"I Can't Just Talk the Talk": Zendaya on Launching an Epically Inclusive Gender-Neutral Clothing Line
With sizes 0-22 to boot.
A lot of celebrities have been delving into fashion lately, but Zendaya is breaking the mold in every single way. Not only is her line Daya by Zendaya offering sizes for women of every shape, but the pieces are also gender neutral. Why? Because Zendaya wants her clothing to transcend labels. Yeah, there are dresses—but they're for everyone: men, women, and people who don't conform to a specific gender.
MarieClaire.com chatted with Zendaya at her New York City pop-up shop, where she emphasized the "sense of androgyny" in her designs. "There's things that are technically made for women, but that doesn't mean a woman has to wear it," she said, dressed in loose-fitting t-shirt from the collection. "Whoever wants to wear it can wear whatever the hell they want. It's about doing what makes you feel good. That's the most important thing to me, people living for themselves and their own sense of who they are."
Creating a line with emphasis on gender neutrality might seem like a renegade move in fashion, but focusing on inclusivity was a no-brainer for Zendaya. "I can't just talk the talk," she said. "I can't just say all this stuff about inclusivity, and loving people, and breaking barriers, and actually not do it when it comes down to my own stuff. That's fake."
This is exactly why Zendaya's collection offers sizes 0-22; because it simply isn't realistic for most women to buy sizes 0-12. "I want my mom to be able to wear my clothes, I want my older sister to be able to wear my clothes," she explained. "There are too many different shapes and sizes in my family to say, 'Oh yeah, but you cant wear that, though.' That's not even something that would cross my mind to not do. I just want everybody to feel included, and feel like this is for them."
You can buy Daya for Zendaya online or at pop-up shops in NYC, Los Angeles, and Chicago—and FYI, models of all shapes will be repping the collection. To quote the gal herself, seeing diversity in sizing "should feel normal."
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Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm. She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.
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