Versace created Zendaya’s chain-mail gown for the 2018 Met Gala.
Zendaya wore the silver, armor-like look at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute gala in 2018. The outfit featured metallic chain-mail construction and a short, sculpted silhouette, giving her the appearance of a medieval warrior while fitting the event’s religiously themed fashion concept.
The Met Gala’s 2018 theme was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” Zendaya’s styling referenced Joan of Arc, the French military figure and saint, through its armor imagery, silver color and severe bob hairstyle. The look was one of the clearest examples of a celebrity outfit responding directly to the exhibition theme.
Versace is often associated with brightly colored body-conscious fashion, but the house also has a long history of metallic techniques and elaborate construction. This look was not the yellow cape worn by Rihanna at the same event; that was a different designer and a different outfit.