Zendaya in Milan, Italy, on April 14. PHOTO: 

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Zendaya always captivates on the red carpet, thanks in a large part to her collaboration with her longtime stylist Law Roach — and her go-to heels. In a recent interview on Recho Omondi’s fashion podcast, The Cutting Room Floor, Roach, 45 shared details about his work with Zendaya, 27, over the years and why she almost always is wearing the Christian Louboutin So Kate 120-millimeter (4.7-inch) pumps when she attends an event.

He called the sky-high shoes “one of the most versatile shoes, [and] one of the most painful.”

Zendaya at the People’s Choice Awards in 2019. 

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Roach explained on the podcast that the Challengers star has worn the So Kate shoes, which were inspired by model Kate Moss, since Zendaya was 14. He recounted her wearing the heels at a press event for the first time and struggling. “I was like, ‘You will not take these shoes off.’ She kept them on, and the next day, she put them on again,” Roach said. “And the next day, she put them on again.”

“Now,” Roach said, “her feet are kind of, like, trained. She could wear them all day.”

The heels are now a pivotal part of Zendaya’s signature style on every red carpet, and Roach told Omondi, “People are like, ‘We’re gonna send shoes,’ and I’m like, ‘She’s only gonna wear So Kates.’ ”

Zendaya at the Dune: Part Two premiere in Seoul in February. 

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Zendaya and Roach’s work over the years has included many show-stopping fashion moments, most recently at the 2024 Met Gala and her press runs for Challengers and Dune: Part Two.  Many of those looks featured the So Kates.

Zendaya in London in April. 

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Earlier in the interview, Roach also remembered when starting out in the industry and working with Zendaya, “I didn’t understand that the girl that got the most press got the most dressed.”

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Continued the stylist, who has also worked with Celine Dion, Lindsay Lohan and others, “So when I figured that out, I started to devise all these plans to make people pay attention to her. Once the eyes got on her, then the trajectory of her career began to change.”