Zendaya Channels Carrie Bradshaw—and Whitney Houston—in One Dress

2 min read

Talk about a triple threat.

Today at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards in Los Angeles, Zendaya stepped out in a tiny white dress with a major backstory: Sarah Jessica Parker wore it as Carrie Bradshaw in the first Sex and the City movie…but before that, Whitney Houston sported it for a 1986 album promo shoot, which later appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

Created by Ohio native Eugene Stutzman—a.k.a. Eugene Alexander—the dress features an off-the-shoulder fit, sculpted ruching to one side, and a flirty little slit just above one thigh. It’s augmented with giant hibiscus leaves and petals that are brushed with gold-leaf paint; when Whitney wore it, the dress had two big blossoms, but costume designer Patricia Field took it down to one to reference Carrie Bradshaw’s signature flower brooches from Y2K.

Now the third onscreen legend to wear the dress, Zendaya has kept the Bradshaw-era flower, along with white pumps reminiscent of Carrie’s beloved Manolos, plus a singular gold bangle. (Carrie’s was a vintage cuff; Zendaya’s is a Cartier Love Bracelet.)

Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw.

Whitney Houston in a two-flower version of the dress.

In an Instagram post, Zendaya’s longtime stylist, Law Roach, exclaimed, “And just like that… I found it!” He goes on to call the frock one of “the most iconic dresses in movie history.” It’s the latest in a series of white statement dresses worn by the actress as she promotes her film The Drama, about an off-the-rails wedding weekend. (Robert Pattinson co-stars as the groom.) Just two days ago in Paris, the Golden Globe nominee wore a white Louis Vuitton dress by designer Nicolas Ghesquière.

To (kind of) quote Charlotte York, maybe dresses can be our soul mates and then we can let men be just these great, nice guys to have fun with.

Zendaya wearing the dress at the 2026 ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards, pictured with Coco Jones.