From tennis fashion to lace gowns: Zendaya’s best looks promoting Challengers

Normally one to stick to a theme, Zendaya made a surprising fashion choice for the LA premiere of her new film Challengers.

The Luca Guadagnino-directed film sees Euphoria actor Zendaya star as tennis prodigy-turned-coach Tashi Duncan, alongside West Side Story actor Mike Faist and The Crown’s Josh O’Connor.

Zendaya has spent much of the recent press tour wearing crisp white tennis-inspired outfits, but she stepped away from themed dressing for the LA premiere.

She wore a custom Vera Wang gown with a black lace bodice and baby pink voluminous skirt that had black tulle layered underneath, topped off with Bulgari jewellery.

It’s a departure from the white Thom Browne dress she wore to the London premiere. The sequinned halterneck gown had a long pleated skirt with a motif of crossed tennis rackets – a clear nod to her character in the film, a young tennis prodigy who suffers an accident.

Zendaya, 27, is known for dressing on-theme for the red carpet – for the recent Dune: Part Two press tour she channelled a sci-fi vibe, most notably in a vintage Thierry Mugler robot-inspired bodysuit.

She continued with tennis-inspired fashion for a Challengers photocall in London, donning a sporty striped two-piece – a vintage look from Vivienne Westwood’s spring/summer 1994 collection.

The waistcoat and mini skirt combination was given a fashion-forward edge with a feathery bustle on the back – if it looks familiar, that’s because Sarah Jessica Parker wore a green version of the skirt in season four of Sex And The City.

Elsewhere, Zendaya went all-in on the tennis aesthetic. During a recent press event in Monaco, she wore a white ensemble of a pleated skirt and collared top – a custom look from sportswear brand On that was an homage to Althea Gibson, the first black woman to win Wimbledon.

During a photocall in Monaco, Zendaya showed the trend for quiet luxury isn’t going anywhere.

She wore a cream cable knit sweater and long skirt from Brunello Cucinelli, causing one Instagram fan to comment: “It’s giving 1980s prep tennis pro at the country club!”

Zendaya stuck to the theme during a photocall in Milan, wearing a white collared mini dress. She often mixes cutting-edge looks with vintage finds on the red carpet, and this was an archival Ralph Lauren look from the early Nineties, originally worn on the runway by supermodel Cindy Crawford.

It’s the beginning of a very fashionable year for Zendaya, who will co-chair May’s Met Gala alongside Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth and Jennifer Lopez. This year’s theme is The Garden of Time, which Vogue describes as “the celebration of clothing and fashion so fragile that it can’t ever be worn again”.