Zendaya’s latest outfit to grace the Challengers press circuit veered more Office Siren and less tenniscore. Tonight in Rome, the actress brought the glamour to the red carpet in a shirtless power suit that she accented with a megawatt diamond necklace.
For the Rome premiere, Zendaya flashed her abs in a custom Calvin Klein formal look composed of a tuxedo jacket and a matching floor-length skirt. Zendaya upped the ante of her blazer by sporting it solo, and sans bra. Her skirt featured a fairly simple silhouette (a signature of Klein’s minimal ’90s designs) and a sizable side slit. The actress styled her premiere look with her go-to Louboutin pumps and a blinding Bulgari serpent lariat.
Notably, the actress is apparently back to brunette, after a few days of sporting blonder locks.
Zendaya and her stylist Law Roach have been incorporating plenty of themed dressing into the actress’ Challengers press fashion thus far. And although this Calvin Klein moment wasn’t as on the nose as some of her other looks, it still possessed a subtle nod to the sport. For those unfamiliar with tennis, athletes are required to wear all white during Wimbledon which is perhaps the sport’s most famous tournament.
Earlier in the day, Zendaya served up a more literal interpretation of tenniscore during a photo call. She slipped into a custom Loewe number (the brand’s designer Jonathan Anderson created costumes for the film) that was basically a plunging, high-fashion twist on the tennis dress. She paired her sequined mini with kitschy white pumps that featured tennis balls as heels. Shortly after, the actress then switched into a neon crop top and parachute pants from Rahul Mishra.
There’s a certain limit to the level of method dressing Zendaya can participate in when it comes to her Challengers fashion—especially when compared to her most recent press tour for Dune: Part Two. Really, there’s only a handful of tennis references one can indulge in before striking out. But, still, Zendaya and Roach seem to have things down to a science. Even when they’re not directly referencing the sport with, say, tennis ball heels, they’ve established a certain set of signatures: there’s some tennis whites, a subtle sporty nod like exposed boxer briefs and, now, a shirtless power suit.
