All the times Zendaya served looks on the ‘Challengers’ press tour | CNN (2024)

CNN —

Zendaya has always aced the red carpet. But her latest press tour is, well, a grand slam.

In recent weeks, the actor has been promoting her new movie “Challengers,” in which she plays a tennis star-turned-coach who must navigate her husband’s career on the courts as he prepares to face his former best friend (and her ex-boyfriend).

And as has become perhaps all-too-expected, her looks have been a symbiotic mix of “method dressing” and personal style — from campy details like tennis balls on her heels to elegant pleated gowns that call to mind classic tennis whites. Zendaya is also on the cover of both American and British “Vogue,” though neither of the magazine’s shoots delved too deeply into the sportswear space.

“We are constantly trying to be inspired by the film, whether that be literally — like this morning, I had tennis balls in my shoes — or more just the essence of a character, or a concept, or an idea,” Zendaya said of the visual storytelling she and her long-term “image architect” Law Roach have sought to achieve in her interview with US Vogue.

Onlookers have come to expect this attention to detail from the duo. Earlier this year, for example, while touring for “Dune: Part Two,” Zendaya’s looks consistently paid homage to the film and its sci-fi dystopia — most notably, she stepped out in an archival (and yet inherently futuristic) Thierry Mugler space suit at the movie’s London premiere.

“What she allows me to do is to come up with the big story, the big idea, and she takes that and she whittles it down a bit,” Roach told British Vogue.

Scroll to see Zendaya’s best looks from the “Challengers” press tour. This gallery will continue to be updated.

Zendaya's press tour began with the Australian premiere of "Challengers" in Sydney on March 26. There, she wore a sparkling Loewe evening gown mimicking a tennis player's shadow against a grass court.

At a press call in Paris on April 6, she opted for a tailored Louis Vuitton coat from the label's Spring-Summer 2013 collection, with a sharp checkerboard pattern evoking the geometry of a tennis court's boundaries.

Another Paris press call, another archival Vuitton piece — here, a tailored jacket and pants from Spring-Summer 1999, in an acid green hue that reads as a tennis ball's color palette.

And at the Paris premiere, she again opted for a Louis Vuitton look, in an all-white gown that paired a sculpted bustier with a wide belt and sheer, layered skirt — perhaps the train as a nod to her role as a tennis coach (or trainer).

In one of her more literal looks, Zendaya wore a custom Loewe dress to a photocall in Rome on April 8, clearly designed to mimic a classic tennis outfit with its pleated skirt and classic lined v-neck. And of course, peep the shoes.

At the Rome premiere, she wore an all-white blazer and skirt by Calvin Klein.

In London, Zendaya paired her elegant Thom Browne gown with a chic hair bow.

A detailed look at the gown showcases the pleated skirt's mesh detailing and sequins.

During the “Dune: Part Two,” press tour, Zendaya’s co-stars, including Florence Pugh, Rebecca Ferguson and Timothée Chalamet, matched her commitment to the sartorial ‘bit’ with their own red carpet wardrobes. But for “Challengers,” actors Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist have played things a little safer, for the most part in the slouchy menswear suiting space. That’s with one subtle exception, however: At the film’s London premiere, O’Connor wore under his suit jacket a white T-shirt with the phrase “I TOLD YA” printed front and center, a nod to a piece Zendaya’s character Tashi wears in the movie.

At the Rome premiere two days earlier, the fashion designer (and Loewe creative director) Jonathan Anderson — who designed many looks in the movie — had also worn a version of the tee.

Pictured here with "Challengers" director Luca Guadagnino, designer Jonathan Anderson (right) in a piece straight out of the movie's wardrobe department.