Zendaya Has Been Wearing These Hard-To-Wear Heels Since She Was 14

Zendaya is only 27, and her legacy as a fashion icon has long been solidified. But if you’re paying close attention to her looks, you’ll know that, with very few exceptions, she is always always ALWAYS wearing one shoe in particular. Zendaya’s heels —a pointed-toe stiletto pump—are not for the faint of heart. In fact, her stylist and collaborator, Law Roach, called them “one of the most versatile shoes, [and] also one of the most painful.” Her signature red carpet shoe, the Christian Louboutin So Kate 120-millimeter pump, has been her go-to since she was 14.

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On Recho Omondi’s fashion podcast, The Cutting Room Floor, Omondi brought on style icon Law Roach , who, among many things, is credited for helping usher Zendaya out of her Disney era and into her adult stardom through styling. “To me, [the So Kate] is a real hallmark moment of when you started dressing her,” Omondi told Law Roach.

Law then went into the origin story of Zendaya’s So Kate era. “It actually started when she was like 14. And I remember she had these So Kates on all day. It was the first time she’d ever worn them, and she was collapsing, and she was like, ‘I have to take these shoes off.’ And I was like, ‘You will not take these shoes off,'” Law said. “She kept them on, and the next day, she put them on again. And the next day, she put them on again. So it kind of became our thing. Now her feet are kind of, like, trained. She could wear them all day.”

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Now that she’s one of the most in-demand names in Hollywood and in fashion, she gets offers to wear other shoes, but a signature is a signature. “People are like, ‘We’re gonna send shoes,’ and I’m like, ‘She’s only gonna wear So Kates.'”