Giada Amendolara '25
Press coverage of Challengers has officially begun, and everyone was waiting to see Zendaya's tennis-themed outfits for the worldwide tour. Zendaya and her stylist and designer Law Roach have gone all in when it comes to method dressing for Challengers press tour.
Zendaya dresses for the role, even off camera. For Zendaya, fashion and film are really important. The actress is recognized for using thematic dressing to market her movies and is a defining star of the modern movie press tour.
Thematic dressing, or method dressing, is matching your fashion to your movie role, which according to Zendaya in a BBC interview means, "Fashion is something I've always used as an outlet, a tool - ultimately, I think I am a more shy person so it allows for me to create this persona, this character that I get to live in for the day.”
Zendaya and Law Roach have created many thematic outfits for films including, “The Greatest Showman”, “Dune: Part Two” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts).
Thematic dressing or method dressing has become very popular for other celebrities as well. Margot Robbie used method dressing for her “Barbie” press tour and made pink the color of the year. These themed outfits create excitement for the film and its premiere. Creative publicity distinguishes a film from other movies by showing unique styles and outfits that offer an inside look into the film's distinct universe before it opens.
The movie Challengers was released in theaters on April 26 and follows the tennis career and love life of Tashi Duncan who is played by Zendaya. She is a tennis prodigy turned coach who turns her husband into a grand slam champion. Zendaya trained for Challengers with tennis pro and coach Brad Gilbert.
In the movie, clothes are a very important part of Tashi Duncan’s character. She is sponsored by Adidas and is dressed in very sporty and expensive outfits by designer Jonathan Anderson.
According to the New York Times, Zendaya has not been wearing Adidas in the lead-up to Challengers, but has started with several preppy looks made by her real sponsor, Louis Vuitton, a luxury brand increasingly involved in the sports market. Zendaya’s international press tour has been a flashy and tennis-inspired showcase of sporty yet sophisticated clothes. The highlight of the tennis themes was in Rome, where according to the New York Times, was when Zendaya wore a silver tennis dress — pleated skirt, varsity stripes, very low V-neck and white heels. Her heels went through two shrunken neon tennis balls, which had been labeled with Loewe’s logo. Within a very short time, the heels with tennis balls had been featured by many news sources, including Vogue, which called them a “smash hit” (www.nytimes.com).