smartwater x Fashion
Every emerging designer needs someone willing to bet on them before the rest of the industry catches up. For the second chapter of her partnership with smartwater, Zendaya turned to the British Fashion Council's NEWGEN program, the same incubator that helped launch names like Grace Wales Bonner, and asked her longtime stylist, Law Roach, to hand-pick five names to watch.
The campaign put their work in front of a global audience most young designers spend years trying to reach. That's the idea behind Keep It Smart: a brand and a star using their platform for something more useful than another pretty ad.
Fashion, on her own terms.
Today's generation has been questioning the status quo to do things on their own terms. smartwater introduced an icon to inspire them to keep questioning, especially in one of their passions: fashion.
Zendaya became smartwater's Global Brand Ambassador in 2022. Where her debut campaign kept things simple, this second chapter was built to earn real fashion credibility through a partnership with the British Fashion Council's NEWGEN talent program, which has nurtured over 300 emerging designers since it launched.
Her longtime stylist, Law Roach, hand-picked five NEWGEN designers to create bespoke, water-inspired looks for her to unveil throughout the campaign.
Five designers, hand-picked.
Each look was inspired by water, ebbing and flowing in its own way. One thread stood out: Nensi Dojaka, the 2021 LVMH Prize winner, had already dressed Zendaya for the London premiere after-party of “Dune,” a look that made headlines of its own. Here, she brought that same relationship into a bespoke flowing blue dress built from her own line's silhouette.
Working with smartwater, who are dedicated to using their platform to champion innovative thinkers, is an exciting opportunity.
“She's our ideal of a modern woman.”
Zendaya is purposely wearing clothes in this campaign, using her own stardom to boost the visibility of five burgeoning fashion designers, in partnership with the same institution that's nurtured names like Grace Wales Bonner, Priya Ahluwalia, and Molly Goddard.
Out in the world.
