Zendaya Wears ‘I Told Ya’ Top from ‘Challengers’ with Kennedy Link

Zendaya is taking style inspiration from her latest movie — and the Kennedy family!

On Monday, April 22, the actress, 27, stepped out wearing the statement ‘I Told Ya’ T-shirt her character sports in Challengers while attending a private screening in New York City.

Zendaya paired her gray T-shirt created by Challengers costume designer Jonathan Anderson, with black wide-leg pants, white netted pumps and a brown trench coat. 

She also wore her honey-blonde highlighted hair in retro-style waves and sported a peachy palette of make-up.

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The ‘I Told Ya’ T-shirt worn by Zendaya and her character Tashi Donaldson in the tennis-based drama has become an iconic wardrobe staple from the film. Surprisingly, it was also inspired by the late John F. Kennedy Jr. 

The son of President John F. Kennedy was pictured wearing a T-shirt with the same phrase on several occasions while out with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and playing frisbee with his dog.

The top has a suspected connection to the inaugural buttons designed for President Kennedy in 1961 which carried a similar tagline, ‘I Told You So,’ written in bold red letters. 

Anderson, 39, also recently shared that he was inspired by the style of JFK Jr. for the look of Zendaya’s Challengers costar, Josh O’Connor in the movie.

O’Connor — who plays Patrick Zweig in the film — previously wore a shirt with the same phrase at the London premiere of the film on April 10.

“When JFK Jr. was younger, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was kind of an effortlessness to his wardrobe — like he could wear anything, and sex appeal would always be there,” the Loewe designer told WWD. “I felt like [Zweig] should not care how he looks because, ultimately, he is not endorsed, he is not the biggest star in tennis, so his look becomes a bit ad-hoc and stuck together.

“But when you look at the base parts of his attire, he has very aged, expensive things, including an old wallet that’s still very expensive, though it’s falling apart,” Anderson, who has also been wearing tops with the phrase on his Instagram, added.