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Nov 07, 2024

This Is Why We’re Obsessed With Zendaya And Tom’s Couple Style | British Vogue

Some interesting stats hit the Vogue social desk last week. An Instagram picture of Zendaya and Tom Holland posing in his-and-hers burgundy looks at the launch of his no-alc beer line quickly became

Some interesting stats hit the Vogue social desk last week. An Instagram picture of Zendaya and Tom Holland posing in his-and-hers burgundy looks at the launch of his no-alc beer line quickly became the most-liked post in the magazine’s history. Forget Miley Cyrus exclusives, this couple’s portrait blew a small corner of the internet wide open because of the “connection” commenters rallied in praise of. Second only to the love for their coordinating looks in the colour of the season were the remarks on the height difference between Romeo and his Juliet. “All hail short kings!” said one user, while another chimed in: “Let’s normalise dating for connection, not height.”

The image of a woman unwilling to break her life-long commitment to Christian Louboutin’s So Kate stilettos because of a two-inch height difference between her and her partner should not be remarkable. Holland even went on record to state that it was “a stupid assumption” that those two inches might present any kind of issue for the pair. “This is normal,” asserted Zendaya at a Spider-Man promo event in 2021. “My mom is taller than my dad. My mom’s taller than everyone.”

And yet, the sight of say, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Sophie Dahl and Jamie Cullum or Helen Lasichanh and Pharrell Williams still seems to trigger something in the public psyche that suggests it is not indeed normal for the woman to be the taller half of a heteronormative couple. We are nothing if not a bemusing species.

We’d like to think it’s not our complex relationship with gender norms that makes Zendaya and Tom so interesting as a young power couple navigating the spotlight. But rather, their refreshingly subdued attitude to fame. “People [are] like, ‘Oh, she’s so fierce.’ And, yeah, she is, on the inside. But she’d rather be at home, with her hair down and no make-up, with Noon, her dog, watching a movie, probably Harry Potter,” Zendaya’s longtime stylist, Law Roach, told Vogue of the megastar’s mega obsession with the franchise (she’s a Gryffindor, by the way) and her quiet delight in decidedly mundane activities, like going to Waitrose and Gail’s, while in West London. For Tom’s part, the Kingston native, who put down roots with Zendaya in Richmond, is only too happy to frequent his local branch of Ottolenghi.

The looks they live in while grabbing bircher muesli are not the trappings typical of a Louis Vuitton ambassador, particularly one who is building an archive of legendary John Galliano and Bob Mackie pieces, or a Marvel superhero with a penchant for Prada. Zendaya, for example, relies on Abercrombie & Fitch (throwback!) wide-leg trousers, Allude jumpers and On Men’s The Roger Centre Court sneakers to run errands in – the only evidence of her fashion plate status being a Bulgari B.Zero1 necklace and an LV Neverfull to stow her bottles of Bero in. She’s a Madewell tank top kind of girl, an Eytys denim fan, a Nike Trail Gore-Tex normie – all of which makes her everyday style ever-so slightly attainable for fans of her characterful high-fashion red-carpet turns (if you missed the Mugler gynoid suit, where were you?)

Blink and you might miss Holland, who is not trying to go incognito in his stripy tees, rolled-up jeans and box-fresh white sneaks, but is just a normal bloke who sometimes likes to wear a cardi when feeling fancy (Roach’s assistant, Crystalle Cox, took over styling of Holland after Law himself lent a helping hand). Since first wriggling into that famous webbed suit at the age of 19, Tom has amassed an impressive collection of boxy tailoring (Zegna has been good for his wardrobe) and never strayed into the gimmicky side of theme-led fashion. He is happy for his girlfriend, whom he met on set in 2016 and began dating in 2021, to take the lead on method dressing during those intense flashbulb moments, but equally content mooching around town as “sexy dog parents” the morning after. We bet their Gail’s treat order is brilliantly conventional (a scone for her, one of those little brownie finger things for him?) and that’s why they are so beloved. To quote one Vogue Instagram follower, “I love how unproblematic they are”. To quote another, they seem like “the only real couple”. And one final fan: “Please don’t break up, our hearts can’t take it.”