Zendaya Puts Disney Behind Her, Lensed By Tyler Mitchell For Vogue US June 2019
/THEN: Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman is living in the fast lane, which is good for a woman who drives with her foot pressed on the pedal. Fresh off the splashy debut of her Tommy x Zendaya collection in Paris, photo shoots for Lancôme as the brand’s youngest global ambassador and the build-up to her new HBO series ‘Euphoria’, Zendaya covers the June 2019 issue of American Vogue.
Styled by Camilla Nickerson in romantic, refined looks from Marni, Olivier Theyskens, Marc Jacobs, Richard Quinn, Lorenzo Serafini, Loewe, and Paco Rabanne, Zendaya puts her Disney past behind her for her HBO debut in ‘Euphoria’. Rising photographer Tyler Mitchell is behind the lens; May Singer conducts the interview.
NOW: We just posted Zendaya’s May 2024 Vogue Australia cover story, lensed by Josh Olins. It’s one of three recent shoots and interviews dealing with the release of the star’s new movie ‘Challengers’.
They are all really well-executed and very much in the style of three different photographers: John Olins, Annie Leibovitz and Steven Klein.
Here are the links: [1] Zendaya Unfurled in 'Her Own Way' by Josh Olins for Vogue Australia May 2024 [2] Met Gala Co-Chair Zendaya Blooms in Couture Elegance for American Vogue May 2024 [3] Zendaya Enters an Era of Risk, Lensed by Steven Klein for ELLE US September, 2023
‘Z’, as everyone involved with ‘Euphoria’ calls Zendaya, plays the lead role of a recovering and relapsing young drug addict. Singer writes:
Loosely based on the Israeli series of the same name, the show delivers a kaleidoscopic, hyperbolic depiction of contemporary American high school life, where the youth of today are formed in a crucible of social media, online porn, and easy access to drugs of all kinds. The series, which begins this month, comes from executive producer Drake and showrunner Sam Levinson, and like Levinson’s feature film, the Sundance darling Assassination Nation, it moves at the clip of a Twitter feed.
The Disney girl does not shy away from controversies, writes Singer. She’s an avid supporter of Colin Kaepernick, urging fans to not remain silent about Charlottesville when Zendaya picked up a Teen Choice Award the day after the alt-right rally that killed Heather Heyer.
Mother hawks like Ava DuVernay, Kerry Washington, and Solange Knowles spread their wings in support of her, but Zendaya stood tall and proud on her own.
Today the star is learning more about gentrification, watching her grandmother nearly priced out of her house in her own neighborhood in Oakland. “I keep thinking, Is there a way I can help with this, through art?” she asks. “I mean, obviously, I’ve got a platform”— about 55 million people follow Zendaya on Instagram—“but I also know, don’t just post whatever. You’ve got to listen to people. Talking is important. But walking the talk is important, too.”
“There are so many celebrities with big social-media followings,” Tommy Hilfiger notes about the young star, “but are they going to make a difference in society? Right from our first conversations, it was clear she intends to use her celebrity to fight for change. She’s got the heart of an activist.”
Singer digs deeply on the Tommy Hilfiger collab with details that are well worth the read. “She suspected they’d “promise the moon and the stars,” Zendaya explains, “then, in the end, all they would want to do is to slap my face on their product.” So she and stylist Roach scoured the web for disco-era images that inspired them, and walked into their first formal meeting with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude and a mood board that wowed the room.
Without criticizing Hilfiger in any way, Singer lays out the entire process, which is frankly dazzling from start to finish!