Following a week of standout style, both from the catwalks at Fashion Week and the red carpet at the 2015 Oscars (see our Style Special on that, here), it’s little Ms Zendaya Coleman, her petrie frame and pretty face that’s stole our hearts this week with her style, having rocked the now infamous dreadlock-ed ‘do to the Oscars to (almost) the whole World’s approval.
But it wasn’t just how gorgeous the bae looked wearing her long locs, which trailed down her back and over her off-shoulder Vivienne Westwood gown, that has landed her the spot as SPICE’s Style Star of the Week. No, it’s also the style with which the young singer chose to respond to the negative comments made by E! News host Giuliana Rancic during the channel’s Fashion Police: Red Carpet Special, which lit the internet with rage.
As reported here, the (once) popular hostess commented as part of the show that Zendaya’s locs look like the starlet “smells like patchouli oil … or maybe weed,” which raised the roof on Twitter with followers of the star and more expressing their disgust at the insult.
Despite social media remaining in uproar, Zendaya calmly took to her Instagram to post a response just a few hours later (see it here), which was so classy, she gets major style points for it from Team SPICE. The star’s comments included;
“There is a fine line between what is funny and disrespectful… To Say that an 18 year old young woman with locs must smell of patchouli oil or “weed” is not only a large stereotype but outrageously offensive.
There is already harsh criticism of African American hair in society without the help of ignorant people… wearing my locs on an Oscar red carpet was to show them in a positive light, to remind people of colour that our hair is good enough… a symbol of strength and beauty…
Giuliana, I appreciate your apology and I’m glad it was a learning experience for yourself and for your network. I also hope that others negatively affected by her words can also find it in their hearts to accept her apology as well.”
The slur also resulted ina second, on-air apology from Giuliana (see it here) as well as E! News’ recent announcement that Kelly Osbourne will leave the channel’s popular show, Fashion Police, which is known to throw shade at stars and their outfits in a manner that ranges from honest to brutal.
We at SPICE will continue to wonder what was going through Ms Rancic’s mind (if you’ve an idea, tell us in the comments box below) though we’ll also remain in awe at the way the young star handled the insult, which was as classy and beautiful as she looked in her locs on the 2015 Oscars red carpet.
Image source: @Zendaya, Dailymail.com
