Since the moment she first stepped up on to a TV set at just 13 years old, Zendaya has been a force in fashion and beauty. The star, now 21, is the face of CoverGirl, has her own clothing line, Daya by Zendaya, and even developed her own app, where she produces beauty tutorials and shares fashion and life advice. So with her sartorial sense, amazing head of hair and knack for applying makeup (she sometimes even does her own for red carpet events), she has women everywhere looking up to her — and she’s well aware of the responsibility that comes with it.
“I’ve had the luxury of watching people do this before me, and I realize that [being a role model] is actually a huge part of the job,” she says in her cover interview for InStyle‘s January issue. “You sign up for that. You’re being watched. You can choose to accept that and appreciate it, or you can choose not to. That’s 100 percent your choice. I choose to acknowledge it.”
And it’s not just through social media fan interaction that the The Greatest Showman star sees the the extent of her influence.
“When parents or young people come up to me, the first thing they say is not ‘Oh, I love that show you did.’ It’s ‘Hey, thank you for saying this’ or ‘My daughter really needed to see that.’ That stuff is much more of a compliment.”
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So when the star designed her clothing and accessories collection alongside her long time stylist Law Roach, she did so with all of her fans in mind, creating gender-nonspecific pieces that anyone can wear.
“I just felt that if I’m going to do a clothing line, that’s the only way I see it being done. That’s the future of fashion,” she says.
For more from Zendaya, head over to InStyle. And tell us: What do you think of her views? Sound off in the comments below.
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