “Shake It Up” days. From a saccharine teenage wardrobe to a boundary-pushing trove of designer robes, she transformed herself into one of Hollywood’s most fashionable girls.

Shaking it up

Zendaya wearing a denim jacket and dress to a 2010 screening of "Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue."

Zendaya carrying a denim jacket and costume to a 2010 screening of “Tinker Bell and the Wonderful Fairy Rescue.” Credit rating: Valerie Macon/Getty Visuals

Zendaya’s huge split came when she landed the job of Rocky Blue in the Disney series “Shake It Up” — and her wardrobe was anything you would count on from a Disney woman. Her lovable outfits involved loud prints (frequently of the leopard or floral variety) and a penchant for layering and graphic tees. As the star recalled in an job interview with InStyle last thirty day period, one of her earliest purple carpet outfits was not by a prestigious manner home — but relatively was “a bunch of stuff that I had from Concentrate on.”

As she moved into her teenage yrs, she took methods to getting the vogue-forward female she is currently. Sleek blazers and on-development luxurious items, like Valentino’s rockstud shoes, 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 coloration palettes. Nevertheless, she continue to experienced time for the occasional tulle princess dress — albeit 1 paired with a leather biker vest and scorching pink heels.

As a teen, Zendaya's wardrobe began taking on more of an edge -- like incorporating a biker vest into this outfit for a 2012 charity event.

As a teenager, Zendaya’s wardrobe commenced having on extra of an edge — like incorporating a biker vest into this outfit for a 2012 charity celebration. Credit rating: Allen Berezovsky/WireImage/Getty Illustrations or photos

A pivotal turning position in Zendaya’s career arrived when she crossed paths with emerging stylist and self-explained “picture architect” Legislation Roach. Their assembly led to one of Hollywood’s most fruitful celebrity-stylist interactions. As Roach spelled out in an job interview with own styling web-site The Zoe Report, he had grand designs for her from the start — with a “blueprint” mapping out her increase to stardom.

“She was a Disney lady, and not a great deal of Disney women have been revered,” he is quoted as stating. “No one wished to costume the Disney female, so I arrived up with this plan of attack for her.”

“I would only put her in garments that other folks experienced worn simply because I understood at that time, (journal functions on) folks who had worn all the weekly variations were being genuinely well-known,” he included, a gamble which “worked out” as she received elevated media interest and designers started having discover.

At the 2017 Met Gala, Zendaya made a statement in a Dolce & Gabbana parrot-print ballgown.

At the 2017 Met Gala, Zendaya manufactured a statement in a Dolce & Gabbana parrot-print ballgown. Credit history: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Leaving Disneyland

The actor scored her very first invitation to fashion’s most significant and most special evening, the Met Gala, in 2015 — her 1st of many. She commenced experimenting with grander, artistic parts, these kinds of as her Fausto Puglisi Satisfied Gala gown, and sleeker form-fitting outfits.

Though her aesthetic the moment fell firmly into the woman-next-doorway camp, she commenced bringing elements of streetwear into her wardrobe. She also commenced spending stylish tributes to Black icons of the earlier, which include Diana Ross and Aaliyah — some thing she continues to this day — and mastering the artwork of viral manner moments.

Zendaya often channels the spirit of her movies through her outfits -- as seen with the Moschino butterfly dress she wore to a 2017 premiere of "The Greatest Showman."

Zendaya frequently channels the spirit of her films by her outfits — as observed with the Moschino butterfly dress she wore to a 2017 premiere of “The Greatest Showman.” Credit: Don Arnold/WireImage/Getty Visuals

Just one of the earliest social media successes arrived at the 2017 Achieved Gala, where by she stepped out in a voluminous parrot-print Dolce & Gabbana gown. As she trailed up the stairs of the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, the grandiose ballgown landed her on “best dressed” lists and signaled a main shift in her style.

Other statement-making hits that 12 months provided a flamboyant Moschino butterfly robe that beautifully captured the spirit of “The Biggest Showman” at one particular of the movie’s screenings, and the purple and black sequined gown she wore to the premiere of “Spider-Male: Homecoming,” a reference to the superhero’s legendary costume.

At the 2021 “Dune” premiere in Paris, Zendaya wore a midriff-baring Alaïa outfit. Credit rating: Kristy Sparow/Getty Photos

It was all around this time that Zendaya started carrying additional couture, doing the job with lesser-acknowledged designers and turning to sculptural parts, such as the chocolate bell-shaped August Getty costume she wore to the 2018 MTV Motion picture & Television set Awards and the horse-silhouette slash out Vivetta gown she sported at the 2017 Vogue Awards. And regardless of transforming into Cinderella in a light-up Tommy Hilfiger robe for the 2019 Met Gala (accompanied by Roach dressed, correctly, as her fairy godmother) it was crystal clear her Disney days ended up behind her.

Manner authority

By 2019, Zendaya experienced cemented her standing as one of the most anticipated purple-carpet arrivals. Her off-carpet appearances followed accommodate. Whether or not she was becoming interviewed on “The Late Present with Stephen Colbert” in a tangerine Carolina Herrera mini costume, or donning a grey Berluti match at a Harper’s Bazaar get together, she used every single general public physical appearance as a prospect to make a statement. (Michael B. Jordan, who wore the very same fit as her at a unique event, commented on Instagram she had “fingers down no contest” pulled off the search superior than him.)

All around this time, she began incorporating factors of menswear into her outfits, as viewed in the course of a 2019 Armani manner display, where by she set her individual spin on a bib-front tuxedo shirt. She also started flexing her know-how of vogue historical past by stepping out in exceptional archival parts, these kinds of as a 2000s purple and lime green Versace gown (a variation on a earlier Beyoncé phase outfit) and a voluminous blue major after owned by Eunice Walker Johnson, a Black fashion icon who established up the Ebony Vogue Honest in the ’60s. Refined references to icons such as Cher and even DC supervillain Poison Ivy filled her wardrobe.

Law Roach revealed on Instagram he and Zendaya had been inspired by supervillain Poison Ivy for Zendaya's 2019 Emmys appearance, with the star wearing a green Ralph & Russo gown and dyeing her dark locks red.

Regulation Roach revealed on Instagram he and Zendaya had been motivated by supervillain Poison Ivy for Zendaya’s 2019 Emmys visual appeal, with the star donning a environmentally friendly Ralph & Russo robe and dyeing her darkish locks red. Credit rating: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Pictures

As the pandemic brought red carpet events to a halt, Zendaya nonetheless located strategies to impress, donning a tailor made Giorgio Armani costume to settle for an Emmy around Zoom and landing a high-profile gig as a Bulgari manufacturer ambassador. She also continued breaking new floor around the study course of her remarkably expected “Dune” press tour. Kicking off the circuit in fashion with an on-pattern wet-seem gown by Balmain at the Venice Movie Pageant, she afterwards channeled the sci-fi-meets-fantasy spirit of the film at its London premiere, where she wore a futuristic gold breastplate by Loewe and a sculptural Rick Owens gown.

Scroll as a result of the gallery higher than to see Zendaya’s evolving fashion by means of the years.