EDITOR’S NOTE: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
How many times can one celebrate the sartorial prowess of Zendaya? If this week’s global press tour for the upcoming Christopher Nolan epic “The Odyssey” proves anything, it’s that the actor and all-around fashion muse is fully committed to the cause of glamour.
The 29-year-old is the physical manifestation of the phrase too much fashion. She treats a ten-minute red carpet appearance with as much intensity and painstaking detail as she does her film and TV roles. Her outfits, put together with her longtime stylist and “image architect” Law Roach, intrigue and command attention, and can challenge what you think you really know about fashion. Now, 17 years into her career, Zendaya is synonymous with red-carpet near perfection.
For the Paris premiere of “The Odyssey” (where Zendaya portrays Athena alongside a jam-packed cast of other Hollywood A-listers), the actor evoked a Greek goddess in a custom gown courtesy of Louis Vuitton. Constructed of angelic, two-tone white fabric and delicate “escargot” lace embellishment, the dress featured a daring cut-out torso, a high-leg slit and a frilly, ruffled bolero. The actor’s accompanying glam for the evening also rightfully deserved a closer look — makeup artist Ernesto Casillas was responsible for her goddess-esque glow, swashing her eyelids with an unexpected pale cornflower blue eyeshadow from Prada Beauty.
Big Style: Where culture meets clothing
CNN senior style reporter and advanced outfit anthropologist Rachel Tashjian excavates the stylish amusements and contextualizes the world of fashion – all in your inbox. Sign up for Big Style here.
While this specific look was an haute-couture nod to the flowing, ancient Grecian costuming we’ll see in “The Odyssey,” it also cheekily reminds onlookers that Zendaya is a fairly recent bride, with her husband and co-star Tom Holland confirming to Esquire that the pair are indeed betrothed. And much like her fellow mega-famous peer Taylor Swift, Zendaya is keeping whatever incredible couture creation she wore down the aisle under lock and key. (At least with Swift we know the man behind the dress was Dior’s Jonathan Anderson.)
Zendaya never just serves one look, however. Her outings this week were essentially a fashionable feast and a continuation of her commitment to method dressing for the red carpet. There was a creamy Jacquemus number in London that she paired with an on-trend dainty bandana and statement-making gold medallion earrings. She also wore a vintage piece from Givenchy Spring 1997 Couture, a creation from Alexander McQueen’s tenure at the French fashion house along with a statuesque gold mask made in collaboration with Philip Treacy. (Just add it to the growing list of her and Roach’s enviable archival access.)
Maybe the most impressive example of Zendaya’s style star power mastery this week however was when she appeared in Paris with a fresh-off-the-runway sculptural creation from Schiaparelli’s Fall Winter 2026/27 Haute Couture collection. That morning, the garment debuted on the runway, worn by model Ivy Stewart. By later that afternoon, it was slipped onto Zendaya as she graced yet another “Odyssey” carpet in London — flown express via private jet, according to Roach — to ensure the star could grant the gown a proper debut.