She’s a Barbie girl! Zendaya Coleman certainly created a splash at the 2015 Oscars, walking the red carpet in a glamorous, old Hollywood gown and wearing her hair in her newsworthy dreadlocks.
On Monday, Sept. 21, Mattel announced that Barbie is immortalizing Zendaya’s bold and beautiful Academy Awards Vivienne Westwood dress and hairstyle with a doll in her exact image. They sent out a sketch of the “Replay” singer’s overall look, along with a message for the Disney actress, “Thank you for raising your voice!”
Zendaya’s dreadlocks became a viral conversation when Giuliana Rancic made comments about her locks “[smelling] like patchouli oil. Or weed” on E!’s Fashion Police. The Disney star, 19, shot back, calling the description extremely offensive.
Since then, Zendaya has been praised for her willingness to speak up. But she revealed that’s just the way she was raised. “My wearing my hair in locks on an Oscar red carpet was to showcase them in a positive light, to remind people of color that our hair is good enough,” she told Galore in their October issue. “My parents are both educators and the way they raised me was to always be aware of what’s going on in my business as well as in my personal life. [They] never really sheltered me from anything. They were always very open with me, which is probably why I’m able to be real.”
The K.C. Undercover actress could have shown her anger at the Fashion Police comments, but she says she deliberately chose to keep a level head. “I think the way we react to things is a big indicator of our character and what type of person we are,” she said. “I just had too much respect for myself and didn’t want to prove everybody right that’s waiting for me to be ignorant and do something dumb, so I took my time until I thought of the best way I could address the comment. I realized that if I don’t like something, I can change it. If I don’t feel comfortable with something, then I have a voice to say it’s not cool.”
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