Zendaya Flexes Her Rare Vintage T-Shirt in Boyish Baggy Trousers and White Sneakers

The 'Challengers' star took an effortlessly cool fall outfit for a stroll in Los Angeles.

Zendaya wearing a vintage T-shirt with baggy trousers in Los Angeles
(Image credit: Backgrid)

Zendaya never slacks when it comes to her street style. On Thursday, Oct. 17, the Euphoria star stepped out in Los Angeles wearing a casual outfit that still showed off her fashion prowess.

The standout piece was a rare vintage T-shirt featuring a print of artist Gilbert Young's painting, "He Ain't Heavy." The shirt has been in Zendaya's closet since 2017 at least and the garment is thought to be an homage to her KC Undercover co-star Kadeem Hardison. Hardison once wore an identical shirt on the '80s sitcom A Different World, in which the actor famously played a lovable nerd named Dwayne Wayne. The shirt has since become nearly impossible to find—but I did manage to locate one going for $200 on Depop.

A photo of Zendaya wearing a vintage t-shirt featuring a print of artist Gilbert Young's painting titled "He Ain't Heavy."

Zendaya wears a vintage T-shirt featuring a print of artist Gilbert Young's painting titled "He Ain't Heavy."

(Image credit: Backgrid)

Graphic tees like Zendaya's are making a major comeback this year, thanks to Gen Z's obsession with Y2K and indie sleaze aesthetics. Recently, lovebirds Gracie Abrams and Paul Mescal coupled up in coordinating vintage T-shirts for an outing in New York City. Elsewhere, a slew of celebrities including Charli XCX and Zoë Kravitz have been spotted in Stella McCartney's "About F–cking Time!" tank top, which dropped in the designer's Fall 2024 collection. Kaia Gerber also embraced the trend in graphic tees from her reading group, Library Science, over the summer.

Alongside Zendaya's fresh fall manicure, the 28-year-old actor paired her vintage twist on the trend with baggy brown pleated trousers, blue socks, and white On Running sneakers inspired by tennis icon Roger Federer. Zendaya became a brand ambassador for the Swiss footwear brand in June following her portrayal of Tashi Duncan—a former tennis prodigy turned coach—in director Luca Guadagnino's steamy sports thriller Challengers. Earlier this week, she gave the brand another nod by pairing its biker shorts with a pair of Ugg slippers.

A photo of Zendaya in baggy brown trousers and white On Running sneakers.

Zendaya pairs her graphic tee with baggy brown trousers and white On Running sneakers.

(Image credit: Backgrid)

The rest of her look was largely un-accessorized apart from stud earrings, a gold cuff bracelet, and a delicate gold chain necklace. Her honey-blonde hair—which she's been gradually lightening since late March—was pulled into a messy low bun. Her skin, meanwhile, seemed mostly makeup-free. I suppose that's just another perk of being Miss Z: No matter how much she dresses down, she always looks picture-perfect.

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Hanna Lustig
Staff Writer

Hanna Lustig is a staff writer at Marie Claire, where she gets to gab every day about the topics she holds most dear: fashion, beauty, and celebrity. Hanna’s editorial journey began with formative internships at Elle and InStyle, where she was lucky enough to work for some of the smartest women in media while she was still in college at the University of Tennessee. Hanna then accepted a digital culture reporting fellowship at Insider, where she helped carve out a new beat dedicated to covering influencers. Those experiences later served her well as a staff writer at Glamour, where she developed a knack for spinning quick turnaround celebrity news and trend reporting into juicy feature stories. Some of her greatest hits include an earnest ode to the no-pants trend, this meticulously reported feature exploring the rise of endoscopic facelifts, this snappy take on the Chanel-designed fantasy of Sofia Richie’s wedding, this tribute to WAGs past and present, and this timeline of Katie Holmes’s life and career as told through her denim collection.

Diane Keaton once hung up on Hanna during an interview, but thankfully that mishap did not derail what has otherwise been a deeply fulfilling career writing for and about women. As one of Marie Claire's resident experts on style and culture, her current coverage ranges from exploring TikTok's contrast makeup theory and the return of the boat shoe trend to interviews with costume designers for hit shows like Nobody Wants This and The Penguin. When she’s not at work, Hanna can probably be found listening to pop music, talking to her dog, and gossiping with her best friends. For more of Hanna’s perfect opinions on pop culture, you can follow her on Instagram and X.