Zendaya wore a Wimbledon-inspired Thom Browne to the UK ‘Challengers’ premiere

Here are some photos from last night’s London premiere of Challengers, the Luca Guadagnino film starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. In Zendaya’s Vogue profile, I learned that Zendaya came onto the film as a producer early on, and she was the one suggesting O’Connor and Faist for their roles. The three actors have an easy chemistry with each other – they’re not hanging all over each other, but you can tell that there’s a lot of respect between them.

Zendaya chose another tennis-themed look for this premiere. When in the UK, go for something Wimbledon-inspired, I guess. The top of this Thom Browne dress would be at home on the grass courts of Wimbledon, absolutely, but Wimbledon has rules against those color blocks at the bottom of the dress. I like Zendaya’s braid and the bow – it’s very tennis princess, America’s sweetheart. If you look closely, you’ll see that the raised motif on the dress is not a series of bows, but crossed tennis racquets. Adorable!

As a tennis fan, I genuinely wonder if tennis’s clothing sponsors are watching Zendaya’s fashion choices for this promotional tour. They should – while Zendaya chose a Lacoste look for a photocall, she’s mostly been working with designers outside of the tennis world to create “tennis-inspired” couture. While a variation of this dress would absolutely be at home on the grass courts of Wimbledon, the current clothing sponsors wouldn’t bother creating it. Even when Nike brought in Virgil Abloh for custom kits for their biggest female stars, it was never anything like this.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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23 Responses to “Zendaya wore a Wimbledon-inspired Thom Browne to the UK ‘Challengers’ premiere”

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  1. D says:

    She has looked gorgeous at every photo call and premiere for this film. I do hope it works and the film does well because the boys look exhausted and I worry for Zendaya who has been traveling non stop for months. She needs a rest! I always wonder if a world wide tour for a smaller film makes sense, but I hope it does give it a push at the box office.

    • Kiera says:

      They’re swinging for Oscar’s for her for this one. I’ve heard she’s amazing in it and that SA’s a big reason they delayed last year because they know it will pick up momentum with a gold press tour and word of mouth. And they wants her to get as much buzz as possible. Between the box office of Dune and the more awards feel of this movie she is likely to get some nominations and possibly win.

      Also fun fact she is apparently beyond nice. When she was filming Challengers a friend of mine did some work with them and said she was incredibly courteous and made everyone feel welcome.

      • Josephine says:

        I had no idea this film is Oscar bait. The film really needs a better preview.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        If it was intended to be Oscar bait, it would not be released this time of year. Oscar voters don’t have that long of a memory.

      • Kiera says:

        @tiffany They apparently are aiming for a long term build over the next year and she has already been shortlisted for next year based on this movie. It was meant to come out last fall to put her in contention for this past year but they pushed it because of the strikes.
        They decided to release it this spring so that she would go Dune, Challengers, Met Gala, and then release it on VOD/DVD summer/fall depending on how it does in theaters and hit the people who didn’t view it in the spring and re engage with the public.

  2. Carmen says:

    She has fantastic fashion sense. She knows what looks good on her and she almost always gets it right.

  3. Inge says:

    She’s been wearing the most gorgeous outfits and it all links back to the theme of the film, offering great promotion. And she does that for every film see also her Dune inspired outfits for that press tour.

    I also love how she’s got such a great relationship with her amazing stylist Law Roach.

    Btw would have loved to see this outfit with white sneakers…

  4. The Hench says:

    Would love to see a short, actual tennis dress version of this outfit on a player. V cute.

  5. Jais says:

    Very cute.

  6. Amy says:

    Other than the Dune dress with her rear exposed, I think her theme dressing is usually great.
    I wonder, though, about the pressure the theme dressing creates. Now it’s not enough to have a slew of perfect outfits — they have to fit the movie, too? She is so thin in photos that maybe she “just” wears the model versions from runways for existing looks but for custom looks like this, it’s not like they can grab them at the last second. This seems like a tremendous amount of work to get all of these things made and done in advance. I know she isn’t personally doing all of this, but still. Meanwhile, the costars pop on a tux.

  7. Jen says:

    I love her, but the seam at the back was messy AF. Not her fault. The dropped waistband wasn’t aligned, I wondered whether the fit was off and because of the sequins it made it difficult.

  8. Baily says:

    This movie looks terrible. And she’s way too thin, her bony shoulders look really bad in that dress. If she gained about 20 pounds she’d look amazing.

    • Mari says:

      her shoulders make her outstanding, if she gains weight her outfits would be less runaway and less spectacular (it happened last year). Skinny is back, thanks god

      • LooneyTunes says:

        Both of these comments…😳 I thought we stopped telling women what to do with their bodies? And “skinny is back, thank god”? Do you know how many women literally die every year trying to be as thin as possible?

      • Sara says:

        Yay!! Eating disorder for eveyone! You MUST be thin at all costs! Not just slender, but scary skinny!! YAY!! Extreme sarcasm here

      • bisynaptic says:

        You’ve got to be joking.

  9. SIde Eye says:

    Amazing! I love the braid. She is so gorgeous.

  10. Tiffany :) says:

    It’s not the worst thing I’ve seen, but the pelvic bow is not cute, and I think the little tennis rackets are too on-the-nose. She looks amazing in anything, but instead of going for vibes that fit the movie, the choices are very costumed this press tour. It’s less elegant than her usual work with Law Roach.

  11. Kitten says:

    I overall love it. The bow could have been skipped but it’s kinda cute paired with the bow in her hair. She is so freaking gorgeous–tall and statuesque, knows exactly how to pose to show off every outfit.
    I love that she’s such a Fashion Girl but is known just as much or more for her incredible talent. Bleh, I’m such a Zendaya fan girl.

  12. Truthiness says:

    I’m loving Zendaya’s looks this year, she and Law Roach are killing it. Yeah we can nitpick some details but overall he doesn’t seem to have an equal. Somebody at Nike should pay Law Roach to design a batch of tennis kits every year. Not overwork him, just a set amount. I want Law to earn what he’s obviously worth.

    PS The pussybow is a cheeky play on words, right?

  13. Justjj says:

    She’s SO thin. That side profile pic, omg. Shockingly tiny.

  14. Phlyfiremama says:

    We are in Paris now and it is advertised on EVERY public bus!!