If Zendaya’s Oscars look seemed familiar on Sunday night, that’s because you’ve actually seen it before. Well, if you were alive and watching the Academy Awards in 1998, when Sharon Stone wore something similar on the red carpet, then you’ve definitely seen it before. (Zendaya was 2.) But the look, which consists of a Gap shirt and a Vera Wang skirt, has since gone down in history as one of the greatest red carpet looks of all time.
Rather than Gap, (or YZY GAP), Zendaya’s version of the look is head-to-toe custom Valentino haute couture. Instead of a satin skirt, she wore one that was shimmering silver, and her button-up shirt was cropped, as opposed to Stone’s low-cut version. (Zendaya’s Dune co-star, Timothée Chalamet, wasn’t interested in wearing much of a shirt, either.)
Zendaya and her stylist, “image architect” Law Roach, are clearly fashion nerds in the best way. They’re constantly pulling out archival looks, and referencing iconic ones. At the Oscars last year, for example, Zendaya wore a yellow dress that seemed to be inspired by a jumpsuit Cher wore on The Sonny and Cher Show in 1970. The look also, fittingly, had similarities to a gold Bob Mackie gown Cher wore to the Oscars in 1973.
Should we start taking bets on which iconic look Zendaya could reference next year? Maybe Sharon Stone’s Gap turtleneck from 1996? Would she be so bold as to go for Björk? We’ll have to wait to see.
